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TOWING & RECOVERY October 2012 Keeping industry pros on their tows FOOTNOTES 3 ® AD Partn tow ers Se VI e P S ag O e 1 R www.trfootnotes.com GETTO The Fire & Rescue Special Issue WORK SEE PAGE 25 Seeking new employees or to buy or sell a business? Advertise in our new classified Jobs section for a special rate of just $50 for a limited time! Your ad will be seen in four places: in print, online & in two monthly eNewsletters! SPOTLIGHT Fire & Rescue Special Issue Gifts & Toys For Towers For November: KARI GREER, U.S. FOREST SERVICE In The Towing In This Issue: Advertise Now! Call David Abraham 877-219-7734, Ext 1 Volume 23, Number 6 x $3.95 © 2012 Causey Enterprises, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Towers assist firefighters as Colorado burns Above: The Vandenberg Hotshots, an 18-member team from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and the only wildland firefighting asset in the Department of Defense, fighting the Waldo Canyon fire. PRST STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PEORIA, IL PERMIT NO. 315 Wildfire!! BY ALLAN T. DUFFIN Unplanned. Destructive. Out of control. Wildfires are one of nature’s most damaging and frightening phenom-ena. Enormous flames blast through shrubs, trees, and grass, scorching any-thing and everything, leaving behind the charred remains of once-vibrant forests and neighborhoods. The Waldo Canyon Fire near Colo-rado Springs, Colorado, sparked to life on June 23rd of this year. It took firefighters and other emergency-services personnel nearly three weeks to contain the blaze, which torched more than 18,000 acres of land in the Pike National Forest. According to the Denver Post , Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach announced that the in-ferno was the most destructive fire in the state’s history, and that it destroyed 346 homes on 35 streets. On The Move Among the emergency responders were local towing companies such as Knob Hill Towing (www.knobhilltow-ing.com) in Colorado Springs. The com-pany, run by Jeff Balch, was founded in 1967 and has 14 trucks in its fleet. On the first Tuesday of the fire, the fire chief and other supervisors held a press conference at the Incident Command Center, which had been established in the neighborhood near-est the mountains. “At that time a ‘dry thunderstorm’ moved across the area,” recalled Balch. “Sixty-five-mile-an-hour winds came out of nowhere and blew the fire directly from the west in the See WILDFIRE, page 3 Towing & Recovery Footnotes P .O. Box 64397 Virginia Beach, VA 23467 ®

WILDFIRE!!

Allan T. Duffin

Wildfires are one of nature’s most damaging and frightening phenomena. Enormous flames blast through shrubs, trees, and grass, scorching anything and everything, leaving behind the charred remains of once-vibrant forests and neighborhoods. The Waldo Canyon Fire near Colorado Springs, Colorado, sparked to life on June 23rd of this year. It took firefighters and other emergencyservices personnel nearly three weeks to contain the blaze, which torched more than 18,000 acres of land in the Pike National Forest. According to the Denver Post, Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach announced that the inferno was the most destructive fire in the state’s history, and that it destroyed 346 homes on 35 streets. On The Move Among the emergency responders were local towing companies such as Knob Hill Towing (www.knobhilltowing. com) in Colorado Springs. The company, run by Jeff Balch, was founded in 1967 and has 14 trucks in its fleet. On the first Tuesday of the fire, the fire chief and other supervisors held a press conference at the Incident Command Center, which had been established in the neighborhood nearest the mountains. “At that time a ‘dry thunderstorm’ moved across the area,” recalled Balch. “Sixty-five-mile-an-hour winds came out of nowhere and blew the fire directly from the west in the neighborhood. You could see them getting concerned during the press conference.” “At about 5:30,” Balch added, “the fire came over the ridge.” Balch, who is also president of the Pikes Peak chapter of the Towing and Recovery Professionals of Colorado, had scheduled a TRPC meeting at 6:00 p.m. “As I was waiting for the others to show, I started getting panicked calls from some customers about moving machines from their warehouses and plants.” A high-tech industrial area was directly in the path of the fire, and companies were afraid to lose their expensive equipment. Balch also received phone calls from people who wanted to remove their vehicles from the evacuation area. “The situation was getting worse,” said Balch, “and the police and fire units were falling back. They were closing streets and evacuating people at a rapid pace. I tried to send trucks to the area but as soon as we got close, the Colorado Springs Police Department would close another street. We had to call the customers and tell them that we could not respond.” Drawing The Line Overloaded with calls from anxious customers, Balch had to draw the line: he alerted his drivers that they should take calls only from the fire department or law enforcement agencies. “This situation was unprecedentedand we were scrambling to react to all the requests,” said Balch. “We have a contract with the Colorado Springs Fire Department. We only towed one fire vehicle the night that the fire burned the houses.” During the following week, Balch’s company towed a number of fire trucks from other fire departments that were helping to battle the blaze. “There was a truck that was moving a piece of heavy equipment up to the fire zone and got in a bad spot,” recalled Balch. “He punctured both fuel tanks and had to be moved out quickly.” After the firefighters had contained the flames on July 10th, Balch’s company used its lowboy and Landoll trailers to transport excavators and bulldozers that were involved in cleanup efforts. While moving through evacuated communities, Balch and his drivers got a firsthand look at the destruction caused by the fire. “There were many burned cars,” said Balch, adding that auto-salvage companies Copart and Klode “[had] their trucks pick [cars] up directly from the neighborhoods.” Many Dangers Incident management involving towers, firefighters, and other emergency responders is critical in dealing with a situation such as the Waldo Canyon Fire. “You’re talking about a very large fire operation — in areas where there is wildland — that can be expected at any time of year when it gets dry,” said Fire Police Officer Steve Austin of the Emergency Responder Safety Institute (www.respondersafety.com). “There are dangers out there that towers can be exposed to. These fires can overrun vehicles and switch back on personnel if the weather changes.” The Institute was formed in 1998 after a distracted motorist drifted off a freeway, striking and killing a member of the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association. “In his memory,” said Austin, “we decided that we would study the issue of highway incident safety.” The Association established the Emergency Responder Safety Institute, “and we quickly realized that this wasn’t just a fire service issue,” Austin continued. “This involved law enforcement, towing and recovery, emergency medical services, and many others. In order to make roadway safer, we needed to have cooperation among everyone involved.” When towers and firefighters work together during an incident such as the Waldo Canyon Fire, it’s important to keep several things in mind, said Austin. • First, towers should build working relationships with other responders before the fire occurs. “Be part of an incident management group that’s talking about how to handle things well before fire season starts,” urged Austin. • Second, during the fire, towers must know where the key players are located. “Where is the command post set up?” noted Austin. “Who’s controlling the firefighting efforts? Who do you report to, and where can you get your information?” • Third, tow truck drivers need to be aware of where firefighting personnel and equipment are being deployed. “Towers need to have an understanding of where the fire apparatus is responding from, and where it’s going to be positioned,” explained Austin. To ensure that tow truck drivers respond safely, they must communicate effectively with the people managing the firefighting efforts. Supervising agencies can include the local fire department and the U.S. Forestry Service. “Have direct contact with them before you venture out on any requests for service,” said Austin. “Have a full understanding of the incident before you venture out on your own in an area that can be very dangerous to you.”

David Abraham

URL: http://tinyurl.com/dxkbvl3
Email: Abraham@dominionenterprises.com

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