Strong, shifting winds that dramatically fanned a wildfire near Twisp
in Okanogan County in August pushed walls of flames and smoke onto a
team of firefighters, catching them off-guard and forcing them to
retreat blindly down a winding dirt road to their deaths, according to a
joint state and federal report released Friday. With “the road completely obscured by smoke,” the four U.S. Forest
Service firefighters fleeing in Engine No. 642 — one of several crews
battling the blaze — raced down Woods Canyon Road as flames exploded
around them. “They
kept driving downhill, but they had zero visibility, and the engine
went off the road,” the report said. “The engine came to a stop, and the
surviving firefighter got out and was immediately engulfed in flames.
He went through the flames and made his way to the road.” The report, offers the most detailed account to date about the circumstances surrounding the deadly blaze that
killed U.S. Forest Service firefighters Richard Wheeler, Andrew Zajac and Tom Zbyszewski on Aug. 19. The fire also critically burned
Daniel Lyon Jr., who staggered away from the wrecked engine to safety. The report — authored by a team of employees from the U.S. Forest
Service (USFS), the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and
the National Park Service — offers a narrative of the fire’s
circumstances as part of a larger, ongoing review that seeks to assess
the tragedy for safety improvements...
more
No comments:
Post a Comment