Entrapment

Page, Wesley G.; Freeborn, Patrick H.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_183-1

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…A burnover is defined as "an event in which a fire moves through a location or overtakes personnel or equipment where there is no opportunity to utilize escape routes and safety zones, often resulting in personal injury or equipment damage" [55,56]. During the Camp Fire, several events occurred where fire temporarily restricted through-access on a major traffic artery or a secondary road, or trapped civilians or first responders amid dangerous conditions.…”

Section: Burnoversmentioning

confidence: 99%

A case study of the Camp Fire :

Maranghides¹

2023

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The 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, California quickly impacted the communities of Concow, Paradise, and Magalia, triggering widespread evacuation of 40 000 people. The fire became the most deadly and destructive fire in California history, resulting in 85 fatalities and more than 18 000 destroyed structures. After a preliminary reconnaissance, it was determined that abundant data was available to support an in-depth case study of this devastating wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire, with the goal to learn and increase preparedness for future incidents. This portion of the greater case study focuses on the life safety aspects of the Camp Fire incident: notification, evacuation, traffic, temporary refuge areas, rescues, and fatalities (collectively, NETTRA). Over 2600 NETTRA observations and data points were integrated into a spatiotemporal database. Analysis of this data used the foundation of the previously reconstructed fire progression timeline to provide important context to the NETTRA components. Details and the timeline of requested evacuation notifications are presented with respect to fire progression. The evacuation timeline was assessed via traffic observations throughout the region. The rapid and widespread impact of fire on the communities complicated evacuation efforts due to high traffic volume, road closures due to fire and debris, and direct fire exposures to evacuating civilians in numerous burnover events. A total of 31 temporary refuge areas were implemented during the incident, involving more than 1200 civilians. Further, 198 specific evacuation assistance / rescue events were identified, involving at least 1000 civilians. The unique analysis and reconstruction of the NETTRA components of this WUI fire will help at-risk communities prepare for and respond to future incidents.

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Section: Burnoversmentioning

confidence: 99%

A case study of the Camp Fire :

Maranghides¹

2023

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“…Here, we review the literature on the subject of firefighter safety with a focus on the research and data related to US wildland firefighter entrapments. We follow the entrapment definition described by Page and Freeborn (2019) and focus the discussion and analysis on entrapments where there was a burnover that may or may not have involved a fatality. Although there has been significant and increasing emphasis on how human factors are linked to firefighter safety, the present review mainly contains reference to the literature that discusses how various environmental factors affect the likelihood of an entrapment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of US wildland firefighter entrapments: trends, important environmental factors and research needs

Page

Freeborn

Butler

et al. 2019

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Wildland firefighters in the United States are exposed to a variety of hazards while performing their jobs. Although vehicle accidents and aircraft mishaps claim the most lives, situations where firefighters are caught in a life-threatening, fire behaviour-related event (i.e. an entrapment) constitute a considerable danger because each instance can affect many individuals. In an attempt to advance our understanding of the causes of firefighter entrapments, a review of the pertinent literature and a synthesis of existing data were undertaken. Examination of the historical literature indicated that entrapment potential peaks when fire behaviour rapidly deviates from an assumed trajectory, becomes extreme and compromises the use of escape routes, safety zones or both. Additionally, despite the numerous safety guidelines that have been developed as a result of analysing past entrapments, we found issues with the way factual information from these incidents is reported, recorded and stored that make quantitative investigations difficult. To address this, a fire entrapment database was assembled that revealed when details about the location and time of entrapments are included in analyses, it becomes possible to ascertain trends in space and time and assess the relative influence of various environmental variables on the likelihood of an entrapment. Several research needs were also identified, which highlight the necessity for improvements in both fundamental knowledge and the tools used to disseminate that knowledge.

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A Classification of US Wildland Firefighter Entrapments Based on Coincident Fuels, Weather, and Topography

Page

Freeborn

Butler

et al. 2019

Fire

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Previous attempts to identify the environmental factors associated with firefighter entrapments in the United States have suggested that there are several common denominators. Despite the widespread acceptance of the assumed commonalities, few studies have quantified how often entrapments actually meet these criteria. An analysis of the environmental conditions at the times and locations of 166 firefighter entrapments involving 1202 people and 117 fatalities that occurred between 1981 and 2017 in the conterminous United States revealed some surprising results. Contrary to general assumptions, we found that at broad spatial scales firefighter entrapments happen under a wide range of environmental conditions, including during low fire danger and on flat terrain. A cluster-based analysis of the data suggested that entrapments group into four unique archetypes that typify the common environmental conditions: (1) low fire danger, (2) high fire danger and steep slopes, (3) high fire danger and low canopy cover, and (4) high fire danger and high canopy cover. There are at least three important implications from the results of this study; one, fire environment conditions do not need to be extreme or unusual for an entrapment to occur, two, the region and site specific context is important, and, three, non-environmental factors such as human behavior remain a critical but difficult to assess factor in wildland firefighter entrapment potential.

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Entrapment

Cited by 3 publications

References 19 publications

A case study of the Camp Fire :

A case study of the Camp Fire :

A review of US wildland firefighter entrapments: trends, important environmental factors and research needs

A Classification of US Wildland Firefighter Entrapments Based on Coincident Fuels, Weather, and Topography

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