Report: No human error in crew death at fire

GRANGEVILLE (AP) - Human error was not responsible for the death of a U.S. Forest Service firefighter last summer in northern Idaho, according to the federal agency.

The agency's investigation report released Friday did not "find any reckless actions or violations of policy or protocol," The Lewiston Tribune reported. It found that the "tragedy resulted from the chance alignment of certain conditions."

One such condition was that the firefighter was working in an area where "fire-weakened trees could fall on their own with little or no warning."

The nine-member panel that produced the report said the Aug. 12 death of 20-year-old Anne Veseth of Moscow "underscores the fact that it is not possible to mitigate risk to zero, and that wildland fire environment possesses inherent hazards that can - even with reasonable mitigation - result in harm to firefighters."

Earlier this month, however, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a citation to Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association and proposed a $14,000 fine for serious safety violations that OSHA inspectors said led to the death of the firefighter.

Veseth was part of a crew at the Steep Corner Fire near Orofino when she was struck by a falling tree. The report concluded she died immediately when a green cedar weakened by fire struck her in the head.

Veseth, who was in her second season as a wildfire fighter, was part of a crew assigned to reinforce a fire line on one perimeter of the 43-acre blaze. She was working as one of the agency's thousands of seasonal employees dispatched to the nation's forests during the spring and summer fire seasons.

The Forest Service said Veseth had completed the safety courses required of the crew.

The Clearwater-Potlatch Timber Protective Association also came under criticism after the death when an anonymous federal reporting system for wildland firefighters indicated that the Montana-based Flathead Hotshots firefighting team declined to join efforts on the fire the day before she died, citing safety concerns.

The Forest Service report noted that the crew, after deciding it was too dangerous to participate, left a list of concerns with the CPTPA chief. The report found that the CPTPA boss said "We're doing the best we can with what we've got."

Federal investigators also said a Forest Service engine crew withdrew from the fire after expressing safety concerns. But that crew returned after the service said on Aug. 12 that the association had addressed the issues.

The report said the tree fell while Veseth and other firefighters were watching a logger cut down a burning snag. Investigators said the green cedar was not being worked on by firefighters and had been hollowed out by fire to about 20 feet.

"The tree fell on its own from south to north and slightly downhill," the report said. "As it fell, it struck a second green cedar. Sawyers had not been working on either tree."

Investigators said the Veseth was 123 feet away from the stump of the tree that caused the accident. The report cited firefighters, whose names were changed in the report, and noted that one yelled a warning when he saw a tree across a creek falling toward them.

The report detailed the accident from the point of view of one firefighter who was not injured when the tree toppled over the crew. "He falls down, but upon realizing he is uninjured, quickly gets up and looks for Anne, who he thought had been right behind him. He finds her three or four strides uphill under the tree branches. After quickly clearing them away, he determines she did not survive," it said.

After the death, officials pulled service staff from the fire that day, the report said.

The fire burned about 310 acres at a cost of $2.1 million, with suppression efforts lasting 16 days.