News and opinion about wildland fire

What do you do if a large tent at the Incident Command Post catches fire in the middle of the night when people are sleeping inside?

It happened September 12 on the Kootenai River Complex near Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Tents used as offices at an ICP are frequently called “yurts.” In this case at 3:30 a.m. the two workers inside were able to evacuate safely.

The Rapid Lesson Sharing report, below, says arson is suspected. The Incident Management Team developed some ICP fire mitigation measures that other teams may find useful.

Updated 1:31 p.m. MDT September 17, 2022

Doug Forster pointed out in a comment below that an arrest has been made.

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After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire. View all posts by Bill Gabbert

I’m surprised the LLR didn’t address sleeping in a workspace without a smoke detector. Yurts in this case, are not personal sleeping tents. There filled with electric devices and probably li-on batt’s on chargers that could fail. It would also be a good idea for camp to have a few extinguishers on well-marked posts.

Here is a link to an article in the Bonner County Daily Bee. Bonner County is immediately south of Boundary County.

https://bonnercountydailybee.com/news/2022/sep/16/one-arrested-after-allegedly-setting-two-fires/

I’m pretty sure the caption on the first picture in the linked article is wrong — should say the arrest was at the Boundary County Fairgrounds, not Bonner County Fairgrounds. The photo looks like a file photo of the Bonner County Fairgrounds.

This being Idaho, and the fact that he is suspected of lighting at least one other fire, I doubt he will be released any time soon.

Not a shock in that area of the world with so much anti-government hate groups. He should be charged with attempted murder.

Now that is a standard-issue stereo-typing.

Define to me how burning a federal government ICP tent is the act of someone who is not anti-government.

Stuff gets stolen, and gov rigs get broken into all the time in this area. Many years ago I drove through Bonner’s Ferry and was amazed by the amount of anti government signs, not to mention some cringe-worthy signs about certain groups. The Aryan ‘nation’ had a large presence there until the rational locals decided enough is enough. However they didn’t entirely leave, they just hide better now.

I don’t know about “many years ago.” I’ve been there three times in the last three months and didn’t see anything like that.

So you didn’t see the giant billboard on the edge of town then? Anti gov beliefs aren’t exactly a secret up here. I live here, I work here. We’ve had agency employees get shot at, I’ve personally been threatened by locals a couple times on a fire, and we have public roads we’ve been told to avoid. It’s certainly not the majority of locals, but that mentality is here, and people move here because of that mentality. It’s not a secret.

If you read the linked article, you’ll find the description of a paranoid schizophrenic.

Quick report on that..anything on the tree strike on the calf canyon earlier this season?

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