Pingree Hill Prescribed Fire Fuel Geyser Burn Injury 2016

The sawyer sizes-up the second snag and identifies a rock adjacent to the tree that he can stand on to make his cuts. He enters the burned area, steps onto the rock, and pulls on the starter cord. The saw starts but quickly sputters and dies. The sawyer opens the choke and tries again--with the same result. After two or three more tries, he thinks the saw may be out of gas.

As he opens the cap the fuel sprays out in two distinct bursts--spraying liquid and vaporized fuel on the sawyer's stomach area and right arm. The swamper looks and notices fuel “boiling and bubbling” out of the fuel tank and sees open flame beneath the sawyer’s feet. Fuel ignites from the ground, running up toward the saw and the sawyer. Immediately, the sawyer’s Nomex shirt ignites around his right arm and stomach area. He swings the saw to the left, drops it in the rocks, then sprints downhill through the black to the unburned area beneath the handline and drops to the ground. The swamper reacts and jumps on top of the sawyer and helps extinguish him by throwing dirt on the flames and rolling around to smother the fire. Once the fire is extinguished the sawyer grabs a radio and calls the Crew Boss Trainee who responds immediately. The sawyer calmly states: “I am burned pretty bad, code red, need an air transport, need to go to the hospital now.” 

Chainsaws, Fuel Geyser, Prescribed Fire, Medevac, Hand Crews, Burn Injury