Fire Expert Witness: Firefighter Death Could Have Been Avoided

Case Overview

This case takes place in California and involves a fire expert witness, who was requested to testify on behalf of a plaintiff killed during the course of his duties as a volunteer firefighter. The individual in question was working with the forestry department during a forest fire, where he was ordered to help prepare a fireline by clearing brush. Other members of the team used chainsaws to remove trees in the area. A tree was felled by another member of the team which landed squarely on the plaintiff, killing him instantly. A fire causation safety expert witness was requested to testify regarding protocols to safely utilize chainsaws for firefighting purposes in a forest setting. It is alleged that poor supervision of the volunteers charged with working with the chainsaws directly lead to the plaintiff’s death.

Questions to the Agriculture expert and their responses

Please explain why you're qualified to serve as an expert witness on this engagement.

I have 43 years of experience in Wildland Firefighting, which includes from basic hand crew work, up to Incident Commander. I am currently assigned to a Type 1 U.S. Forest Service Interagency Incident Management Team as an Operations Branch Director, where I regularly am assigned to large wildland fires through the western United States. I command, manage, and supervise large numbers of resources of all types for wildland firefighting including air tankers, helicopters, fire engines, bulldozers, hand crews, etc. and I am on duty at these incidents for up to as many as 26 days at a time. I also hold the qualification as a Type 2 Operations Section Chief, where I Command all Operations on Type 2 Incidents throughout the country.

Have you previously / or do you currently oversee a forestry firefighting department that utilizes chainsaws from tree removal? If so, have you ever had anyone sustain injury directly or indirectly associated with the usage of a chainsaw?

Over the last 36 years I have been an instructor and educational designer, developing and instructing courses in all types of Firefighting, Incident Command, and Emergency Response, from small basic calls, up to and including disaster response.

How do you ensure the safety of all individuals in the vicinity of the chainsaw user? Are there specific safety measures that must be taken to ensure awareness?

I have participated in the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Program, and achieved the position of Operations Section Chief overseeing all operations of the Urban Search and Rescue Teams on many deployments to various disasters around the United States.

About the expert

This highly qualified expert has 43+ years of experience in Wildland Firefighting, which includes the basic hand crew work, up to and Including being Incident Commander. For the past 36 years he has been an instructor and an educational designer, developing and instructing courses in all types of Firefighting, Incident Command, and Emergency Response. He currently holds the title of Battelion Chief where he responds to major wildland fires and other all hazard incidents throughout the United States. Although retired now, he was a Battalion Chief with the Orange County Fire Authority where he was a manager of field Battalion consisting of 9 fire stations, 35 career firefighters including 13 captains, and 150 paid call firefighters, 13 engines, 3 trucks, 4 medic units, 1 air unit, and 1 water tender. Honorary accomplishments include but are not limited to being selected as Operations Section Chief on the Incident Management Team for 2002 Salt Lake Olympics for month of February 2002, in Park City Utah. He has been the Commander-in-Chief, in charge of running teams when responding to an emergency incident and knows how to develop a process on-site to ensure his team's safety and anyone else present at the scene.