Caples Escaped Prescribed Pile Burn 2019

On the morning of September 30, 2019, Alpha Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC) assembled at the Caples Creek Trailhead to implement the Low Complexity (type 3) Placerville Districtwide Pile burn. Twenty-five acres of piles were planned to be burned that Monday. At 1016, the burn boss documented that the test fire was successful and ignition operations continued with resources burning piles.

On October 10--ten days after this ongoing pile burning project began--at the morning briefing winds were so strong that the “heavy” burn plan, two coffee cups, and an iPad blew off the hood of a truck and were blown approximately 250 feet away. At this point, the Forest Supervisor, who was continuing to show his support by attending the briefings, thought things were not going to go well.

Weather conditions on October 10 again tested resources on the prescribed burn. At approximately 1000, winds increased to 10-30 mph and holding efforts were compromised. At that same time, the firewatch platform reported that a 250-acre spot fire was detected across Caples Creek. After hearing the current situation on the radio, the Forest Fuels Specialist felt “we were outside of our complexity analysis.” Charlie IHC “suggested to the RXB2 that the prescribed burn should be converted to a wildfire.”

Prescribed Fire, Escaped Prescribed Fire