Transcript for:
Wildland Firefighting Safety Lessons

the 18 watch out situations are part of the backbone of wildland firefighting operations together with the 10 standard fire orders they act as guidelines to help firefighters with the decision-making process in the late 1960s the 13 situations that shout watch out were developed as a tool to help firefighters be more proactive rather than reactive in hazardous situations in 1987 five more watch outs were added to the list and they were renamed the 18 watch out situations the watch out situations are dynamic and need to be continually referenced throughout an operational period they can be used as trigger points or help recall a past experience that you can apply to the current situation to be effective firefighters should understand the meaning of each watch out and know how to apply them during a wildland fire memorization is not enough when it comes to the 18 watch out situations [Music] [Music] it was 0 4 30 and the captain was not happy an hour before he woke up to a phone call from the district ranger the ranger told him to round up some engines and head out to a reported lightning strike fire spotted by a lookout the ranger said there had already been enough large fires on her district that summer and she did not want another when the engines arrived on scene they couldn't see any smoke or fire probably because it's still dark the captain said to himself the rangers instructions and assignments were not clear she told the captain to go find the fire and they would decide what action to take later the captain and the other engines had arrived from different states just yesterday so they are already unfamiliar with weather and local factors that influence the fire behavior and now they were in country not seen in daylight what a way to start the day the captain mumbled the captain introduced himself to the firefighters and told them to split up and hike around to try and find the fire he realized the firefighters were uninformed on strategy tactics and hazards and safety zones and escape routes had not been identified but he wasn't going to waste their time with those until he knew the fire location around one o'clock the weather was getting hotter and drier the captain finally saw the smoke coming from the bottom of the drainage because of the difficult terrain he couldn't see the main fire and wasn't in contact with anyone who could and he had no communication link with the other crew members as well the fire had not been scouted or sized up so he decided to hike down and take a look when he got down there he was relieved to see the fire was small in the shade and just smoldering the captain was tired from the long morning so he decided to have lunch and take a nap near the fire line before he started to mop up the captain woke up to a fire that was now very active the wind had increased and changed direction fanning flames he needed help luckily he was able to contact some firefighters who were back at the engines located on the road above him the captain told them to start building fireline downhill towards the fire below he warned the firefighters there was a lot of unburned fuel between them and the fire he started attempting a frontal assault on the fire but the fire was more than he could handle going direct the captain decided to start digging line up towards the firefighters coming down unfortunately he started constructing fire line without a safe anchor point the firefighters digging above were on hillside where rolling material started to ignite the fuel below where the captain had no anchor point he started getting frequent spot fires across the line the fire was now out of control at this point the captain knew he and the other firefighters were in real trouble everything was happening so fast he didn't have any safety zones identified and even if he did the terrain and fuels would make the escape to the safety zones very difficult he frantically contacted the firefighters digging down the hill and yelled for them to pull back to the engines because the fire was racing their way as the shocked firefighters ran up the hill they could feel the heat from the wind and the flames at their backs the captain was now surrounded by fire he couldn't believe what was happening suddenly the winds died down the captain saw a gap in the flames and jumped through the fire he scrambled up through the black of the scorched hillside as he crested the hill the captain's heart sank the engines along with the deployed fire shelters were engulfed in flames he tried to get to the shelters but the heat was unbearable the captain dropped to his knees tears mixed with sweat thinking about the firefighters his mind filled with guilt and grief he'd been careless with their safety and now they paid the ultimate price for his mistakes the nightmare had become reality then out of nowhere he heard voices he thought it was his radio but when he turned he saw firefighters rushing through the smoke towards him they had not been inside the fire shelters the high winds had ripped the shelters from their hands the firefighters grabbed the overwhelmed captain and led him down the escape route to the safety zone the firefighters had established prior to the blow up looking back the captain realized he took the 18 watch out situations for granted he vowed never to forget the lessons he learned that fateful day on the fire line you