Fire Shelter Deployment

Direct link to July 2013 video from The Bulletin on YouTube

I am in the process of reading another book on wildland firefighting, Fury and the Beast by Dave Scott, Mr. Scott chronicles his 27 year career as a wildland firefighter. He also provides photos and maps of wildfires. I am currently reading his account of the 1996 Shepard Mountain Fire in Montana where wildland firefighters had to deploy shelters as their only option to stay safe. Only one firefighter was injured with second degree burns, no firefighter died. About one hundred residents were evacuated. Thirty-five residences and forty out buildings were destroyed. I do not know the exact date of when this fire was brought under control, but I know from this September 8, 1996 Associated Press Article in the Spokane Review that the fire had burned 18,500 acres.

In their Six Minutes for Safety Section, The National Wildlife Coordinating Group (NWCG) has an article on deploying fire shelters, go here to read the NWCG article on deploying fire shelters. The NWCG says that "Firefighters must never rely on fire shelters. Instead, they depend on well-defined and pre-located escape routes and safety zones. However, if the need for shelter deployment should ever arise, it is imperative that firefighters know how to deploy and use the fire shelter." They go onto discuss several points regarding the deployment of fire shelters, I learned about fire shelter deployment from reading this article, they say in part:

• Do not think of your fire shelter as a tactical tool.
• Recognize when deployment is your only option. When considering escape, remember that you can hold your breath for only about 15 seconds while running through flames or superheated air.
• If time runs out while attempting to escape, get on the ground before the flame front arrives and finish deploying on the ground. Death is almost certain if the fire catches a person upright (the optimal survival zone with or without a shelter is within a foot of the ground). Once entrapped, the highest priority is to protect the lungs and airways.

wildland firefighter safety: fire shelters

Perhaps the most important piece of protective equipment that each wildland firefighter carries is her or his fire shelter. Deploying a fire shelter is a last resort when wildland firefighters are in danger of a burn over and are not near a safe zone. My purpose here is to refer to this piece of equipment, showing through a couple of videos how the shelter is deployed and also some survival stories.

Deploying a fire shelter, the fire shelter in the video is a demonstration model. A real fire shelter can only be deployed once. Learning how to deploy a fire shelter and practice doing so is a part of the annual and refresher training that wildland firefighters go through. 

Direct link to video from from The Bulletin on deploying a fire shelter

In the next video, one of thirteen videos from Wildland Fire LLC that Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today shared in April of this year, you will hear wildland firefighters who have deployed their fireshelters talk about their shelter deployment stories.

Fireshelter Deployment Stories from Wildland Fire LLC

Fire Shelter Deployment

All wildland firefighters working on the ground carry fire shelters, practice deploying fire shelters during their annual training. The hope is that they never have to deploy fire shelters. Watch the 10 minute video to learn more about deploying fire shelters.


direct link to video

Video from Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center, for more information on fire shelters to this page from NIFC.

Wildland Firefighters: staying safe - fire shelters

Aerial wildland firefighters do what they do in order to help and support the wildland firefighters on the ground (aka ground pounders) contain and control the wildfire. They do this by putting the retardant or water/foam where the ground pounders need it most. From time to time I want to remind myself and those of you who find your way to this blog about the important work that wildland firefighters on the ground do to keep us safe. My intent in this article is to talk a little about what I have learned about one specific piece of safety equipment that wildland firefighters carry, the fire shelter.

After I first got interested in wildland firefighting in the Fall of 2008, it did not take me long to learn about fire shelters that wildland firefighters carry, these shelters are only deployed as a last resort. I wrote and article on this blog about fire shelters on Aug. 10, 2009, I urge you to take a few moments and review some of the information in that article. I believe that much of the information in that article is still applicable and you might want to take a look at the video of the Santiago Fire Shelter Deployment (with a happy ending).

A few months later, in May 2010, I posted an article here, with a video showing some of the training that wildland firefighters do with their shelters. I understand that the video makes it look a lot easier than it is.

I'm not sure that there is much more about fire shelters that I can say at this time, except to stress that a wildland fire fighter's fire shelter may be the most important piece of equipment that they carry. I did find a nice, but albeit long video (25 minutes plus) about the new generation fire shelter. I think the video is meant to be a training video, however I learned a lot from watching this video. I thought that some of you might enjoy watching this 25 minute video. 

Direct link to video.

Fire shelters redux

Perhaps the most important piece of personal protection equipment outside of fireproof clothing that every wildland firefighter carries on her or his person is the fire shelter. Training in the proper use of a fire shelter can be a life saver.

Addendum on May 24, 2010: A friend of mine who is a wildland firefighter tells me that the video shows how they practice with their shelters. They use fans to simulate the wind, and it is a lot harder to work with the shelter with the wind blowing on you. He goes on to say that the video makes it look a lot easier than it is.

wildland fire crews: fire shelters

From the youtube summary for this video:

Fire shelter deployment from October 22, 2007 by Orange County Fire Authority engine crews. Photos by Karen Tapia Andersen of the Los Angeles Times. A presentation quality video (30 mb) can be downloaded from the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned website at this location (but only if you have quicktime pro).

I’ll tell you how the video ends, all fire firefighters in this fire shelter deployment incident survived. The video may be difficult to watch, but it is important. The fire spotted downslop from the twelve firefighters, and took a run up the hill. The fire fighters could not escape to safety (for example to a “black” or already burned area), so as a last resort, they deployed (crawled under) their shelters.

What are fire shelters? Fire shelters, designed to protect the occupant from being burned by flames, are just large enough for a person to crawl under. The firefighter lies face down on the ground, holding the shelter close to the ground, to protect their lungs from the heat of the flames and the smoke.

fire shelter: An aluminized tent offering protection by means of reflecting radiant heat and providing a volume of breathable air in a fire entrapment situation. Fire shelters should only be used in life threatening situations, as a last resort.

fire shelter deployment: The removing of a fire shelter from its case and using it as protection against fire.

[from National Wildfire Coordinating Group Incident Operations Standards Working Team (PMS 205), 2007. Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology.

Here are some resources on fire shelters:

History of the Development of the Fire Shelter

US Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management, fire shelter information. This is a brief page with a couple of photos.

National Interagency Fire Center on fire shelters. There is a lot of information on this site, including, but not limited to the two documents below.

National Interagency Fire Center on fire shelters (as of 12/12/12)

The New Generation Fire Shelter. This is the publication that describes the new generation fire shelter. As I understand all wildland fire crews will be using the new generation fire shelter on or before January 1, 2010 and will be familiar with this document.

Tech Tip: What’s New in the New Generation Fire Shelter

I’d like to thank Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today News for his help in reviewing this article and being a second pair of eyes. Thanks Bill!