It all happened so fast you're just there and then I was facing the other way
then I was rolling through the median and then I woke up on the ground and
there was people all over the place I mean it was ... like pictures almost...
Narrator: It was just before 13:30 on August 5th, 2017 when an Oregon Department of Forestry
firefighter fell asleep behind the wheel of an agency water tender and was
involved in a rollover accident.
Truck Driver: Call 9-1-1
He was returning to his duty station from a local initial attack fire that had started
early in the afternoon the day before the driver received serious life-threatening injuries
and the agency vehicle was totaled.
The district Forester and area director requested an
incident review team in order to document the facts of the incident
to better understand the events leading up to the rollover, discover contributing factors
and promote a learning culture with possible recommendations aimed at
future incident prevention.
Each fire season is unique in its own way but 2017 had at least one thing in
common with fire seasons of recent past and that's that we had a lot of exposure
hours we had firefighters and support staff actively engaged in fire suppression
throughout the entire summer and even on the shoulder seasons and so with that we
automatically know we also increase our driver exposure and I know it's not a
novel concept and it's sort of becoming cliche but if you ask around in the
agency or if you talk to people in the fire service what is your biggest exposure
probably the majority of the time you're gonna hear driving and that's
because we place a heavy emphasis on it in drivers training in RT-130.
We can almost always expect it to come up as a topic at a safety officers morning
briefing or a division supervisors breakout it's almost become a bit of a
catchphrase and with catchphrases you have to be careful that they don't
become a catch-all and what I mean by that is each specific hazard associated
with driving has been diluted to one driver exposure umbrella
when we start to discuss more in depth driver exposure we start to look at the topics like the
size of a vehicle, how it handles on and off the road, traffic congestion, driver experience
and while all of those deserve attention and discussion on
their own, the intent here is to specifically bring up fatigue and to
allow for an in-depth look at a specific incident so that at a local or district
level we can address fatigue and how it affects us directly.
I'd say our fire season was pretty average coming into this we'd had a couple rounds of
lightning so we'd been busy but not abnormally busy. It was kind of hit and miss.
You know, we tried to give days off where possible but some folks had
worked through their days off and it was just an average busy time of year.
In 2017 you know the fire situation in the West there was nothing available you know
I remember walking into the office one day and being told if you have
another fire you're not getting anything. It's gonna be you and whatever we can
get you locally and you're gonna have to try to deal the best you can with it.
Narrator: the Indian Lake fire was one of the first major initial attack incidents on
the Pendleton Unit in 2017. It was reported on August 4th around 13:45 and
within 30 minutes an interagency response was being mobilized.
By 14:30 Air Attack reported the fire to be 50 to 75 acres and running.
Shortly after 19:00 that night the fire was estimated at a hundred acres in timber.
Resources on scene now included multiple aircraft, several hand crew
squads with more on order and the Pendleton ODF tender had just arrived.
To try to keep people engaged and fresh we knew that it was gonna be a long shift.
It wasn't one of those things where we were gonna be able to call more people
in that night knowing that we weren't going to get outside resources and that
we were gonna have that IA responsibility the next day.
We kept working that fire until we were relatively sure that was... that fire
wasn't gonna be backing down into a canyon where we didn't have any access
where it was gonna present control problems and at that point it was
it was decided that we had the opportunity to bed people down up on the fire that night.
2... maybe a little after 02:00 in the morning we started gathering people
back at staging to have them get some shut-eye and plan for another
six o'clock briefing the next morning to reengage the fire and whatever
resources we had coming in the next morning as they filtered in we'd filter people out.
I was initially planning on dumping my tank
until I got demobed and then my mind went straight to "All right, time to go home.
I'm tired I'm done. I'm gonna go get some sleep." I didn't have a single thought
cross my mind that was like, "Man I'm too tired to drive home or
I shouldn't be driving right now I'm way too tired." And I was wide awake all the
way up the gravel road which I believe is mostly because of how bumpy that road
is. You know you're bouncing around in the cab and you're not gonna fall asleep on that.
But the second I hit the freeway once I hit the freeway I was asleep.
There was no like lulling me to sleep. I wasn't nodding off.
There was no transition where I was starting to get tired.
I just I woke up down the road a little ways.
I was released from the incident probably fifteen minutes at the
most behind... behind the tender. Didn't feel overly tired at that point.
I was ready to get back... back home get some rest and you know have
a clearer head to think through the plan for the coming days.
A few miles down the road I noticed that traffic was backed-up.
Came over a rise noticed that there was a wreck in the eastbound lanes.
