| Forest Service ignored city's
offer to fight fire
August 1, 2002 By Pam Zubeck The Gazette 30 S. Prospect St. Colorado Springs, CO 80903-3671 719-632-5511 http://www.gazette.com/ To submit a Letter to the Editor: gtop@gazette.com Within hours of learning the Hayman fire had ignited near Lake George on June 8, Colorado Springs firefighters offered three city fire engines. The U.S. Forest Service didn't call them until four days later. In the meantime, fire commanders had pleaded for more engines as the fire burned homes and raged through the forest. The offer to help, contained in Forest Service dispatch logs released this week, underscores The Gazette's previous report that local resources weren't tapped for the Hayman's initial attack. Records show Bob Harvey, a Colorado Springs wildland team member, called the Pueblo Interagency Dispatch Center, run by the Forest Service, at 8:36 p.m. Saturday, June 8. That was less than four hours after forester Terry Barton reported the blaze at 4:55 p.m. Barton later was accused of starting the fire. Harvey offered three structure-protection engines, and left his telephone and pager numbers with a dispatcher. John Gibbons, operations chief for the Colorado Springs department, said when the Forest Service called Wednesday, June 12, he sent 13 firefighters and three engines. They fought the blaze for 12 days as the Hayman swallowed 137,000 acres and destroyed 133 homes. "Where the disconnect happened (between) the day the fire started and the 12th, I don't know," Gibbons said. Delayed reactions aren't unusual, he said. Offers may be lost in the shuffle. Still, dispatchers should know about available resources from annual reports filed by local agencies, including Colorado Springs, Gibbons said. "They're supposed to know," he said. "When the fire management team asks for resources, the dispatch centers are responsible for finding those resources. While we are 50 miles away, they pick someone 75 or 100 miles away. That's where our guys get their frustration." Gibbons said federal commanders may not need local resources at the time they're offered. But the Forest Service's daily reports on the Hayman indicate otherwise. After the fire grew to 600 acres by 6 a.m. June 9, the incident commander asked for fire engines. The June 10 report cited a "potential for up to 40,000 people to be evacuated," noting, "Several structures are reported destroyed with potential for many more." The next day, federal fire commanders, still seeking more engines to protect homes, said the fire covered 86,925 acres and could prompt more evacuations. On June 12, the day the Colorado Springs firefighters were summoned, the daily report noted, "The fire is currently actively burning within a subdivision with probable structure loss." Forest Service officials at the Pueblo center couldn't be reached for comment. Jim Krugman, U.S. Forest Service operations chief for the five-state Rocky Mountain region, has admitted communication problems among agencies occurred. He said dispatch center staffs are overwhelmed during the fire season, requiring the Forest Service to bring dispatchers from other states -- people who may not be familiar with terrain and agencies. Also, nobody from local and state agencies was on hand at the centers during the fire, though the state added a person temporarily to the Pueblo center in July. Lastly, Krugman said dispatching equipment is outdated. A nationwide upgrade, to be installed for the 2003 fire season, will allow dispatchers to electronically track local, state and federal resources. "We've got to get better at knowing what resources are available," Krugman said. Those and other issues are to be taken up at a meeting this fall among agencies. Krugman disputes theories that a more aggressive response would have changed the outcome. "We could have had 1,000 fire departments there scorching the paint on their trucks," he said. "Would it have made a difference? Absolutely not." But Gibbons and his crews wonder. "Chances are we had some of what they needed," he said. "It's frustrating." |