The Burn Boss (RXB2) for the Miccosukee Tribe in Florida and the Regional Fire Management Officer (FMO) for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, started looking for a burn window for the Dubba Shop #2 Prescribed burn.
The FMO and RXB2 were able to secure 22 personnel, four UTVs, a Type 6 Engine, a swamp buggy, and other support vehicles.
At the staging area, the RXB2 verbally covered the burn plan, including: overall objectives, operations, the ignition plan, weather, and safety information. There was no Incident Action Plan handed out, as all were expected to take notes.
The firefighters successfully burned the west line up to the northern perimeter, turned east and began to fire the north line. At this time the resources on the northern and southern perimeters could see each other and tried to synchronize the pace of their ignitions as they moved east.
As they fired one strip from the north to the south, the UTV operator remembered that he was supposed to drive all the way up to the burn’s northern perimeter. While doing this, he was unaware of the ditch that was running east-west through the unit and had to stop quickly to avoid hitting it. At this same time, they continued to fire off the side of the UTV, unaware of the stop that was going to be made. They attempted to back up the UTV and it stalled out, with the UTV not wanting to start and the flames growing, they bailed off the UTV. The UTV was soon engulfed in flames.
Some lessons learned from this experience:
– Burn Plans covering landscapes areas need to address site-specific information.
– When a paper IAP is unavailable for briefing, use a QR code or be explicit that you are providing a verbal IAP.
– Determine capabilities and limitations of all UTVs and ATVs.
– Train on UTVs to include emergency scenarios.
For more information and the full report, be sure to check it out here.