Crew Entrapment on the Brewer Fire

[The 2024 Summer Issue of Two More Chains focused on leadership and highlighted incidents in which firefighters who weren’t “in charge” suddenly needed to make leadership decisions and take action. This short summary of the “Crew Entrapment on the Brewer Fire” incident—and its lessons—was one of these writeups that originally appeared in that Two More Chains issue.]

When the Wyoming Hotshots were assigned to the 1988 Brewer/Short Pines Complex, their Superintendent, a qualified Division/Group Supervisor, left the crew to act as a DIVS. The crew’s Foreman filled in as Supervisor. July 23 was the crew’s third shift on the complex. They were assigned to night shift on Div D—the Division that was under their Superintendent—securing the line by working with a contract Dozer Operator.

Tactics changed when the Dozer Operator declined to push line down a steep slope. The line then went from direct to indirect, using forest openings and roads to make the work easier. Fire behavior was benign. All the embers were lofting into the fire, flame lengths were low. No one felt the assignment was particularly dangerous.

Just before 2100 when the fire behavior changed, it was subtle at first. Some increase in torching near the line was occurring and embers started to fall on the green side. The Foreman passed the word to shut down the saws, cease work, and listen. He felt a dead calm and a sudden increase in temperature. Fire activity was picking up; embers were now falling across the line. The Foreman moved the crew down the escape route that he had flagged to a meadow.

The Leadership of the Foreman and Squadie: Saved Lives and Reduced Injuries

When the Foreman left the meadow to observe the fire’s progress, he put the Squad Boss in charge. At first, this Squadie carried out the Foreman’s orders and had the crew improve sites for a possible shelter deployment in the meadow. But the sanctuary that the meadow seemed to offer at first was elusive: grass and brush had to be removed and saw teams didn’t have the right tools to grub-up their own shelter sites. The Squadie therefore made the decision to move the crew to another portion of the meadow where the fuels were shorter and a roadbed was available.

According to the “Fire Shelter Deployment Investigation” report that documents the Brewer Fire entrapment: “In a matter of two or three minutes, the entire area between the flareups erupted. . . the front burst into flame.”

As the crew Foreman began running back toward the crew, the Squadie assessed that the time had come to deploy their fire shelters—and he set the example. Next, the crew also deployed their shelters. When the Foreman arrived at their location, most crewmembers were already deployed. The Foreman helped two crewmembers into their shelters before diving into his.

The entirety of this entrapment lasted less than 10 minutes. When it was over, it was discovered that several crewmembers had suffered burns. One crewmember needed an extended stay at the hospital for burns and smoke inhalation.

In that “Fire Shelter Deployment Investigation” report, the leadership of the Foreman and Squadie are noted as critical factors in saving lives and reducing injuries. This observation is included in the investigation report’s findings:

“The crew was reluctant to use shelters because of a feeling that it was bad and indicated that someone made a mistake. This reluctance could cause fatal delays. However, it is tied to a deeper safety consideration that people should be astute enough to avoid situations requiring deployment. This is a ‘Catch 22’ situation that needs further examination.”

Key Lessons

It has been more than 35 years since this entrapment shelter deployment on the Brewer Fire occurred. How has our culture changed around the “Catch-22” described above? If you were put into this Squadie’s situation on your module, would you feel you had the decision space to move the crew to a better location, or commit the crew to a shelter deployment by going first? If you are a supervisor, are you instilling that independent thinking and confident decision-making skills and abilities in your crewmembers?