Bully Fire Tree Incident 2014

On July 15, 2014, at approximately 1228 hours a federal hotshot crew member from the Mendocino Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC), of the Mendocino National Forest, was struck across the back and head by a fire weakened tree while fighting a wildland fire. The Mendocino IHC was assisting CAL FIRE with the suppression of a wildland fire at the time of the incident. The crew from the Mendocino IHC was performing direct hand-line construction on a flank of the fire, when the crew member was hit across the back and head by a 10-12 inch in diameter fire weakened tree, causing him to fall to the ground. The crew member remained conscious and felt tingling in his hands. Due to mechanism coupled with pain in the crew member’s back and leg, C-Spine precautions were immediately initiated. Due to poor access of ground resources, the crew member was hoisted and initially transported by CAL FIRE Copter 205. Copter 205 transported to the Bully Helicopter Base where a ground ambulance received the patient and transported to Mercy Medical Center, Redding.