At first I didn't think anything of it
passed where the wreck was located I looked back and noticed the federal
excess property plate and immediately recognized it as the tender at that point
I remember cursing very loud it was immediate shock you know
a thought of is he alive
and at that moment I remember being very
I would say scared
you know you never want to see your guy in that position you don't want to see
anybody in that position but when it's your guy it's... it's something else
and you know you can't plan for it you never want to see it and and it's
it's tough
Narrator: nearly all involved felt a sense of remorse that they didn't notice any signs
that would have alarmed them to issues of fatigue
a few even attributed their own tiredness as potentially limiting their ability to
recognize the fatigue in others
I mean it was an hour drive back... back home
it wasn't wasn't a long one but knowing it was a long shift you know I made it a
point to face to face with each of those demobing resources
kind of just do a quick glance status check I guess is what I would call it
with the fact that we bedded down the night before it wasn't you know one
of those big glaring concerns in my mind that they might be overly tired because
you know it's rare to get sleep on those type of fires and so it was it was just
one of those you know quick hey you've been demobed
hey you know make it home type of a deal and you just kind of quick assess and
everybody seemed fine at that point
Narrator: fighting fire is physically and mentally demanding
and working long hours is a regular part of the job
understanding how fatigue affects your physical and mental state
recognizing its common indicators and knowing how to mitigate its effects
are all critical to keeping yourself and firefighters alongside you safe
not getting enough sleep or rest is obviously the main cause of fatigue
but it's also important to identify the other conditions at work and in our personal lives
that an lead to functioning in an unsafe sleep-deprived state
the demands of certain types of work such as firefighting and other emergency services
make it difficult to get adequate rest and expose those who work under these conditions
to fatigue-related risks in addition to working conditions
our personal circumstances play an important role in our ability to get enough rest
these include such things as stressful personal circumstances such as financial or
relationship difficulties poor quality of sleep like insomnia sleep apnea and
other types of sleep disorders poor diet and long commutes to and from work
when working conditions and personal circumstances both align to keep you
from getting adequate rest the short and long-term effects of your physical and
mental health can be profound while being tired may not seem like a big deal
it makes a significant difference in your ability to function effectively and safely
recent studies have found that even in the short-term
there is a twenty to fifty percent reduction in
ability to recognize and sizeup risk reaction times concentration
and an eye coordination short-term memory and the difficulty in makeing decisions increases
additionally a recent study conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety
found that those who are sleep deprived that is less than eight hours a day
had twice the rate of workplace injuries and accidents
all studies in fatigue find decreases in overall performance and increases
in rates of error and accidents
one of the most dangerous activities to engage in while
sleep-deprived and fatigued is driving drivers who nod off account for 100,000
vehicle crashes in the US every year in addition 21 percent of all fatal car
wrecks can be attributed to fatigued or drowsy drivers a study conducted by
Triple-A found that sleeping less than seven hours increases the risk of being
in a car crash exponentially missing just one or two hours of sleep a night
doubles your chance of being in a car wreck put simply driving while drowsy is
at least as dangerous as driving while drunk the CDC has found that being awake for 18 hours
impairs your ability to drive the same as having a blood-alcohol level of 0.05
driving after being awake 24 hours is the same as driving
while legally drunk or having a blood alcohol of 0.08.
The bottom line is the research shows that you cannot miss sleep and
still expect to be able to safely function behind the wheel. Even if you
miss as little as two to three hours of sleep from the recommended seven you
quadruple your risk of being in a crash. Awareness that sleeping less than seven
hours in a 24-hour period is an important trigger point in gauging your
exposure to the effects of fatigue on your mental and physical abilities but
there are many other contributing factors that cause fatigue that's why
it's important to be able to recognize the signs of fatigue and to take them seriously,
especially when driving a vehicle. Difficulty keeping your eyes open
and frequent blinking, blurred vision, excessive yawning,
you feel the need to rub your eyes, head nodding or trouble keeping your head up,
feeling restless, irritable or impatient; drifting from lane to lane or onto the rumble strip;
daydreaming, trouble focusing or zoning out; not being able to remember
the last few miles you've driven; missing your exit or not registering road signs;
not maintaining a consistent speed; slowing down or speeding up frequently.
The only real way to address fatigue is by sleeping but catching up on sleep
isn't as simple as taking a quick nap. Research shows that if you're not
getting enough sleep then your body begins to develop a sleep debt. This debt
will continue to grow as you add on more and more hours of missed sleep.
The more hours of sleep you miss the harder it becomes to think and function.
Your body cannot overcome this thinking you can keep yourself awake by turning up the
radio, rolling the window down or turning on the air-conditioner will not work for long.
