Tonahutu Fire Dead and Down Mitigations RLS 2014

During initial attack and subsequent extended attack in 10-year-old beetle-killed lodgepole on the Tonahutu Fire, crews encountered high tree fall rates at low wind speeds and encountered challenges in developing a medical egress route through the dense, dead-and-down jackstraw. This dead-and-down build-up was greatly reducing the mobility of crews. To help meet the Dutch Creek Mitigations, a saw line was established into the fire. Even though the distance to the fire from an access trail was less than one quarter mile, it took a five-member saw squad five hours to complete this essential medical egress route. It was concluded that the time it would take to complete the egress route and a snag free zone(s) becomes severely limiting during IA when distances from a trail exceed one mile.