15 Minutes on Wildfire Entrapment Avoidance and Burnover Survival
16 July 2026I have received a lot of interest in my Wildfire Safety, Entrapment Avoidance and Burn-over survival training but am having trouble scheduling a session due to summer work season being well upon us. It sounds like we are in for some elevated fire activity and as stated previously, I am very concerned about an Entrapment tragedy. I would feel pretty bad sitting on key information that might help keep something bad from occurring so here are some key points from my training.
This information is based on my research and experience. It is offered to try and keep you as safe as possible in emergency situations and is directed at people without formal training and who are not part of organized emergency response. This is general information and guidelines. Every wildfire situation is different and may require actions that differ from those described below.
Definitions – in my training I use the following:
Entrapment = your way out is compromised
Burnover = the fire is going to go over or around you close enough to cause injury or death
Be Prepared
If you live, work, and/or play in rural and remote BC for any length of time you will have an interaction with a wildfire. It isn’t a matter of if, but when. Your interaction may be close up or distant but entrapment is always a potential risk.
It is not like town where you phone 911 and a big truck with lights and sirens shows up in minutes. Communications may be poor, visibility may be limited, access/egress may be compromised, there may be other higher priority incidents, and you may be on your own for considerably longer than you would like. Conditions can change rapidly and a state of semi-organized chaos is often the best we can hope for.
If organized responders are on site follow their directions. On large wildfires, especially early in the response, they may not be aware of any rapidly changing situations. Again, you may have to make some important decisions on your own.
Pre-plan and Prepare for evacuations
Check out the Firesmart page for an evac template:
Worksafe has a good evac planning checklist for industrial operations:
Try to organize some training. The BCWS S100 is considered the basic training for forestry operations but may not fit all your needs. Give me a call to discuss options.
Improve your understanding of Wildfire Behavior (Ease of Ignition, Rate of Spread, Intensity and Duration of Burn). The BC Wildfire website has some basic information:
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/wildfire-status/wildfire-response/about-wildfire
Download and learn to use the BCWS App.
At least know the Fire Danger Rating for your location.
Monitor any wildfire situations for the WATCHOUTS
Responders are trained to monitor for WATCHOUTS to avoid Entrapments.
LACES acronym – Stands for Lookouts, Anchor control lines, Communications, Escape Routes (2) and Safe Zones
Safe Zones
A Safe Zone must be large enough to protect you from radiant heat, the superheated convective column and all other hazards. The higher the wind, the steeper the slope and the greater the fire intensity, the larger the Safe Zone needs to be. Recent research is showing that they must be much larger than we were previously trained for.
Shrike Hill in 2021. 40 of us were trapped by approaching high intenstity (Rank 5) fire. I used the old formula for calculating Safe Zone size and so we were 150m. from the approaching fire. It wasn’t adequate.
If you are at the head of a high intensity fire (black to coppery smoke, large plume), in tall timber, on steep ground, you need to be up to 2.6 km from the adjacent fuels.
The experts are now calling this the Safe Separation Distance.
“Getting Into the Black” – any area that has burned completely may be used as a Safe Zone. Watchout for unstable trees and rolling rock.
If your way out is blocked by fire
- Communicate that you are trapped via radio, 911, *5555, or applicable local method. You will become the priority for responders.
- Look for another way out – try to get away from the head of the fire – try to get to the side, downhill and/or upwind and to the flank and base
This fire is burning right to left.
Head = Most dangerous part of a fire, fastest rate of spread, highest intensity, smokiest, greatest spot fires ahead
Flank = safer section, Slower rates of spread, less smoke and lower intensity
Base = safest section – slowest rates of spread and lowest intensity
Signs you are at the head of the fire:
- wind is blowing towards you and/or you are uphill of the fire,
- during elevated fire behavior everything turns a coppery color as the plume goes overhead,
- you are in heavy smoke with ash and embers falling,
- spot fires are igniting around you
3. Consider breeching the fire front to get to safety
Good location to breech the fire front = an area of as light of fuel as possible = low fire intensity and short area of active fire
Not a good location to breech the fire front – very heavy fuel load = very high intensity and long area of active fire. Night time makes the situation worse. Easy to miss a turn or junction. A breakdown or tree across the road can turn into a life-threatening situation
Consider the next step as a better option.
4. Look for a Survival Zone. This is an area that will reduce the adverse effects of the fire as it passes over and around you. The goal is to get as much distance between you and the approaching wildfire as possible.
Gravel pit used to ride out a high intensity wildfire.
Other possible survival zones:
- any water or wet areas
- old logging landings
- irrigated fields
- sports fields and large parking lots
5. Prepare for the burn-over
Protecting your airway by avoiding breathing super-heated smoke and hot gases is the prime objective.
Actions:
- Park as far away from the approaching fire as the situation allows (Minimum10m. is a good rule of thumb to reduce the effects of radiant heat)
- Stay in your vehicle or machine as long as possible
- Keep windows up, keep engine running, unlock the doors, turn the flashers on, turn AC to Arctic Turbo cold recirculate
- If in a machine scrape or dig depression and park over top of it
- If the cab gets too hot exit and go into the ditch or low spot on the side of the vehicle away from the fire
- Use the vehicle as a shield from the radiant heat
- Scrape the grass and flammable surface away and lay in the clear area
- Spray each other with dirt
- If in a machine exit and go into the hole under it
- If you are trapped away from a vehicle or machine, use any large obstacle like a boulder or dirt berms as your protection from radiant heat
- Stay low
- Scrape a shallow depression in the dirt
- Get your lips as close to the ground as possible
- There will be a layer of cool fresh air at ground level
If you have picked a good location you don’t have to ride it out very long
View from behind our truck as fire goes over us – fire intensity is dying within 30 seconds
Baldy FSR in 2021
In the BCWS S100 there is a section on sheltering in place in structures. Research is showing that in some cases homes are not igniting until the wildfire has passed. I think this is mostly in areas of lighter fuels such as grass and sage but I hesitate to give blanket advice on this option.
Hope you never need to use this infomation.
Doug