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Incident Information:
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Location:
Montana -
Date:
07/31/2019 -
Incident Type:
Vehicle Incident -
Description:
You're on the 2019 Beeskov Fire in Montana. You and your coworker are driving down a seldom used Forest System road to look at a potential work site. As is often the case with roads like this, it has a fair amount of alder growing out of the cut bank. Some spots are brushier than others and it’s hard to avoid alder sweeping against your sideview mirror. There’s dead and down lodgepole present, but so far you haven’t had to stop and cut any out of the road grade.
Windows up and AC on, you’re just driving and talking about the proposed work plan… ”Before we knew it the window is exploding!” It comes right in through the driver’s side window, right past your head, across the seat, all the way to the back passenger door by the time you get the truck stopped. You look inside your vehicle behind you and see a 9-foot piece of lodgepole pine, 4 inches in diameter. It runs from the backseat all the way out the driver’s window, somehow snapping off at that point. You both are checking yourselves and each other to make sure no one is hurt. Unbelievably, you both are fine. Just a scratch on the driver’s back!
Driving, Vehicle Incident or Accident