Weston Pass Fire Tornado Incident 2018

Fire personnel were on either side of the tornado— between 70 to 250 feet away from it—when it touched down and started its path of destruction. Firefighters could only see about 30 feet in front of them as the trees snapped-off and fell all around them. It was communicated over the radio and verbally for people to seek refuge where ever they could—in low areas, in vehicles, and under the dozer. One Lookout on the hill dropped his pack and started to run. But he quickly realized that there was no good place to go and sought shelter by a nearby tree. Another firefighter was driving a UTV, abandoned it on the road, and immediately ran to a nearby vehicle.

The entire event impacted the crews for approximately 6-8 minutes—from start to finish. Once the tornado had passed, firefighters describe the scene as calm with blue sky. The tornado continued its path of destruction for approximately another mile without impacting any other fire personnel. Immediately afterward, the DIVS (t) started to think “worst case scenario, mass casualties of 40-plus firefighters”. An immediate accountability check was established. All personnel were accounted for and uninjured. Each individual crew/group of personnel took some time to have a quick check-in.

RLS, Close Call