How 4 Trapped CA Firefighters Survived Wildfire Inferno

In the early hours of the Valley Fire, four firefighters found themselves surrounded by spot fires on top of Cobb Mountain and were forced to deploy fire shelters as crews in the air and on the ground struggled to get aid to the trapped men, all of whom were badly burned.
In the first official account of how the four firefighters were injured in the early hours of the 76,000-acre blaze, which killed four people and destroyed nearly 2,000 structures, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, laid bare the details of how a four-man helicopter crew came to be cornered by a “wall of flame,” and ultimately how they came to be rescued.

the crew was flown in and dropped off in a clearing near where the fire started off High Valley Road in Kelseyville (Lake County) around 1:30 on Sept. 12.
From there, the four-man “helitack” team — which consisted of Capt. Pat Ward and firefighters Niko Matteoli, Richard Reiff and Logan Pridmore — used an access road to start attacking the left flank of the blaze. At that point, crews thought the fire would only burn about 20 acres and focused on the one structure it was threatening.
But the fire would soon explode, with spot fires, sparked by embers carried on strong winds, jumping ahead of the main blaze and trapping the men where they were attempting to make a stand against the growing inferno.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Official Report

Here is is an excerpt from the report.

“…FC1 directed FF3, FF4 and FF5 to get into the goat pen, which was clear to bare mineral soil. While in the goat pen they observed the fire behavior changing. There was an increase in the wind speed, and an increased number of spot fires in the pine needle duff and leaf litter surrounding them. FF3 saw fire sheeting and swirling across the dirt driveway on the northwest side of the goat pen; several pines torched on the west side of the steel garage.
From the location of RES2, FF2 observed increased fire behavior advancing toward Helitack A’s location. FF2 communicated the increased fire behavior using the radio; FC1 acknowledged FF2’s observation.
At approximately 1402 hours, the brush covered slope to their east completely torched into a wall of flame. The wall of flame sent a significant wave of radiant heat through the goat pen and onto the firefighters. They could feel their faces burning from the radiant heat and all four firefighters ran to the fence, climbed over, and ran towards the steel garage. At the steel garage Helitack A started to deploy their fire shelters.
“May-Day” was transmitted from FC1 and was heard over the radio. From the location of a third residence (RES3), FC2 could hear FC1 say over the radio, “Four have deployed their shelters, near a barn on the right flank.” FF4 had difficulty opening the fire shelter case from the Chainsaw Pack; the clear plastic covering of the fire shelter was soft and melted. FF4 had to remove the gloves to tear the plastic away from the aluminum shell of the fire shelter. FF3 couldn’t get the fire shelter out of the case because the clear plastic cover was melted to the white plastic protective sleeve. FF3 looked up and saw FF4 at the north side (D) of the steel garage. FF3 dropped the fire shelter on the ground and ran to FF4’s location. FF3 and FF4 shared FF4’s fire shelter and stayed together in a crouched position. FC1 and FF5 deployed their fire shelters on the east side (A) of the steel garage. The heat in front of the steel garage was too intense so they moved to the north side (D) of the steel garage with FF3 and FF4 where the atmosphere seemed to be cooler.
Helitack A huddled together shielding the heat away from their already burned faces and hands; each of them could see the visible burns to one another’s faces and hands. FC1 continued to use the radio requesting bucket drops from C1 on their deployment location to cool the atmosphere. FF5 attempted to drink the water from the hydration pack but the water from the mouth piece was too hot to drink. While crouched in their fire shelters next to the steel garage, Helitack A suddenly heard explosions coming from inside the now burning structure. As a group, Helitack A moved a safe distance from the structure. Helitack A eventually crouched along the dirt driveway, separating the dirt garden and the goat pen.
From the driveways of RES3 and a fourth residence (RES4), FC2 directed C1 to make bucket drops into Helitack A’s location at the top of the ridge. C1 orbiting above and was unable to get near their location at the top of the ridge due to the thick column of smoke convecting straight up into the atmosphere…”
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Injuries:

• FC1 suffered second and third degree burns to the head, face, ears, neck, back, arms, hands, legs and feet and has had several surgeries. FC1 remains in critical condition and is under the continued care of UCD Burn Center.
• FF4 suffered first and second degree burns to the face, head, ears, arms and hands and is under the continued care of UCD Medical Center.
• FF5 suffered first and second degree burns to the face, head, ears, arms, foot and hands and is under the continued care of UCD Medical Center.
• FF3 suffered first and second degree burns to the face, head, ears, arms and hands and is under the continued care of UCD Medical Center.

The report lists 13 “Safety issues for review and lessons learned”. Here are the first five:

• Crews must utilize L.C.E.S [lookouts, communications, escape routes, safety zones] when engaged in firefighting operations.
• ALL Ten Standard Fire Orders MUST be obeyed at ALL TIMES.
• Personnel MUST wear ALL CAL FIRE APPROVED PPE when engaged in firefighting operation.
• Modifying Personal Protective Equipment can alter the protective properties.
• Practice and prepare for shelter deployment in adverse and extreme conditions.
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