Let me give you my overview and then I will shut up 1. The vegetation had not burnt for 45 years - it was ripe - the homes were in a hilly desert area surrounded by brush - not a good situation for anyone
2. The initial response was weak - due to low staffing versus too many fires - or lack of perceived danger - or whatever 3. The hand crew maybe mistook a small wind change for a major expected wind change 4. The DC10 was right on top of them - fully loaded - but could not see them 5. The crew died just 600 yards from their safety zone (dont know what time segment that would be) 6. Radios probably had very little to do with the LODDs except at the very last minute when the DC10 was overhead. (assuming that the crew did hear the WX updates - not sure if they confirmed reception) 7. IIRC the Mann Gulch LODDs and the Colorado LODDs were close calls also - maybe just 5 or 10 minutes difference and no one would have died - not sure about that though Bottom line - if your safety zone is 30 minutes away - you have to get to your safety zone before the fire does - therefore you have to know how fast the fire is going to be traveling 30 minutes into the future - this is just common sense, but maybe impossible to do - its the same way that you deal with approaching cars when crossing a street - or catch a ball - or pick up a glass of milk - time and space, we work with these concepts 24/7 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "massfire" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/massfire. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
