Escape

Deploying a fire shelter is a last resort. If entrapment seems likely, try to escape. You should always know the location of your safety zones and escape routes. Remember, in a true safety zone, you do not need your shelter to protect you from heat and smoke. Crew supervisors must identify escape routes and safety zones, and make sure they are known by their crews. Changing conditions may compromise planned escape routes and safety zones, requiring that new escape routes and safety zones be identified if work in the area is to continue.

If you are in an entrapment, protect your lungs and airway at all costs. Most firefighters who perish in fires die from heat that damages their airway, not from external burns. One breath of hot gases can damage your lungs, causing you to suffocate.

You're highest priority is to avoid entrapment.

If you feel that entrapment is imminent, you will have to decide quickly whether you have time to escape. You will have to recognize when your only option is to deploy your fire shelter. Watch for deployment areas as you move. If you cannot reach a safety zone, do not pass through an effective deployment site only to get caught later in a more hazardous area. You must be decisive. If you are with a crew, follow the orders given by your supervisor. If you are in charge, be sure to give clear instructions and to make sure they are understood.

Time is critical during an escape. As soon as you realize your escape may be compromised, drop your gear. Take your fire shelter with you. Keep your tool if there is a chance you may need it to clear a deployment site. Drop packs, chain saws, or anything else that might slow you down. Firefighters have died carrying packs and tools while climbing a hill to escape fires. You can move up to 30 percent faster without your gear. This can easily mean the difference between life and death in an escape.

Drop any fusees you may be carrying. Fusees are the most dangerous items you carry (figure 2). When wearing shrouds and long-sleeved T-shirts, firefighters have worked close enough to radiant heat to melt goggles and hardhats. These plastics melt at around 320 °F. Fusees ignite at 375 °F. Fusees are just one of the reasons you should drop your pack as soon as you recognize danger. In an entrapment situation, you do not have time to think about items in your pack that could be dangerous.

Figure 2—Never take fusees into a fire shelter.

-Continued-

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