Storm King

1. What is the cause of the tragedy?

When examining the Storm King Mountain tragedy, there are many contributing factors that led to the loss of the lives of firefighters, with the main causes as follows: Agency Issues, Topography and Weather, Lack of Communication and Strategy and Unidentified leadership. Agency issues caused the initial problems of Storm King Mountain. The rivalry between Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the United States Forest Service (USFS) and a lack of transparency from the USFS Western Slope Coordination Center led to poor planning, miscommunication and inadequate allocation of resources. One example of these issues arose when the BLM crew had to leave early on July 5 to repair their chainsaws. Adequate planning would have anticipated possible equipment malfunction and ensured the availability of reserve equipment. Agencies not adhering to standard operating procedures resulted in compromising the safety of the firefighters. An example of this issue is upon arrival of the Prineville Hotshots, the secretary’s briefing was very limited in knowledge about strategy, weather conditions and fire behavior. A competent and structured leadership with effective coordination would have assessed the extreme conditions, which would have resulted in efficient fire suppression effort.

The BLM’s policy stated that all fires should be extinguished as early as possible during intense fire seasons. When the BLM smokejumpers witnessed initial signs of fire, according to policy, the firefighters should have identified the source instead of moving to more “high-priority” fires. The fact that there were weather forecasts of strong winds and the National Weather Service issuing a “Red Flag Warning”, made neglecting the Storm King Mountain fire a poor decision. This led to the blaze being unmanned for two days and immediate attention would have perhaps made this tragedy avoidable.

Storm King Mountain fuels like Gambel oak and Juniper in conjunction with the...