With fire season upon us and as many of you are involved in the firefighting effort across Oregon’s landscape, I wanted to discuss one of the most important concepts to remember and a hallmark of wildland fire safety - Lookouts, Communication, Escape Routes, and Safety Zones (LCES). It is not only important to evaluate each one of these key items individually, but also together they must be evaluated as a system. For example, the best safety zone is of no value if your escape route does not offer you timely access when needed.
Lookouts
This key position is there to help inform you of the fire’s progression, behavior, and anticipate fire behavior relative to your position and objectives on the fire line. The main objective of the lookout is to inform you as the firefighter that the fire has become a danger, to enable you to reposition to a safety zone before the fire becomes a direct hazard.
Communications
Most commonly portable radios will serve as your source of communication on the fire line. It will serve as the vehicle for you to keep informed of current fire behavior, unit objectives, coordination with adjacent recourses, and for a direct source of information from the lookout (to name a few).
Escape Routes
Escape routes are the path that you, the firefighter, will take you from an area exposed to direct fire danger to an area free from the danger – or safety zone. Escape routes must be evaluated and reevaluated on a continuous basis as changes in fire behavior, your progression on the fire perimeter, and fire fighter fatigue will change the effectiveness of identified escape routes, which is why it is of upmost importance to ensure that there are more than one option identified as your escape route.
Safety Zones
A safety zone is an area where the firefighter will fine refuge from an approaching fire. Safety zones are not deployment zones, a fire shelter should not be needed to protect you from the fire in a safety zone. The best safety zones are locations in the black, and have no ground cover or vegetation to catch fire. Size of the safety zone is just as important as the location and will provide distance from oncoming fire/heat.
How do you manage Lookouts, Communications, Escape Routes, and Safety Zones (LCES)? |
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