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Trial by fake fire

Digital simulation ups the training stakes for local volunteer firefighters

Had it been a real fire, the first mistake could have been fatal.

The fire was fake, but the adrenaline was not.

This year's all-county firefighter training was based around a digital simulation authentic enough to summon a sense of urgency similar to one that might be sparked by an actual wildland fire.

"We want to be as realistic as we can, just short of having smoke in the building – and if we could figure out how to do that, we would," says Jeremy Dedic of Wyoming State Forestry, which led the training.

The training was just one demonstration of the lengths to which Crook County's volunteers go to ensure they can safely and effectively respond to even the largest of emergencies.

Faking Fire

For many years, Crook County's finest have gathered each year to roleplay how individual units, departments and zones work together on a large fire event. It's both an opportunity to learn new skills and a chance to fine-tune the ones a firefighter already has.

"What we were looking at is a fire event that would be an all-county response," says Dedic. "In other words, it started out small and then they needed firefighters from the rest of the county to help."

The 25 students were split into groups representing individual units. The groups were divided among classrooms, watching the fire unfold on overhead projectors in sped-up real time.

Just as would be the case in reality, each group was only able to see the fire from their own perspective.

In addition, the groups were not able to speak to each other face to face. Just as would happen in reality, they either communicated via radio or travelled to physically visit another unit.

How a volunteer could respond was also limited by their location at the time of the initial call. For example, a unit from Beulah would have to wait an hour of fire time before joining the response.

On hand to assist were cooperators from the U.S. Forest Service, BLM and Wyoming State Forestry, as well as actors to represent county and area dispatch and the potential aerial response.

"We also had actors to play a dozer operator or a road grader operator who was not a county employee or a volunteer, like if a construction company was working nearby with heavy equipment," Dedic says.

The classroom set-up has been used before, but this year was a little different. New technology allowed for a simulation that takes into account real fuel data, topography and weather.

The simulation calculates how a fire would spread within the specified conditions. It's so precise, says Dedic, that a tiny change can lead to a completely different event.

"If you start the fire one pixel over, it changes the dynamics of the fire. If we change the wind speed and direction just a little bit, it burns slightly different," he says. "In previous years, I knew exactly what would happen because it was more like slides, but this is dynamic."

The First Mistake

"It started out as a house fire," Dedic says, describing the scenario programmed into the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) using a real location in the Keyhole area. "[The first group] responded like it was a structure fire, which means they brought their structure trucks."

By the time the unit reached the location, the house was fully engulfed and the event had become a wildland fire. The volunteers almost immediately found themselves trapped.

"The fire immediately overran their escape route – the road they came in on," Dedic says.

We didn't set unusual parameters – it was very natural. We didn't have to do a lot for this to be a fast fire because of the topography and the general wind direction and the fuels that are in that location."

The trapped volunteers spoke to the second response unit via radio and explained their predicament.

"It was kind of a hair-raising, eye-widening event to have yourself put into," Dedic says.

It was also not a coincidence. Despite the organic nature of the simulation, there was a high probability for the fire to encircle the group.

"We saw that it might do it while we were playing with [the program], but we thought that was a good thing," he says. "We want our firefighters to always be looking at escape routes – that's one of the four main things that we push."

The trap wasn't done yet.

"Another batch of firefighters engaged from a different direction and they got trapped, too. They were in a different classroom, looking at a different screen on the wall, and they can see the same fire but from a different aspect," Dedic says.

"They saw the fire coming and realized they needed to get out, but their road was closed. They couldn't get out, they couldn't go farther up the road because it just dead-ended."

The second group found a solution, utilizing the available aircraft to create a safety zone where they could remain until the fire passed them.

Lessons Learned

"There was a lesson there, but then it tied to a bigger lesson," Dedic says.

These days, he explains, you can gather information about a location before arriving on scene using your cell phone, and it's important for volunteers to get into that habit.

"If they can see where the fire is going to be, they can see that it's a one-way road that dead-ends, or that it's in timber, or that it's got steep hillsides next to it. They have that technology," he says.

No matter how seasoned the firefighter, it's easy to become complacent, Dedic says, and a training session like this aims to remind volunteers that things can go wrong in an instant.

"We go down roads that we don't know, so you don't know what's at the end. It's a nice, inviting, wide road, gravel but in good condition, you know people use it as a driveway and your truck will turn around – you feel safe," he says. "But you don't know what's at the end, and you don't know what the fire's doing because it's down over a hill, and that thing is moving fast."

There's a big difference between a textbook and a realistic scenario that may not involve real danger, but demands the kind of quick decisions that induce adrenaline and allow volunteers to see the consequences in real time. It reminds firefighters how important it is to be cautious, Dedic says.

Basic Principles

The four basic principles that firefighter training aims to hammer home are known as "LCES": lookouts, communication, escape routes and safety zones.

