This 6 Minutes for Safety honors Will Hawkins and Jacob O’Malley from the BLM Nevada Winnemucca District Fire Program, who lost their lives during the Denio engine rollover. You are Never Forgotten!

On Sunday, July 10, 2016, two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) firefighters were killed and another was seriously injured when their Type 4 fire engine was involved in a single-vehicle rollover 37 miles north of Winnemucca, Nevada.

Have you ever wondered how or why
the 6 Minutes for Safety Program was formed?
 

Wildland firefighting helmets are intended to reduce the severity of an impact. Helmets require frequent inspection to maintain performance standards. Inspection frequency will depend on its use and exposure. Inspect your helmet when it is first issued, after a significant event (involved in an accident, significant incident, or obvious damage), and periodically throughout the season. Helmets that do not meet the criteria in the Wildland Firefighter’s Helmet Serviceability Guide need to be removed from service.

Wildfires expose wildland firefighters (WLFFs) to many different types of exposure hazards and risks, including carcinogens (substances that can cause cancer). Common exposures experienced during suppression and prescribed fire operations include smoke, dust, and ash. Additional carcinogenic exposures in the wildland fire environment include diesel exhaust, crystalline silica through work activities performed in ash and soil, asbestos, and radionuclides in certain geographic areas, heavy metals, and sunlight.

Aviation operations are complex and communicating with air resources is vital for wildland firefighters’ safety. Below are considerations to discuss as a group and share what has worked well for communicating with different aviation resources.

This Day in History is a brief summary of a powerful learning opportunity and is not intended to second guess or be judgmental of decisions and actions. Put yourself in the following situation as if you do not know the outcome. What are the conditions? What are you thinking? What are YOU doing?

To learn more about this incident read See You on the Other Side.