(chainsaw revving)
(upbeat rock music)
- [Man] Fall it.
- [Narrator] Over the past several years there have been
a series of tree strike incidents and fatalities
during wild land fire chainsaw operations.
These incidents have occurred across different agency
and land jurisdictions and have involved sawyers
of varying qualification levels.
Serious injury and death
from incidents related to hazard tree felling
and chainsaw use, or a near yearly occurrence
within the wild land fire community.
This is a disturbing trend that begs the question, why?
Findings from several of the accident reviews compiled
in the recent Tree Felling Accident Analysis published
by the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center
indicate that improving cutting area control
and the risk assessment process or tree size up
as well as a better understanding of tree conditions
and other factors which influence operational complexity
are common factors that may help get at the root
of the problem involved in many accidents and injuries.
Findings also indicate that components
of both the tree size up process
as well as the complexity analysis are being missed
during the initial tree size up
as well as during the cutting operation
as the complexity changes.
In this video,
we will focus on chainsaw operational complexity
and the ongoing tree size up
as well as the point at which the complexity
of a cutting operation changes.
(chainsaw revving)
(upbeat rock music)
The Hazard Tree and Tree Felling Subcommittee is finalizing
a New Standards for Wildfire Chainsaw Operations Guide
for recommendation
to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group
that will help to identify critical standards
for tree felling and all chainsaw operations
including tree size up elements.
These standards will clearly define
that sawyers will complete a procedural size up
prior to engaging in chainsaw operations.
The intent of this standard goes a step further
to infer prior to engaging in all chainsaw operations
meaning that each cut you make
and each time you squeeze the throttle,
you, as the chainsaw operator
are reassessing your size up process
and the complexity of the cutting operation.
This may seem like a daunting task
and overall we as chainsaw operators
are good at the process but we must be better.
- Yeah I think it's critically important
to always use a consistent size up.
You know, I think just with fire
and a lot of different other things
it's really important to have these systems
that we can rely on and go back to.
I worked as a ski patroller for a few years.
And when we do our medical assessment, you know
they teach the same thing that you always wanna do it
the same way every time.
be super consistent with it.
And so that's something I've always related to the size up.
You know, when I started it was hard for me
if I didn't have a consistent process to go back to.
You know, you'd miss things,
you'd forget certain factors
and it's just, you know, not safe
if you're doing it different every single time.
You're gonna miss something.
It's just not gonna work out great for you.
So, yeah, I think it's super important to really learn
a consistent way to do it
and to teach younger sawyers to do the same way
every single time.
And, you know, also if your nerves are going,
if you're on a dangerous tree,
it's something that's gonna help keep you calm.
It's something that, you know, and going through
that process and that pattern that you know
and understand is is really gonna help you
get everything right, calm your nerves.
You know you're not gonna miss anything.
- [Narrator] In the arena of wildfire chainsaw operations,
there are many different opinions
of what the size up process should be.
Since 2016, the US Forest Service
has officially adopted the mnemonic, OHLEC.
Objective, Hazards, Leans and Binds,
Escape Plan and Cutting plan.
The Department of the Interior Wildland Fire Agencies
generally refer to a size up like the one that's outlined
in task number 18
of the NWCG Faller Position Task Book.
If you ask any number of engine, helitack
or hand crews about their size up process,
you will likely receive the same number of variations
due to differences in culture experience and personality.
- Yeah, so for me, you know, kinda my thoughts
on why we see different procedures,
different policies if you will,
or even just a different process
throughout, you know the entire Wildland Fire Service
is really there's no one shoe fits all approach.
What works out of Washington state
may not work out of South Dakota
or, you know out of Florida.
You know, tree types, tree species, how tall trees are.
Here in east Idaho you know, we don't have
really tall trees aside from Juniper.
So what works for that hot shot crew
in region six or that engine crew
may not necessarily work for me.
And so that's why I think, you know
just in the fire community and even just agencies,
you have those different procedures.
For me is that positive or negative?
I would say really it's kind of in between.
Again, you know, I think we allow the individual programs,
the individual crews, districts or forests
to tailor their program to what fits for them.
But the negative aspect of that
is if I send my engine crew headed up
to somewhere up in Oregon and they get into a situation
with these larger diameter trees that are a lot taller,
that's where I think our procedures might fall short of
the expectations they have up there.
But my hope is that they still fall back
to their basic training and go through to size up process,
you know, I expect that my crews
will size up or size down a Juniper tree.
It's no different than getting ready
to fall that 40 inch snag as well.