"We talk about them all the time," Dedic says. "This helped to solidify things that we've been teaching for years – not just us, but the fire community in general."

It's not as simple as arriving on scene, spotting your best route of escape and finding a safety zone in case you need to shelter. A fire, says Dedic, changes fast and constantly, often in unexpected ways.

"As your fire grows, your escape route changes or your safety zone location is now not available to you," he says. "More people show up, so your communication gets more confusing."

Following the exercise, volunteers and teachers were able to talk about what went well and what didn't in their individual groups and as a whole. This is extremely valuable in helping volunteers learn and improve, says Dedic, but it isn't always possible after a real event.

"One thing that we struggle with as volunteer fire departments coming from all over is having that after-action review after a fire," he says.

The Real Deal

In real life, firefighters have no way to know whether a call will lead them to a small, easily contained fire or the beginnings of a blaze that will come to consume several thousand acres.

"You don't know that your incident is going to be the incident, and really that's always the case," he says. "It could be a small fire when you get there and you don't think anything of it. Or this could be that one out of 100 that is going to be a big deal and now you have a changing dynamic and span of control."

Span of control refers to the number of people a single person can effectively supervise. The first person on scene takes the role of incident command; seniority and experience are irrelevant.

"As we have more and more people show up, that's a lot of different moving parts," he says. "I think, by the time we stopped the scenario, we were at around 300 to 500 acres with air resources and people coming from out of the area to help."

That's a lot of moving parts, says Dedic, and it's important for a firefighter to know that, if they are not able to keep track of all those resources, they can enlist help. An incident commander can delegate tasks, such as figuring out immediate and future strategies or keeping track of units.

"The goal of this scenario was not for them to put an imaginary line around the fire on the computer and say, ok, it's contained. The goal was for them to safely get the fire to the next stage, because it was going to be too big for them to get that line around it," Dedic says.

"It was going to be another day at least to where they could get that line."

The training was as much about emotional as practical learning, allowing students to gauge their personal reactions in a crisis. High stakes and the unknown create a "theater of the mind," says Dedic.

You can't get that from a textbook. "At least, not one that I'm aware of," he says.

Because of this, one factor used to determine when the training should end was stress levels.

"We wanted them to be overwhelmed to some extent because that happens on a fire – it's confusing. But that's ok, you still have to take that step back, you still have to take a deep breath and understand what you're working on, what resources you have and what your strategy needs to be," Dedic says.

The Big Picture

Large event training has a way of bringing out certain qualities and skills in the volunteers, whether that be organization or leadership. It allows individuals to find their strengths and gives the firefighting community as a whole the opportunity to get to know the people they will be standing shoulder to shoulder with during a real fire event.

"It was a bit of self-realization for folks, as well," Dedic says.

The countywide scenario was part of a larger picture of training and improvement available to local volunteers. A recent class, for example, involved leadership training over three days across three weeks.

A total of 18 students took part, using similar technology to work on areas including span of control, calmness in an emergency and organization. It also included concepts such as controlling ego, realizing none of us is perfect and taking a moment if you need one.

As a whole, Dedic says, the local firefighting community has been working hard to improve and has been doing a fantastic job – safer responses, better communication and more. This, he says, is especially impressive when you consider that Crook County's firefighting response is largely on a volunteer basis.

It gets tough, especially in a busy fire season. Schedules conflict, tiredness sets in and responding to several fires a week will obviously impact a volunteer's personal responsibilities.

But still they turn up to classes, both to improve and to keep their skills sharp, and still they respond when the page goes out, protecting the county whatever the challenge that faces them.

"We are very blessed with our volunteers," Dedic says. "They are a huge resource."

What are you doing to prevent wildfire?

Within the first few minutes, the simulation used in the all-county training demonstrated just how easily a fire can lead to tragic loss, as well as how the community can and should support its firefighters.

"Five structures, including three houses, were gone in that simulation within the first [two hours] of the fire," Dedic explains. "It wasn't a subdivision, it was just houses built in a rural community in Crook County. That's how fast something like that can happen."

He urges every property owner, whether new to the area or a long-time resident, to think about the fuel loads around their house. We don't need to be firefighters to help keep the county safe, he says; all it takes is awareness of what fuels exist on our properties that could exacerbate a fire situation.

"What are you doing around your place to mitigate those wildland fuels? How susceptible is your property to a wildfire?" he asks.

Similarly, he asks residents to consider whether a fire truck would be able to get onto your property and then retreat, if necessary, without getting trapped.

"We don't want to lose any firefighters in that type of situation," he says.

The next big fire could start anywhere in the county. If that anywhere happens to be near your home, you can help your family, your neighbors and the firefighters who will rush to your aid by taking time this spring to fireproof your property.

 
 
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