Devils Den Accident Investigation Report
The accident investigation report for the Devils Den fire in August, 2006 has been released. Here are a couple of paragraphs that jumped out at me:
As a result of these factors, the AFMO had little or no choice of an adequate escape route or safety zone at the time of the fire. His location in the chimney; in heavy fuels; in steep, rocky terrain; above the main body of the fire; at 1350 hours in the afternoon; on a
southwest aspect; in mid-August; and in southwest Utah where extreme fire behavior had been exhibited and observed for the last five plus weeks all aligned to drive the high intensity/short duration event that claimed the AFMO’s life.
...
As the Investigation Team completed their work on these causal and contributing factors, we were cognizant of the fact that much of this incident was the result of mistakes made by the victim. At the same time, we want to stress that whatever his thoughts were as he went – and then stayed too long – in the canyon, based on his reputation and experience, we find his intentions were noble, honorable, and in the best interests of his people and the land. His tragically short lapses in judgment should never obscure his greater contributions to wildland fire fighting. Indeed, they should heighten our desire to learn all we can from this accident to help all firefighters be more safe and effective in the future, from novice to the most experienced.
There is a lot of information in the report and anyone that works on wildland fires should read through it.
