從灰燼中吸取教訓

2013年6月，美國亞利桑那州中部發生野外火災。野火迅速蔓延，威脅到當地一個城鎮，19名消防隊員在救火過程中不幸遇難。痛定思痛，兩年后的今天，我們能從火災中得到什么樣的教訓呢？另外，我們也應該學點森林火災的自救技巧：在森林火災中對人身造成的傷害主要來自高溫、濃煙和一氧化碳，容易造成熱烤中暑、燒傷、窒息或中毒，尤其是一氧化碳具有潛伏性，會降低人的神經敏銳性，中毒后不容易被察覺。因此，一旦發現自己身處森林著火區域，應當使用沾濕的毛巾遮住口鼻，附近有水的話最好把身上的衣服浸濕，這樣就多了一層保護。然后要判明火勢大小、火苗燃燒的方向，應當逆風逃生，切不可順風逃生。

Lessons in the Ashes

Eric Westervelt （Host）： Two years ago this week， 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots， a team of 1）elite firefighters from Prescott， Ariz.， were killed in the foothills of Northern Arizona. The Yarnell Hill Fire was one of the deadliest incidents for wildland firefighters in U.S. history. As the wind shifted and the fire closed in， the Hotshot’s radio transmissions grew increasingly panicked.

（Soundbite of archived Recording）

Unidentified Firefighter： OK， we’re here at Granite Mountain Hotshots. Our escape route has been cut off. We are preparing a deployment site. We are burning out around ourselves in the brush.

Westervelt： Today， there are still questions about what happened and what lessons can be gained from the tragedy. Kyle Dickman， a former Hotshot himself， has written a new book about the Yarnell Fire called On the Burning Edge. He joins us now from Santa Fe. Kyle Dickman， welcome to the program.

Kyle Dickman： Thanks for having me.

Westervelt： So， take us back to late June， 2013. Weather and winds shifted on the Yarnell Hill Fire. Nineteen of the crew were in the forest battling this two-day-old blaze when their commander had a huge decision to make. Take us through what you know about what happened next.

Dickman： So the fire was burning very intensely. It was burning to the north all day. And about 4 o’clock， a number of 2）thunderstorms developed overhead. And the fire suddenly changed directions. There was 30- to 40-mile-an-hour winds that were put out， and what had been a relatively sleepy 3）flank of the fire suddenly jumped and became， you know， 20-foot and then 30-foot and then 40-foot flames. And that wall of fire was rushing toward the town of Yarnell. And Eric Marsh， who was the 4）superintendent of the Granite Mountain Hotshots， was forced to make a decision. He had to decide whether or not he wanted to leave the safety of what’s called the black， which is the already burned fuel， and move into the town of Yarnell where they could presumably do something to protect the houses. Or he would keep his crew in the safety of the black and watch this town burn. Ultimately， of course， he decided to move the crew back into the town of Yarnell， and they never made it. The fire caught them before they reached the houses.

Westervelt： There was only one survivor， Brendan McDonough， nicknamed Donut. How’s he doing two years after this tragedy？

Dickman： He’s still coping， you know. He lost 19 of his closest friends. I mean， he calls them his brothers. And his experience that day was also mind-bogglingly intense. He was pushed off of his lookout. He was serving as a lookout， and he came very close to being burned to death. The investigators later found that if things hadn’t have changed， he would’ve been the first 5）casualty on the Yarnell Hill Fire except that he was 6）swooped up by a guy in a four-wheeler and sort of rushed away from the advancing wall of flames. So it’s not only that he’s dealing with the survivor’s guilt of being the only guy who survived from his crew， but he’s also dealing with 7）PTSD.

Westervelt： Of these widows and family members who spoke to you about the tragedy， does one family and their story stick out for you？

Dickman： Yeah. I think so. One boy’s name was Grant McKee. He was the youngest guy in the crew. And Grant McKee was really hesitant. He didn’t necessarily want to join the crew， and he didn’t want to be a Hotshot. He wanted to be a 8）paramedic. And so he had a really hard time sort of fitting into the—you know， to the rough-andtumble culture of the Hotshot crew. And， well， I think what touched me about Grant’s story was watching him come into it， you know， so reluctant to join the crew and then， you know， go from being an outcast to being an accepted member and actually sort of falling in love with the job.

Westervelt： To some， this was bad luck and a dramatic wind shift； to others， it was an unforgivable human error by the commander. Where do you fall down on this？

Dickman： I don’t know that I would call it unforgivable， but I also would certainly say that it’s a human error. I think more important than looking and dwelling on the mistakes that were made that day， I think it’s worth taking a bigger picture perspective on what happened and asking ourselves， well， why did these men die？ And what can we do in the future to prevent more wildland firefighter deaths？ And I think many of the agencies’ answers to that is to invest more funding into technologies like better fire shelters， which were the last-ditch aluminum blankets that the men ultimately died under， and then also to equip some of the firefighters with GPS devices so that they can be tracked. But what we’re not seeing a lot of is much discussion of potential policy changes.

