OSHA fines agencies, while
Forest Service
says not their fault, in tragic firefighter death
The U.S. Forest Service’s
Serious Accident Investigation (SAI) team, which explored the death last summer
of firefighter Anne Veseth, 20, of
Veseth had been a wildland
firefighter for two years, and was part of a Forest Service crew combating the
Steep Corner Fire near Headquarters. She was killed Aug. 12 when the trees
surrounding her came down in a “domino effect,” and a green cedar, weakened by
fire, struck her in the head.
Veseth was lifted out of the
area by one of the helicopters used to fight the fire, as the terrain was
unsuited to a helicopter landing. The process of extracting her from the forest
and taking her to an ambulance took two hours and 26 minutes.
On Feb. 15 the nine-person
team of SAI investigators, who were assembled the day after Veseth’s death,
released a 43-page report on their findings. It said, in part, “After
considerable review of the incident…the SAI Team concluded that the judgments
and decisions of the firefighters involved in the Steep Corner Fire were
appropriate. Firefighters performed within the leaders’ intent and scope of
duty, as defined by their respective organizations. The Team did not find any
reckless actions or violations of policy or protocol.”
OHSA, after conducting its own
investigation into Veseth’s death, described several safety violations they
discovered.
Among these were: failing to
keep crews informed of weather reports, and not knowing at all times what the
fire was doing. The report also listed unsafe practices, communication problems,
and failure to maintain control of workforces.
A Forest Service hot shot crew
from Flat Head, MT, left the fire the day before Veseth was killed. The crew’s
superintendent claimed that firefighting conditions (managed by C-PTPA) were
“extremely unsafe because of falling snags, lack of communication, lack of a
command structure and mixed crews with no leadership.”
By Aug. 12, the Forest Service
reported that the hot shot crew’s concerns were being mitigated by C-PTPA.
The fatal blow
The SAI team, via interviews,
put together this narrative account of Anne Veseth’s final moments:
“‘Snag
falling!’ Kerry yells as he sees a tree across the creek falling
toward them. Everyone scatters; some firefighters run downhill while Kerry and
Anne run uphill.
“A quick glance and Kerry sees
it strike another tree and – believing he and Anne are in its path – yells
‘Down!’ and switches
directions, running down the fireline.
“With his fists and teeth
clenched, he expects to be hit. He hears a tremendous sound as the trees crash
downward and feels the whip of limbs on each side of him.
“He falls down, but, upon
realizing he is uninjured, quickly gets up and looks for Anne, who he thought
had been right behind him. He finds her three or four strides uphill under the
tree branches. After quickly clearing them away, he determines she did not
survive.” The time was between
The tree, according to the
report, fell on its own from south to north and slightly downhill. As it fell,
it struck a second green cedar. Sawyers had not been working on either tree.
The report also said: “Just
after
“During the operation, a
firefighter observed a tree on the opposite side of Steep Creek falling toward
them. Although everyone scattered, Anne died instantly. This tragedy resulted
from the chance alignment of certain conditions: an emergency response to
control a wildland fire, which required the presence of firefighters in an area
where fire-weakened trees could fall on their own with little or no warning.”
Forest Service investigators
measured 123 feet between Veseth and the stump of the 13-inch diameter tree that
caused the accident.
“The SAI team concluded that
the convergence of these events – in a very specific way and with very specific
timing – resulted in the fatal accident,” concluded the report.
Fire’s origins
The Steep Corner fire started
on Aug. 10. Employees of a local logging company were a month and a half into an
operation on Potlatch Corporation land, located about 56 miles northeast of
Orofino, and bordering the western edge of the
With steep slopes average 50%,
loggers had to use cables to pull cut logs uphill to a landing. The fire started
in the late morning, in an area of recently harvested trees and deep slash.
Loggers immediately attempted
to extinguish the fire, but upon realizing they would not be able to do so on
their own, notified C-PTPA at
Elevations on the fire ranged from
approximately 2,600 to 4,100 feet. Elevation at the point of origin was
approximately 3,500 feet.
The fire burned a total of 310
acres in 16 days and cost $2.1 million before it was suppressed.
Danger part of the job
“Slight differences in any
number of factors could have led to drastically different results. Firefighters
faced the same choice on this fire as they do on almost every fire: engage the
fire and expose firefighters to a certain set of risks in order to control the
fire, or don’t engage the fire and don’t control it, knowing that such a
decision often poses a wider range of risks to firefighters and the public,”
said the report. “Firefighters made the same basic risk decision on the Steep
Corner Fire as they do routinely on most fires: to engage the fire and attempt
to control it, knowing that firefighters would be exposed to hazards during
suppression efforts.”
A local fire manager, looking
back on that day, stated unequivocally “I don’t think we missed anything.”
The SAI team had this to say
about the agencies they worked with during the investigation: “The Serious
Accident Investigation Team thanks those employees of the Nez Perce and
Howard Weeks, C-PTPA Fire Warden, stated, “This was a
very tragic loss of life and deeply impacting to all those involved. We believe
the firefighters on the Steep Corner fire acted responsibly and courageously in
their attempt to suppress this fire. Hazards associated with the fire that were
identified by firefighters were given the highest level of concern and actions
were taken to mitigate as many hazards as possible.”
View the entire report as a PDF by clicking anywhere on this link.