Remembering Eva
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ต.ค. 2024
- They understand their initial attack assignment. No one raises any concerns. They think scraping this 180-foot section of indirect, downhill scratchline will be simple and quick. Minutes later, a young firefighter is dead. To honor Eva Schicke's sacrifice on the Tuolumne Fire, we need to learn everything that we can from this fire and its suppression tactics.
I was there that fateful day. I was a crew Swamper for Baseline crew 2 that afternoon. We were at the end of our shift when we got the Firecall. We arrived at the site and we unloaded, there was small talk, some whispers... I carried a radio, I could hear everything.. something happened and it was Bad..Rest in Peace Eva.. I will never forget you....Piasa/Swamper, Capt. PATTON
What I’d give to lay hand line.... She is inspiring. As is this work. May none of you be forgot.
Rest In Peace, Eva.
This is a great way to use an awful tragedy as learning tool. That was an absolutely awful way to lose a firefighter/hero. My heart hurts. Never heard of this story before
Nothing is ever “simple and quick”!
That ferocious wind change can not be predicted. It was a freak and tragic situation. They all thought they were far enough away from the fire. " It was backing slowly" It was green. I don't think they were complacent. They were normal for the characteristics they encountered. This demonstrates how very dangerous this work really is.
+Steve A Reno Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Steve. We particularly like your thoughts on complacency. Seems like we only judge folks as complacent after something bad has happened, and this doesn't seem all that constructive much of the time.
same thing happened here in twisp in 2015. sudden wind change. 3 young men gone. terrible.
I agree with you for the most part, but I'm convinced that Eva should not have died that day and none of the others should have been in harm's way. The wind change was "unexpected," yes. However, wind changes should not be “unexpected" when fighting fires. Those in charge, particularly, must always take wind shifts into consideration, especially given the fire was burning in a canyon where upwinds often occur. Unfortunately, it seems that observed fire behavior took precedent over predicted fire behavior.
10's & 18's, LACES and 4 common denominators..The Wildland Bibles in my 20 year career with CDF and CalFire..All created as a result of firefighter fatalities...God Bless Eva and her family..
John Marksman ...thank you for your service...if your still on the line, be safe... God Bless
So much about this reminds me of South Canyon. I can't help but wonder, why they where there. What were they protecting. Is this another case where our "can do" got us in trouble?
It’s a bad area and could’ve burned really bad I think that’s the reasons for being there the area burned in 2015 it sucks she passed ):
Wow, this is a dangerous job. Living in New Mexico where hundreds (seems like) of fires pop up every year....I will never look at our forests the same. I was a dispatcher in Red River for a couple of years. I hated monsoon season because of the lightning strikes. Always a bad combination for dry forests
this is an excellent and inspiring video. reinforcing the basics of IA engagement on a type 1 or higher crew. thank you.
Just because I know, Copter 404 did warn them of a wind change as he was called to the other flank. R.I.P. Eva !
Seems to me it could have been a simple dust devil. We had one come through when hang gliding. We were all at the landing zone and it appeared at the last second and tossed everybody's glider, including those with people still strapped in. These must be taken into account whenever fire is present, especially on campfires in open fields with flashy fuels around.
First off, they were there stopping what we just, The "Rim fire" I have worked on the Stanislaus for 8 years now, and down there on lumpston road is so dangerous for fires, and there are many small communities that are above that canyon, so to ask why they were there and make it sound like they shouldn't even have been there like it was someones fault that this happened is awful. Also, we cutt line downhill everyday with the right things in place.
downhill parallel with no structures threatened on a complacent crew... been there done that, wish I could go back and smack the shit out of my superintendents. you know what, it's not the wuss who speaks up; in retrospect it's gonna take some pretty brave men and women (braver than I was) refusing assignments and taking a stand to make the old guard change their tactics and fight fire more intelligently and creatively.
May I ask where you on this particular fire?
It happened so fast, she passed away so quickly, that windshift was incredibly fast
My dad was on that fire, I was 7 years old at the time.
Thank you.
R.I.P. Sister... Every Memory Forever...Currently Enrolled In The Rio Hondo WildLand Fire Academy Class15...
Continuing what I started, sadly and I wish this wasnt true but in our job there will always be deaths, and we have gotten great at making sure people dont get burned over but there are things you may never get to see before it happens like the million and one hazard tree senarios we could go through, but this helitack crew is really the best of the best, so they were doing the right thing at the right time.
Rip sis
and just so you know, it took scientists and meteorologists to go out to that piece of ground and they figured out that during only those summer months, on hotter than normal days mainly that the wind is forced u the northern drainage and swirls back with fierce high speeds but it only happens once to three times daily, who is suppose to predict that?
i know its been half a decade, but, is that really what caused this incident? how did the scientists find this out? (future wildland firefighter here wanting to learn for future reference and if its possible to find it out with any high tech equipment i might spend my weekends looking for such topography that might produce a wind like this being in the hill country of texas i could see a fatality like this happening in my area.)
P.S i will be doing a lot more research on the subject but this would be a helpful starting point!
Regards,
A Charming Life
Another great report, yet another ongoing wildland fire tragedy. All these lessons but is anyone really listening to them and learning? No one should ever die for a wildfire! Working downhill on a fire should never be done.
As my veteran fire chief dad taught me. Always have one foot in the burn. Never work downhill of a fire. And never be above a fire on a ridge or in a draw. Those few things will keep you alive.
Brave firefighters
Poor woman :(
my comments were mainly for you, im not trying to be mean just saying be carful the way you talk about these situations.
So sad and a waste of a seemingly beautiful life:{
It would be so much better with a real human commentator instead of the audio generator.....
An R sounds real to me
Lesson learned, run faster
or don't cut line downhill. Gravity is your friend.