French Fire Night Time Hoist Extraction 2014

Four crews (Tahoe IHC, Truckee IHC, Horseshoe IHC and Ventura County 12) were working the night shift on Division X of the French Fire near North Fork, California. Crews were assigned to construct fireline. The terrain was extremely steep and rocky with a brush, timber and grass fuel component. Fire behavior was an active backing fire. At approximately 0053 in the morning, a large snag within the black fell parallel to the fire perimeter, hit adjacent trees, and caused a shrapnel effect of flying woody debris. A sawyer cutting brush ahead of line construction effort for the Tahoe IHC was struck by an 8” diameter piece of this woody debris. As crewmembers rushed to the downed firefighters aid, he was found to be semi-conscious with a visible laceration to the head (caused by broken hardhat suspension). The patient's injury severity and the difficulty of extraction prompted the IWI IC to call for aerial extraction. The patient was hoisted into the aircraft at 0206 and transported to the hospital.