Report: Firefighters injured as they followed residents into

SAN DIEGO -- Four firefighters found themselves trapped at the end of a dirt road and engulfed by flames after they followed a man and his son back to their burning mobile home during last month's wildfires, state authorities said Thursday.

The inferno exploded a fire engine's windows, forcing the firefighters to take cover behind boulders.

Thomas Varshock was killed and his teenage son and four firefighters were severely burned in the episode, which happened two hours after the Harris Fire erupted Oct. 21 near the rural town of Potrero, about 40 miles east of San Diego on the Mexican border.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's preliminary report offers the most detailed official account of events that led to a dramatic helicopter rescue.

Varshock, driving a white pickup truck trailed by his son's all-terrain vehicle, approached firefighters who were heading toward threatened homes near the fire's origin as winds gusting 51 miles per hour whipped flames across the chaparral-covered hillsides.

Varshock asked firefighters to check on his house and told them there were people in another home nearby, the report said.

A fire captain told Varshock to get out of the area, but he and his son instead followed the engine back down the dirt road toward his house. When their vehicle stalled, the firefighters let them hop into the engine cab.

Firefighters met thick smoke but kept going after Varshock told them there was water and a good place to turn around near his ridgetop house.

Flames licked the side of the fire engine when they arrived at Varshock's home, where the living room was already being consumed and attic vents were exhaling smoke.

The fire captain ordered his men to abandon the operation and get back in the engine, but the truck didn't have enough room to back out of a small clearing and stopped running because there was too little oxygen in the air.

At that point, the report said, the heat exploded the passenger windows of the engine cab. Three firefighters took cover with Varshock's son in a rocky area nearby, where they began sending radio distress calls that alerted the helicopter pilots above.

A fourth firefighter ran the other way after being overtaken by wind-driven flames. He was found about 40 minutes later behind a different rocky outcropping.

One firefighter remains in a medically induced coma and two others are being treated at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego. The fourth firefighter has gone home.

Varshock, 52, was killed at the scene; his body was found next to the fire engine. His son was critically burned and remains at the hospital.

Calls to family members were not immediately returned.

The report did not indicate if other residents were nearby as Varshock told firefighters.

The department said it will review how firefighters respond to information provided by residents and how they decide which homes to protect. A final report may take months to complete.

The fires directly killed eight people, destroyed about 2,200 homes and burned more than 500,000 acres. Seven other deaths involving evacuees fleeing the blazes have been indirectly linked to the fires.

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Second, improve measures to guarantee the implementation of the completed 2006 security to ensure production targets

We should fully understand the importance of production safety, arduous and protracted nature, and further enhance our sense of urgency and sense of responsibility, sense of mission, resolutely overcome jaded, numbness, relax and leave things to chance, and never themselves .

(1) to seriously study the safe development spiritual essence, guidance and security management. Fifth Plenum of the 16th proposal pointed out the need to save development, clean and safe development, and achieving sustainable development. General Secretary Hu Jintao pointed out the need to safe development as an important idea into China s socialist modernization drive overall strategy, this is the deepening of the concept of scientific development. Security development meaning that social progress and development must be based on the premise of safety and security, consciously abide by the party and state safety guidelines, policies, and laws and regulations, the development of an ability to continually enhance security, the situation continued to improve production safety , workers safety and health has been effectively guaranteed on the basis of production safety and the promotion of economic and social development synchronization. Not at the expense of human life, damage to the health of workers at the cost. Security development put forward guiding principles and established, and reflects the party s people-oriented and public and govern for the people s ideas, enrich the connotation of the scientific development and its theoretical system. People-oriented first to human life-oriented, scientific development should first safety development, a harmonious society must first love life. We should constantly strengthen the scientific concept of development, especially the development of the safety concept of learning, understanding of the essence, take the initiative to do a good job in safe production.

