Thirtymile Fire Survey Results Available
(originally posted February 20, 2007)
The results of a survey the International Association of Wildland Fire initiated about the Thirtymile fire are now available on our DOCUMENTS AND REPORTS PAGE in the News Releases section.
The Thirtymile fire, started by an escaped campfire near Winthrop, Washington, claimed the lives of four U.S. Forest Service firefighters on July 10, 2001. On January 30, 2007 the U.S. Attorney in Spokane, Washington, charged the Incident Commander of the fire with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven counts of making false statements.
The IAWF, a non-profit, professional association representing members of the global wildland fire community, initiated the survey of wildland firefighters after hearing speculation that some firefighters were no longer going to serve in certain key management positions on wildland fires due to the new threat of going to prison for making mistakes on fires. The objective was to collect data to determine the scope of the issue, and provide objective information to the wildland fire agencies.
Wildland firefighters were invited by email as well as postings on wildland fire forums to take the survey which could only be taken once from each computer.
The survey was taken by 3,362 people. This large number indicates how important this issue is to wildland firefighters. The IAWF hopes that this data about the effects of the criminal charges will assist the wildland fire agencies and policy makers to formulate a strategy for mitigating the adverse impacts that the survey identified.
Tags: survey, Thirty Mile fire