Kaiser Canyon Fire Pump Operations Injury 2026

On August 9, 2026, at 1530 hours on the Kaiser Canyon Fire, an engine crew member was injured while attempting to fill a portable tank (pumpkin). The portable tank was at the end of an approximately mile-long, downhill hoselay, that was being supplied water by another portable tank and a Mark-3 pump. Two gated wyes were opened on the hoselay to fill the pumpkin. The first gated wye was connected to a lateral with a nozzle and the trunk line that fed the portable tank. The second wye was submerged in the portable tank. 

The first gated wye—which was on the ground—was difficult to open. The second gated wye that the crew member picked up out of the pumpkin jumped from the pressure after it was opened—hitting the crew member in the face, breaking his safety glasses, and causing a two-inch laceration below his right eye and broken facial bones.