Washington and Jefferson National Forests Initial Attack Fire Fuel Geyser 2026

After receiving a briefing on an initial attack fire, the sawyer and his partner anchored into the creek and traveled up the right flank of the fire. They built line as a team of two, while crews from two, 4-person engines worked this same plank. After felling a 16-inch diameter-at-breast-height (DBH) burning snag and bumping up the line, the sawyer was unable to restart his saw. The sawyer moved about 20 feet away from the fire to investigate the issue. 

Unsure of how long it had been since he last refueled, he popped the cap off the saw, notably failing to first check the fuel window. Fuel immediately sprayed out of the saw, splashing his chaps, leg, chest and arm. He informed the Incident Commander (IC) that he was hiking down to his vehicle to clean himself off from a fuel geyser incident. Down at the truck, he changed his Nomex shirt, washed his skin, and did his best to clean the fuel off his Nomex pants. After allowing his pants to dry, he returned to the fireline and resumed work. 

The next day he noticed a small blister had developed on one of his wrists and filled out a precautionary federal
report of work-related injury (an OWCP Form CA-1).