Pinnacle Fire Fall Short Haul Extraction 2021

In a remote Division on the Pinnacle Fire, Coronado National Forest, Arizona, a crew was tasked with securing the fire’s edge. A saw team was traversing a steep canyon. As the sawyer worked around a boulder the size of a small car, he brushed the boulder, setting it loose, and plummeting both the sawyer and the boulder down the canyon toward his swamper. During his fall, the sawyer and boulder collided—smashing the sawyer’s leg. This began a “Red Medical” at approximately 0900 in remote country on a day with temperatures predicted to reach 112 degrees (the Type 3 helicopter’s temperature limitation). Within one hour and 52 minutes, the sawyer was in an Air Ambulance headed to a Level 1 Trauma Center. By the end of that day, the sawyer was released from the hospital with a hairline fracture to the lower leg and serious bruising. Later, it was discovered that the sawyer’s injuries were more extensive with fractures to the foot and ankle, as well as muscle damage. 

[This data was initially provided by the USFS Weekly Summary Report.]

RLS, Medical Emergency, Short Haul, Aviation, Medevac, Chainsaws, Helicopters, Fall