(B) the full implementation of safe production target responsibility system. The second half of the province s transport system must continue to implement the four aspects of production safety responsibility. First, it implements the leadership responsibility. Top leaders of the units of production safety is the first responsibility, the overall responsibility for production safety. In accordance with the one post and three Select (production, security, the Independent Commission Against Corruption) demands, the deputy in charge of leading bodies within the scope of operations in charge of production safety work. Second, the implementation of the regulation of the industry sector s responsibility. In accordance with the territoriality and whoever is in charge should assume responsibility, Who is responsible for approving Who, Who certification bears the responsibility principle, at all levels and departments in charge of traffic management functions for the industry units were responsible for their own areas, industry production safety supervision work. Third, the implementation of production units responsibility. Production units of production safety is the main responsibility of the safety of the unit responsible for the overall production. Fourth, the implementation status responsibilities. Implementation of management and production personnel security responsibilities. We should gradually establish and improve the target responsibility system, and signed the target responsibility system at various levels on the responsibility of ensuring that no dead ends. They should increase their efforts to conduct inspections and checks accountability, evaluation and adhere to the year-end integration of dynamic evaluation, and strictly honor incentive. We must strictly accountability system, the occurrence of various types of production safety incidents, according to the four left off the principle of rigorously pursue the relevant responsible people for a major responsibility of production safety accident one-vote veto, a strong incentive and restraint mechanisms .

(C) establish and improve traffic safety in production industries long-term management mechanism. First built around the line of control in advance prevention, rescue remedy things in line, after dealing with the warning line safe production three lines of defense main line, and to continue to focus organizational leadership and responsibility for security, system constraints, and supervision and inspection, hidden dangers and rectification, security input, emergency rescue, reward eight penalties and the establishment of mechanisms for implementation. Key to grasping at the grass roots and foundation of the double-base as the starting point, do a good job responsibility and accountability system double the implementation of the tasks. Second, a technical support system. Communications Department security experts to accelerate the production of the pace of construction, so as to give full play to the Group of Experts on propaganda and education on safety, safety training, safety inspections, hidden danger assessment and the analysis of the role of accident investigation, and promote the improvement of the level of security management. Third, it will further strengthen the system construction. Transport industry safety with the actual production, continue to formulate and improve the matching rules and regulations. Ministries focus of this year to complete the development of The Jilin traffic safety production supervision and management system Interim Procedures , production safety Jilin punishment of the transport system , and other related rules and regulations so that the safety work toward scientific, institutionalization and standardization of law and order in accordance with the law orbit.

(4) We will further strengthen our special rectification work. First, continue to grasp the road transport of passengers and dangerous goods special rectification. Road transport management bodies at all levels to truly meet the three - one supervision, and strive to give prominence to the transport of dangerous goods industries supervision work.n

Landslide Landslide on easy dangerous sections of the highway, the accident-prone sections of Bridge (the culvert), and inadequate bearing capacity of the bridge (the culvert) Increase surveillance and the intensity of rectification, the potential safety problems be effectively controlled to ensure the smooth flow of road safety. Third is the continuation of Highway Overload . Fourth, in accordance with the province Ferry Ferry special work to the implementation of safety management program requirements, and to continue to focus Ferry Ferry and the low quality of the ship in good order and crossing to Bridge work. Fifth, continue to carry out the project construction enterprises special rectification. Management efforts should collapsed tunnel project, Chung sudden mud, gas explosion, and other potential cause of an accident; Bridge Collapse focus rectification stent, crashed at high altitude, basic collapse, hoisting equipment, such as potential accidents in instability.n

It is necessary to organize traffic buildings, villages, highway service areas and fire personnel group, food hygiene and safety, and further strengthening vehicle safety management work, and constantly improve various rules and regulations and emergency response mechanism construction and improve prevention of sudden incidents. capacity.

(5) continue to do a good job of production safety publicity and education and training. One is vigorously promoting the construction industry safety culture, continue to strengthen safety training. Through the strengthening of security laws and regulations and the training of professional knowledge, should be aware of safety knowledge and practices to allow trade unions all have. Further strengthening Travel drivers, special operations personnel, flood control and rescue personnel safety education; strengthen migrant workers, seasonal workers, temporary employment security education and job training to upgrade the quality of safety and self-protection capacity, a typical accident cases by analyzing a warning education, eliminate activities that violate the law.

(6) solid progress safe transport building work. Continued efforts should be made safe transport - building efforts to seriously implement the Ministry of Communications on the transport system in the building of peace on the spirit, compared to look for shortcomings and further improve measures to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all sides, a transport system linking work from top to bottom pattern. At the same time strengthening supervision and inspection to ensure that the building safe traffic, all measures are in place.

Comrades, we must have a spirit of this meeting as a driving force, further enhancing a safety production work sense of responsibility and urgency, uplift their spirits, do solid work, exploration and innovation, and further improve the industry-wide safety management level, effectively curb various kinds of the occurrence of major accidents, and efforts to stabilize the excellent situation, to build peace Jilin, and traffic safety to make its due contribution.

Additional information :

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