Surviving Forest Fire

[zenheretic]

If you find yourself volunteering or contracting to fight a forest fire; your death odds will most likely be from poor health or equipment incidents(like wreaking a vehicle).

http://forestry.about.com/cs/forestfire/a/wild_fatal_b.htm

If the subject interests you, please read all the other links within the above link.


Something to remember if you are in a burned over area after the fire is out (during too but you shouldn't be there), is the risk of falling snags. The data shows plenty of deaths from this risk, obviously due to the fire burning out the tree's support roots, so they fall unpredictably. The article shows few deaths from snags, but fire fighters/teams on clean-up routinely cut down such risks. As a civilian, you might think it is neat to explore the wasteland moonscape of a burned out area so be warned.


Just about anything you ever wanted to read about fire...
http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/index.html

 

[zenheretic]

Seeing smoke. The general rule is the blacker the smoke, the hotter the fire, so dark black smoke means big trouble.

smoke color goes - more wildland firefighters have been killed in the grass fuel model (WHITE smoke) than any other type of fuel. Grasses holds moisture so it burns white in color, it also burns extremely fast so it will travel as fast as the wind blows.

Thanks for fleshing out the comment and stressing the importance/risk of the light fuels. Ideally people would be assessing a fire from a great distance. Suppose you out camping a see smoke over the ridgeline but you are unsure how far away it is; f it is white in the morning and grows darker and darker it is burning hotter and likely faster. In that regard you might want to hump out the best direction possible. Also as a vet of Yellowstone, you likely know that heavy woods can burn as fast or faster than the wind as well.

The fire shelter tent is a last ditch tool to protect you airways from being cooked ( read: kiss your ass goodbye). A forest ranger in Florida used one in a fire shelter deployment and he survived the wildfire because he protected his airways; doctor at the hospital had to surgically remove his fire helmet because it melted to his head! He sufferd third-degree burns over 60% of his body and survived. How's that for Wilderness Survival?
Please say a prayer for the safety of our firefighters and have a fire safe day!

Most shelter deployments result in much better results...for example http://www.nifc.gov/safety/fire_shelter.htm

Although no one was advocating wilderness skills folk add a shelter to their kit, the topic did arise.

 

[Return of the J.D.]

Tell me about topography: what do I look for (both to avoid, and to seek out) in terms of how the ground is shaped? I'm not sure I'm intuitively grasping what kind of land causes fires to expand more quickly, etc.

 

[Swampdog]

Fire runs fast upslope during daytime due to hot air rises, and the flames are closer to the fuels (vegetation) due to slope. Avoid getting trapped in narrow box canyons, chutes and saddles, places where the winds will funnel through at higher speeds. Fires are more active on the southern exposure of mountains due to the extended period of sunlight, it causes the fuels to dry out faster. Look for rockslides and other areas that will not carry fire due to lack of vegetation. Try to find water: creek, river, lake, wetlands that will be safe from fire. Topo maps are handy to have when you are outdoors so you can find the different land features that we are discussing.
As I recall, a bunch of elk died of smoke inhalation when they were trapped in a box canyon in Yellowstone during the fires of '88, they were not burned.

 

[kdstrick]

Good info fellas, thanks! Texas had it's share of wildfires last year, so this is good to know.

 

[go2ndAmend]

I'll throw in my two cents. When I was in my 20's there was a large series of fires here in Northern CA. I got a job as a driver for the Forest Service fire spotter. We spent several days and nights driving 4x4 trails determining where to allocate crews and equipment and letting the chief know what was happening by radio. What I learned:
1. You cannot outrun a fire, and at times it was dicey outdriving one.
2. In a forest fire, your senses don't work well. (sight, smell, direction, hearing)
3. A large fire sounds like a freight train and trees literally explode.
4. Get as far away as fast as possible.
5. Heat shields don't work. (2 firemen tragically died on this fire with properly deployed shields.)