Father of Colorado fire victim says lessons go unlearned

Scott Sonner

Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999 | 4:11 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Six firefighters' narrow escape from a wildfire this summer went unnoticed partly because an initial review played down the seriousness of the accident, an investigative report says.

Bob Mackey, whose son died fighting a Colorado fire, said it didn't surprise him one bit.

"As far as close calls, it happens all the time. It's still happening," said Mackey, whose son, Don, was one of 14 firefighters killed in the so-called Storm King fire in 1994.

"You talk to any of these people and they will tell you about the close calls. It is a miracle they don't kill a lot more people and have a lot more people hurt," he said in a telephone interview Thursday from his Montana home.

For the first time since the Colorado fire, the Office of Occupational Safety and Health Administration has slapped a citation on the Bureau of Land Management's firefighting operation.

The citation carries no fine, but requires the BLM to take corrective action.

"The sad thing about it is there is nothing OSHA can do. The federal government is immune. They can't fine anybody. They can't put anybody in jail. It is a waste of taxpayer's money," Mackey said.

The six members of a 21-member crew that got in trouble was made up of National Park Service workers from California. They all had the required 32 hours of training but most had little field experience and five had never been on a fire line before.

"Few of the crew members recognized hazards facing them and lack of experience contributed to mistakes and panic," the BLM's investigative report said.

At one point, more experienced crews refused orders to assist in a back fire until the fire line was made more secure.

The supervisors "failed to watch out for the safety of the firefighters on the line, and did not work under the premise that safety is the highest priority," the report concluded.

The safety officer "did not instigate an effective inquiry into the entrapment, overlooked the extent of the injuries and downplayed the incident in his report and to the investigation team," the report said.

Supervisors ignored warnings that should have prevented the crews from being ordered to light back fires in the first place, the report said.

The report was especially critical of one high-ranking fire official who "displayed minimal concern" for the injured crew members, who had to take care of their own injuries and get themselves to the helispot where they could be airlifted out.

Investigator John Kraushaar, a regional officer for the National Park Service, said his office has new rules aimed at keeping rookies off the front lines and emphasized to firefighters that they can refuse any assignment if they think it's unsafe.

"If somebody feels it is too risky or its just a bad day or the hair is standing up on the back of their neck, they need to be able to say, 'No."'