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| Water Tender rollover on Bolli fire Posted: 05 Jun 2007 01:10 PM GMT-06:00 Water Tender rollover on wildland firehttp://www.wildlandfire.com/pics/equip10/wtr-tndr-rollover.jpg
THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE Preliminary factual findings: On May 25th, contract Water Tender (WT) E41 was assigned to dust abatement on Forest Road 35N18 on the Bolli incident on the Shasta-McCloud Management Unit of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. E41 was driving southerly along 35N18 towards Curl ridge. The vehicle's left tires left the hardened surface of the roadway causing the vehicle to roll and slide down the embankment approximately 200 feet. Cab & chassis were separated from the water tank and came to rest right side up approximately 200 feet down the embankment. The driver was discovered outside the vehicle and about 50 feet above it. The driver had lacerations to the head and was bruised with possible fractures. Rescuers performed extraction procedures and a medical evacuation to Mercy Medical Hospital. The driver was treated and kept overnight for observation and released on May 26th. Narrative: WT E41 is a type 2 water tender, 1974 Kenworth 900, license number SE505316, with 2500-3000 gallon capacity. At 1130 at the Water Tender Group briefing in the field, water tender E41 was assigned to continue watering 35N18, the main access route to the fire. WT E41 proceeded southerly from the bottom of Sheep Camp access road to begin dust abatement where the previous water tender had left off. At 1208 a call from WT E59 indicated that a water tender had gone off the road and that the driver was found outside the vehicle trying to climb back up the hill. Tracks indicate that WT E41 was headed southerly up a relatively straight stretch of road 35N18 when the left wheels of vehicle went onto the soft shoulder and the vehicle could not return to the hardened travel way. Apparently, the vehicle rolled upside down and slid down hill until another obstacle flipped it back upright. It is unclear when the cab/chassis and the water tank became separated. The roof of the cab was ripped off, remaining attached only at one corner, and the top of the water tank was severely scraped. However, damage to the vehicle was not as severe as expected: the water tank was not ruptured; the truck tires were all intact except the left inside dual; the dash, steering column, and seat were intact; and the fuel tanks were intact. Debris from the descent was distributed in a fairly narrow corridor. There was no water left in the tank and no evidence of loss of a large quantity of water at the scene. The road bed at the scene was not wet when the responders arrived. It is unclear when and how the driver got out of the vehicle. It is also not clear if the driver was wearing his seat belt at the beginning of the accident or removed it during the accident. When found by E59 contract water tender driver, E41's driver was told to remain in place until medical assistance could arrive. Due to the driver's injuries and the difficult nature of his location, CHP worked with Incident Command on a helicopter extraction. Bolli Incident staff prepared the driver for extraction; the CHP Helicopter extracted the driver and transferred him to the life flight helicopter (REACH) for transfer to Mercy Medical Hospital for evaluation and necessary medical care. The driver suffered lacerations, bruises and a fractured thumb. At this time there is no evidence that any other vehicles were involved in the accident. Road 35N18 is a level 2 road in steep terrain. Road conditions at the accident site were unremarkable: road alignment grade in the direction of travel was 4-6% uphill; there is no outsloping evident on this stretch of road; and the hardened travel way is 11 feet wide. As you are facing the direction of travel, there is a sheer rock cut bank on the right side of the road and the embankment on the left drops off at about an 80% slope. Turnout opportunities were available about 100 feet before the site and another visible farther south up the road at the next spur ridge. Records indicate that appropriate vehicle inspections had occurred prior to the incident. There is no information available about the speed of the vehicle. Vehicle inspection will occur after recovery and a coordinated CHP and Law Enforcement investigation is still ongoing.
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| Larson Fire - Wind-driven Sierra fire update Posted: 05 Jun 2007 11:52 PM GMT-06:00 RGJ.com: Wind-driven Sierra fire update :  A crew of Hotshots pulls back as a section of the Larsen brush fire blows up due to high winds and dry conditions in Coleville on June 5, 2007. The fire was started by lightning on Saturday June 2nd and was contained early until high winds on Tuesday morning spread the fire. COLEVILLE, Calif. (AP) — Winds gusting up to 65 mph fanned a Sierra wildfire that forced the evacuation Tuesday of up to 200 people near the California-Nevada line and the closure of a 40-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 395. With airtankers grounded in the sustained winds of 40 mph, the fire tripled in size from an estimated 200 acres Tuesday morning to more than 600 acres along the Sierra's eastern front by late afternoon, said Mark Struble, a spokesman for the Sierra Front Interagency Fire Dispatch Center.About 50 homes in Mono County between Coleville and Walker were immediately threatened and another 150 structures were in the area of the fire, he said. "It is growing. We don't know exactly what direction it is heading," Struble told The Associated Press. "The winds are really swirling. Even (overnight) the forecast is for sustained winds of 20 to 35 mph with gusts to 55 mph," he said. No damage to homes or injuries had been reported but the fire did burn over some equipment at a temporary firefighter camp behind Coleville High School, including a refrigerated storage until and several portable toilets, Struble said. More than 200 firefighters were battling the fire along with at least 14 fire engines, three water tenders and a bulldozer, Struble said. Local commanders put orders in for a Type I federal incident team that will bring hundreds more firefighters to the scene but that could take more than a day, he said. Authorities evacuated the grade school and the high school in Coleville about 8 miles south of the Nevada line Tuesday morning as well as several neighborhoods with as many as 200 residents over a 5-mile stretch from Coleville south to the northwest edge of Walker. "They have been safely evacuated," Struble said. In addition to fueling the fire through scrub pines, sagebrush and juniper, the high winds prevented any attack on the flames from the air. "You can't really put a safely loaded airtanker or helicopter up in wind gusts to 50 mph. And even if you could, the drop would go blowing off away from the flames. So all you really are doing is putting a crew at risk," Struble said. Walker is the town where a C-130A airtanker on contract to fight fires for the U.S. Forest Service crashed while attacking a blaze on June 17, 2002, killing all three crew members. "It is actually very close to where that airtanker went down," Struble said. On the bright side, some rain was included in the forecast overnight. "It would be nice if we could get some rain on it," Struble said. "The fire jumped over Highway 395 and there are a lot of irrigated fields there so maybe that will help too." The California Highway Patrol closed U.S. Highway 395 just before noon from Holbrook Junction in Nevada at State Route 208 south to California State Route 182 in Bridgeport. The high winds rekindled the fire, named the Larson Fire, which had been smoldering since lightning started it on Friday near Coleville High School. At Carson City, about 45 miles to the north, the winds gusting up to 33 mph forced the closure of a city street about 45 miles to the north in Carson City, Nev., and left the sheriff's office and courthouse without power when tree limbs broke off onto a power line. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CA-SFC - Larson -Wildland fire - restart - Evacuations. Posted: 05 Jun 2007 12:18 PM GMT-06:00 CA-SFC - Larson UPDATE: 1530 HRS: 500 ACRES, 0% CONTAINMENT, 250 structures threatened. Mandatory evacuations all structures between Larson Lane and Cunningham Lane. Possible restart fire taking off Reports of rapid rate of spread. Possible rekindle of the Larson Fire near Coleville, Strong winds on fire. Closing Hwy 395 and EVACUATE COVILLE AND HIGH SCHOOL. All aircraft are grounded due to high winds Per CHP CAD evacs in progress and closing large stretch of Hwy 395. Sierra Front Wildcad.
CHP CAD
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