And when they start through that size up process,
if they find that it just exceeds their scope,
exceeds their capacity to take that tree down,
then it's also my expectation that that's when
they either pass or ask for extra assistance
or even guidance, some mentoring on the, you know,
at the base of that tree to get that tree down safely.
So again for me, I think it is a both positive and negative.
It's just how we operate within those sideboards
that are established for each of us.
- [Narrator] A few things about the size up process
should always be the same.
The minimum components that size up should capture.
The firm belief that it should be procedural
and done the same every time.
And the fact that the size up is an ongoing process
that changes cut by cut and with each new situation
a sawyer encounters.
Within the procedural size up process,
it is essential that the sawyer also identify
the good or bad side of the tree
and incorporate that into his or her cutting plan.
Accident reviews have identified this as a common theme
during numerous incidents.
The Complexity Analysis refers to
the sum of all parts of the cutting operation.
This is a combination of the components of the size up,
considerations of tree species, defects, mortality,
human factors, environmental factors and risk.
Determining the complexity of the cutting operation
is one of the most important processes
for a sawyer to understand and implement
and it should be performed on an ongoing basis.
(upbeat rock music)
No matter how hard we try,
we will never be able to remove the human factors
from felling operations which sometimes cause us
to feel rushed or tired or to want to prove ourselves
with a chainsaw in our hands.
Therefore, we must be diligent in our awareness
of how these situations and pressures
affect our decision-making
and how these influences at times cause us to skip over
the basic procedural size up components.
- Yeah. So some of the human factors
that we encounter during falling ops, really,
gosh, there's so many.
Just a couple that come to mind real quick here.
You have just fatigue, you have...
Let's face it, we get complacent.
You have, we have egos, you know, pride.
Not wanting to look like
we don't quite know what we're doing.
And just plain inexperience.
You know, there's so many different factors
that'll pull at a chainsaw operator out there.
And again, it's, you know, just tying it back to the basics.
If we can, if we can strengthen and maintain
just a good solid foundation
when the fatigue sets in,
when the sense of urgency picks up
or you're being pushed by that hot shot soup
to keep that production going,
there's line to put in,
there staking to be done.
We still need to take that tactical pause
whether it's just very briefly to run through our size ups,
make sure that we're capable and we have the skill set
and we've made mitigated any potential outside risk
on when we take that tree down or pull that cord
- [Narrator] Human factors on the fireline
and during felling operations
have also been known to diminish
our standard of cutting area control
which should be one of the highest standards we hold
as a chainsaw operator.
Some examples of these situations include operational tempo,
inexperience and normalization of deviance.
In October of 2019, as part of the corrective action plan
in response to the fatality of Brian Hughes
on the Ferguson Fire,
the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center published
the 2004 through 2019 Tree Felling Accident Analysis.
This report looked in depth at all felling accidents
over that timeframe and provided some similarities
between them and additional recommendations
that sawyers should consider
when engaging in chainsaw operations.
A topic of highlight is when complexity changes
during chainsaw operations.
(upbeat music)
Several accident reviews indicated that workers
may not have acknowledged that the risk exposure
had significantly increased mid operation.
Much like the decision-making and risk management processes,
the size up and complexity analysis processes
are intended to be ongoing and complimentary.
As the sawyer progresses through their cutting plan,
they should remain vigilant to new information
and observations and indicators
that they either miss something
or that the intended outcome has changed.
As supervisors and experienced sawyers,
we must be teaching our coworkers from the very beginning
to maintain awareness of this change in complexity
and to reevaluate their cutting operation.
Many times this tactical pause will afford us
the opportunity to look at things
from a different perspective.
To let our tired arms rest for a minute,
or to simply catch our breath
and get some oxygen back to our brains
so that we might think outside the box a little better.
- You know, when we talk about the reasons
that you might see the complexity changing mid process,
you know, during your felling operation,
it's just, there's a lot of things.
I mean, the most common of course would be,
you know, a hang up but there's other things I think
that might be more dangerous to people
that they just maybe don't recognize until it's too late
and maybe a more thorough size-up could have identified.
Something such as you know, a compromised holding wood,
it's rotten or it's punky.
One thing that we encounter here a lot
is, especially in hardwoods, is calculating lean.
You know, if you miss calculating
that lean a little bit it's very difficult.
You know, we're talking more about lean weight.
Another thing is bypass or dutchman, you know
and you clean it up and then you don't recognize
that you've really changed the direction of that fall.
And so I think the main thing to take away is your plan.
And if anytime you deviate from that cutting plan
for any reason, you need to reassess
based on that new information
that's probably added to that complexity.
