Glass Fire Shelter Deployment 2020

On September 27, 2020, during the first operational period of the Glass Fire in Napa County, California, a CAL FIRE dozer strike team experienced two near serious accidents. At approximately 10:15 PM, two firefighter dozer swampers deployed their fire shelters when there was a significant increase in fire activity where the strike team staged the dozer transports. At approximately 11:10 PM, in a separate location, two of the dozers from the strike team and a third CAL FIRE dozer relocated to a Temporary Refuge Area (TRA) due to an increase in fire behavior to wait for the fire front to move past so they could re-engage. While the dozers were in the TRA one of the dozers caught fire. The operators attempted to extinguish the dozer but were unsuccessful and the dozer was destroyed. The firefighter dozer swampers were assessed by medical personnel and released with no injuries, and both dozer operators were uninjured as well.

Fire Behavior, Initial Attack, Fire Shelter Deployment, Structure Protection, Vehicle Burn Damage