Did this 20 yr Old Woman Die Needlessly?
WTF. A Montana Hot Shot crew refused to attack an Idaho wildfire
The Montana hotshot crew, a team with more training and experience than regular firefighters walked off the Steep Corner fire Aug. 11 because the Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association incident commander was ignoring many safety rules and the danger from falling snags, according to a safety document obtained from the National Interagency Fire Center Website by the Idaho Statesman.
The next day, a promising 20 year old woman lost her life.
Why? Because the Incident Commander was an asshole who disregarded safety.
‘We initiated conversation and told him we would not engage the crew because we have standards and protocols we need to follow,’ the Montana firefighter wrote in the report. ’ He said he would just have to send us home then. We said that was fine. We told him we had a list of safety concerns and mitigations if he would like to hear them. We read him our list and he said they have a different set of values and do things differently.’
If this is true, then the Incident Commander needs to be charged with at least Negligent Homicide for this Womans death.