You need to reevaluate that.
- [Narrator] Often during this time, we'll also notice
that what we thought was a cleared out work area
and good escape route is no longer valid
which almost ensures we should start the entire size-up
and complexity analysis process over again.
There are always different options for moving forward
when our plan doesn't come together
quite the way we expected.
Whether it's to simply take a step back
and reevaluate then re-engage
or to bring in a more knowledgeable and skilled sawyer
to assist in the operation.
This option is widely used and many times successful.
However, according to the Tree Felling Accident Analysis,
of the 53 incidents reviewed,
42% of the time,
the person struck was not cutting,
including in five of the eight fatalities.
This alarming statistic also emphasizes
the need to maintain our cutting area control
throughout the entire operation
even as we expose more sawyers
to the risks of our operation.
Lastly, as shown in the 2020 NWCG refresher series video,
"Felling Hazard Trees: Does it Need to Come Down",
as sawyers we always have the option
not to physically cut the tree and instead walk away
or find alternate techniques of removal.
(bulldozer engine revving)
- Yeah. Some of the reasons
that I see complexity changing potentially mid-process
during a felling operation,
is when we've developed a plan, we've articulated a plan
and all of a sudden the plan changes.
That to me it's kinda like a barometer or a thermostat.
When we say, Hey we're gonna to start cutting on this side,
we're gonna finish on the other side
and then for whatever reason
the plan that we've implemented didn't work
and we find ourselves back on the other side again,
that to me is like that thermometer starting to go up
and complexity clicking up.
Maybe we're exposing ourselves to the hazards
that we intentionally were trying to avoid there.
Or when we implement a plan
and you think you've got everything set up
the way that you want it to go and it doesn't go.
So you start to do things to improvise on the plan.
Whether that's taken up a little bit more holding wood,
whether that's, you know, punching the center,
adding a couple more wedges,
you know we thought we had it eyed up
as far as the lean goes
and it was going to go over in one wedge and it doesn't,
or when something happens
where, you know I've had it happen to me
where you starting to pound a wedge in
and you're like, all right, you got it set pretty nice
and you go to give it a real hard tap to drive it in
and all of a sudden that which pops out the back,
tree sits back and, you know.
It's any time there's a deviation
from what has been articulated,
I believe in your size-up process,
when you do a thorough process is an indication
that that complexity has changed.
And also influences that caused you to reevaluate,
I think that's to me what would cause you
to take that tactical pause.
You know, it's one of the reasons I believe
it's super important when you're going
through any size up process is to do that process.
Articulate that with somebody else again
to both build that kind of common language
that you use between between sawyers.
Of course, we know when we're at the stump
that person should be well away
but it's just another set of eyes even from a distance
saying, Hey, you know, something's going on,
something's changed, that maybe even the sawyer
because of noise and, you know, being focused on
a particular cut they're making
they may not be aware of.
And how do you teach this to sawyers
to take a tactical pause?
Again that would be back if something has changed
from the way you discussed or the way thought
it was gonna happen.
As soon as something's changed,
that's the time to shut that saw off,
step back just a minute and look at it.
You know, it's easy
to armchair quarterback accidents and injuries.
Things that happen.
You often read the lessons learned reports
and you think, man, how could that have ever happened?
It's it's easy to do that in hindsight
but I think when we encourage folks
when the plan has changed,
when something that you implemented
and you thought was gonna take place
didn't end up taking place,
That's the time to take that tactical pause.
I think a lot of that comes too
with humility around it, right?
There's sometimes something didn't go
the way we wanted it to and we just think, you know
we take a little bit more, cut a little bit more,
it's gonna somehow correct the problem and fix it.
But being able to step back even and being humble enough
to admit like, Hey I don't feel comfortable
doing this anymore or asking for somebody else,
maybe walking away from the tree, flagging it off,
but encouraging folks that that's okay
and that's acceptable during saw operations
and actually something that's encouraged.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] The points we've discussed today
are known by most, if not all sawyers
but are frequently overlooked or ignored.
As we continue down the path of creating safe
and effective sawyers we must remember
the principles we've covered here.
The procedural size up and complexity analysis
are ongoing efforts which should be revisited many times
throughout a cutting operation.
There are many human factors
and situations we might encounter
which influence our decision-making and our ability
to reassess our cutting operation mid-process.
Above all, we always have the option to walk away
as the situation changes complexity
or ask for guidance for more experienced sawyers.
Please visit the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center
to explore more about chainsaw accident reviews
and the tree felling accident analysis.
(upbeat rock music)