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Emergency foil shelters save some � but not all From wire and staff reports SPOKANE, Wash. � An aluminum and fiberglass tent designed to shield firefighters from flames is credited with saving more than 250 lives � but not those of four firefighters killed in a Washington wildfire this week. The emergency foil shelters, which take about 45 seconds to deploy, have been standard issue for the U.S. Forest Service since 1970. But a redesign was under way even before the fatal blaze, based on tests showing that direct flames can break down the materials. The firefighters who died deployed their pup tent-like shelters Tuesday when the small wildfire they were battling exploded in size and sent walls of flame after them. Fresh crews were sent to the fire lines near Winthrop Thursday after the blaze went largely unattended the day before. The 8,200-acre fire was burning in a steep canyon. Authorities said crews would not be sent as close to the fire as they normally would, but instead would try to encircle the blaze by connecting fire lines with trails, roads and natural firebreaks. Fire officials say the silvery shelters are a last resort when all other efforts to escape have failed. Firefighters call them "shake and bakes." "All firefighters would say they don�t want ever to be in a position to deploy a fire shelter," said Don Smurthwaite, a spokesman with the National Interagency Fire Center at Boise, Idaho. "It is the last line of defense. It is the last option." Fire agencies in the Rogue Valley equip their firefighters with the aluminum foil shelters. It�s a requirement for fire departments in Southern Oregon, according to Rogue River Rural Fire Captain Jerry Ray. "It just makes excellent, good sense," Ray said. "We want to make sure everyone comes back safe." Investigators from the Forest Service Technology and Development Center at Missoula, Mont., were sent to the Cascade Range site where the four Forest Service firefighters died. The investigators will probably use data from those deaths to improve the shelters, Smurthwaite said. When an approaching wildfire threatens to overtake them, firefighters drop their gear and pull plastic release handles to free the compressed shelters from a vinyl bag. Ideally, the firefighter would have cleared a 4-by-8-foot space of grass and debris. Then, the firefighter steps into leg and hand straps and lies face down on the ground, pulling ground flaps along the bottom to seal out heat and gases. The shelters, designed to reflect 95 percent of a fire�s radiant heat, trap breathable oxygen while the fire makes its run. They can also be used as a body covering to protect a firefighter who decides to run through flames. The National Wildfire Coordinating Group, composed of representatives of various federal firefighting agencies, said peak temperatures inside the tents reach 150-200 degrees Fahrenheit "in a prolonged entrapment." A person can survive temperatures up to 190 degrees. The shelters begin to break down when the outside temperature approaches 500 degrees. The aluminum begins to melt at 1200 degrees in wildfires that average temperatures around 1600 degrees. During the fatal blaze on Tuesday, a firefighter rescued a couple by cramming them into her shelter, which is designed for one person but can hold two in a pinch. The firefighter, Rebecca Welch, 22, suffered burns on her right side because she could not get completely inside the survival tent along with the couple. The couple, who had gone into the area to hike, were treated for smoke inhalation and burns. Tim Eldridge, a spokesman with the federal Aerial Fire Depot in Missoula, Mont., said the shelters do not do well in direct flame, which causes the glue used to laminate the fiberglass and foil to deteriorate and burn. "We require people to carry them, but we try to manage fires so we don�t put people in harm�s way," he said. "You use them when you cannot outrun a fire or get to a safe zone. It�s a last resort. Your chances of survival are going to be very slim." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.