How can you avoid the risk of driving while fatigued? The following are
some recommendations that can help keep you safe. Get a good night's sleep
before you travel. Don't wait for your body to tell you that you're tired and
make sure you're well rested before you go. Beginning your journey with a sleep
deficit is a major safety issue. Don't travel for more than eight to ten hours
in a single day. Take regular rest breaks every couple of hours or 100 miles to
stretch and refresh. Share driving whenever possible or request a driver
when you're at risk. Avoid prescription medications that may
make you sleepy. Avoid driving when you would normally be sleeping. Recognize the
signs of fatigue. If you are experiencing any of them, pull over in a safe area and
take a short 15 to 20 minute power nap. A good rule of thumb would be to not
drive if you have been awake for 24 hours or more until getting some rest.
No one is immune to the effects of driver fatigue but some groups of people
are at a higher risk than others. The desire to get home to a meal, shower, a
real bed and family is an incredibly strong pull but it is vitally important
that you accurately size up your condition and that of those around you.
As wildland firefighters, we must begin to think about fatigue and driving the
same way we might size up a snag or other hazard to look at the risks
involved and our own ability with an honest assessment. Remember the signs of
fatigue and take steps to ensure you and your crew get home safely.
Taking seriously the risks of driving while fatigued is a first step in creating
safer work practices. The second is legitimizing the narrative of fatigue in
the workplace. No one is immune to fatigue being able to talk about it
without being embarrassed or worrying about how you'll be perceived is key to
managing and mitigating the safety risks involved.
We probably all recognize that fatigue is a part of our business... the business that we're in.
We're never going to be able to eliminate being fatigued on the fireline.
I think the emphasis behind this video really and what we're trying to do is
share what we've learned with the hope that it would lead to more mitigation and
prevention of fatigue out there and fewer incidents as a result of that.
It really is the responsibility of all employees to watch out for themselves
and each other and monitor fatigue. Far often it's too late when we actually
realize and recognize within ourselves that fatigue has set in or others
recognize and bring it to our attention.
As a manager, you don't always know what's going on
you know outside of work per se that could be affecting
their sleep that you know could be affecting you know their focus on a job
and that's that's kind of your your realm as a manager to try to talk to
people every day and try to gauge that and make sure that everybody's
where they need to be to go to go fight a fire.
It's sometimes really hard for us to know when
to say when and admit that within ourselves that we are suffering from
fatigue, whether it's on the job, off the job or a combination of both.
Monitoring those people that especially if you know either you're going to be
into an extra shift with the same same group of guys, even if you get rest maybe
they didn't get the best rest maybe... maybe that's something that you need to
pay attention to and even a small office like ours you know, have drivers ready to
go in those situations people... people that you can call up and get
rides and just make it more of a mandatory thing they're gonna get a ride
because being firefighters you know we always have that tendency that yeah, we
can make it home you know. I don't want to be that guy that says I can't do this
you know. I think that's that's something that sets firefighters apart but it's
something that can cause an issue at other times.
The biggest thing is I'm not sure in our profession
how great we are at admitting we need help or even
recognizing the signs that we might need help within ourselves so I think that
the ability to go to somebody else and say "Hhey I don't know if it's safe
for me to drive home" because it's not,
it's not worth it to do what I did frankly
just trying to get home half an hour quicker. Half an hour is not worth the
six months I spent laid up.
You know when I started as a seasonal employee it was pretty normal to work
all night, drive home the next day kind of thing.
I understand long-range effects of my decisions better than I did when I was
you know young a young firefighter and so trying to mitigate that now you know
on the backside as I understand why we would encourage folks to camp out more
or to, you know, sleep before they drive home. I see the benefit now.
I think the challenges are promoting a culture that empowers employees to feel
comfortable to talk about experiences they've had in a trusting and learning
atmosphere. That's when it's really cool to me is when that young firefighter
goes through this experience and they feel safe to talk to their supervisors,
to talk to their peers, to talk to their co-workers and share those experiences
so that we can all learn from them.
While it was a tough situation it was
initially dealt with well and the employees in the district the people
that were involved with the incident have done a great job I think in
participating proactively in coming up with some solutions coming up with some
training, a lot of creative thinking on how to mitigate this... this type of
incident from occurring again and I'm real proud of their efforts. We can share
with others to learn from our experiences. That's ultimately a very
good outcome I think and and that's where we're headed with this effort and
we're hopeful that other people find some real benefit in us doing it.
If my story can help anyone else then it's almost unfair of me not to share that
that's selfish. If I've had anything to take away from it it's just pay attention to
yourself more. I know I personally have a tendency to worry about everything else
first and I think it's important just like with hydrating I guess, you know, you can
sometimes get distracted you're not drinking enough water well it's the same
kind of way with sleep. If you're not getting enough sleep you should notice
the signs and you should get more sleep.
in addition to this video please visit the links included in the description
below there you will find additional supplemental materials that can aid in
group discussion and activities regarding fatigue as well as links to
other resources and useful information related to fatigue