Westervelt： And given America’s long history of fire 9）suppression and now severe drought in the west， wildfires have the risk of getting bigger and more destructive than ever.

Dickman： That’s right. In the last 40 years， we’ve seen fire size increase sixfold. During that same time span， we’ve seen three times the number of—average number of houses getting burned every year. There are now 140 million people living in the path of fires. So the threat of fires is real. And despite spending 4.7 billion dollars every year， we’re not seeing much evidence that that spending is doing anything to control fire size or destructiveness. What I would like to see is a larger percentage of that money going toward preparing for wildfires. So instead of spending billions fighting them， we should be spending， you know， billions preparing for them by thinning the forests， by using more 10）prescribed fire， by letting more wildfires burn.

Westervelt： Kyle Dickman. His new book is On the Burning Edge. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

Dickman： Thanks for having me.

埃里克·維斯特維爾（主持人）：兩年前的這個星期（編者注：指的是6月底），來自亞利桑那州普萊斯考特的精英消防隊員團隊“格拉尼特山高手隊”中的19人在北亞利桑那州的山腳下殉職。亞納爾山火對于野外消防隊來說是美國史上最致命的事件之一。隨著風向轉變、山火逼近，高手隊無線電傳送的聲音變得越來越恐慌。

（存檔錄音片段）

某消防員：好的，我們是格拉尼特山高手隊。我們撤離的路線被切斷了。我們正準備一個部署基地。我們都快要把周圍的叢林燒光燒盡了。

維斯特維爾：今天，我們還會發問，當時發生了什么事，以及從這次悲劇中我們可以獲得什么教訓。凱爾·迪克曼作為曾經的高手隊成員，寫了一本關于亞納爾山山火的新書，名為《燃燒的邊緣》。他在圣達菲參與我們的節目。凱爾·迪克曼，歡迎來到我們的節目。

凱爾·迪克曼：謝謝你們邀請我來。

維斯特維爾：請將我們帶回到2013年6月下旬。亞納爾山火發生時，天氣和風向都發生了變化。19名團隊成員在森林里與熊熊燃燒了兩天的火焰作戰，彼時指揮官要作出一個重大的決定。根據你所了解的，告訴我們接下來發生了什么。

迪克曼：當時火勢非常猛烈。它燃燒了一整天，蔓延到北部。大概4點的時候，頭頂上襲來陣陣雷暴，火突然轉了方向。時速30到40英里的風撲來，而此前相對不活躍的側面火勢突然躍升成20尺，30尺，然后40尺的火焰。而那道火墻正沖向亞納爾鎮。埃里克·馬什當時身為格拉尼特山高手隊的主管，被迫作出決定。他必須決定是否離開那片燃料已燒成灰燼、被稱作黑色地帶的安全區域，轉移到亞納爾鎮，在那里他們可能可以找到保護房子的方法，還是應該命令他的團隊停留在安全的黑色地帶，眼睜睜地看著整個鎮被燒掉。當然，最終他決定將團隊轉移到亞納爾鎮，但卻永遠到達不了。他們還沒到達那些房子，已經被火勢撲倒了。

維斯特維爾：只有一位幸存者，布蘭登·麥克多諾，昵稱甜甜圈。這場悲劇過了兩年，他現在過得怎樣？

迪克曼：他還在適應中，你明白的。他失去了19位最親密的朋友。我的意思是，他把他們稱為兄弟。他對那天的感受仍然是讓人震驚的強烈。他的那班崗被推遲了。他是負責站崗的，相當逼近被燒死的邊緣。調查人員后來發現，如果事情沒有變化，他本來已經是亞納爾山火的首個傷亡人員。但是他當時被一輛四輪車里的人迅速帶走，可以說是從不斷攀升的火墻中死里逃生。所以他不僅要面對作為團隊里唯一生還者的內疚感，還要應付創傷后壓力心理障礙癥。

維斯特維爾：和你談及這場悲劇的遺孀和家人中，有沒有一個家庭和他們的故事讓你覺得特別難忘？

迪克曼：有，我認為有的。有個男孩名叫格蘭特·麥基。他是團隊中最年輕的。格蘭特·麥基相當猶豫不決。他其實并不想加入團隊，他不想成為高手隊隊員。他想當護理人員。你知道，為了融入高手隊這種打打鬧鬧的文化，他過了一段相當艱苦的日子。我想格蘭特的故事感動我的地方是看著他慢慢融入了，本來當時那么勉強地加入團隊，像個局外人一樣，到成為被大家接納的成員，再到確確實實地愛上這份職業。

維斯特維爾：對有些人來說，這事件是因為厄運和風向突轉導致；而對其他人來說，則是因為指揮官犯下難以原諒的人為錯誤。對此你怎么看？

迪克曼：我想我不會稱之為不可原諒，但我確實會說這是人為的錯誤。與其盯著那天犯下的錯誤思前想后，更重要的是，我們應該從更宏觀的角度看待已發生的事情，捫心自問，為什么他們喪生了？未來我們可以做些什么來防止野外消防員的犧牲？我想當局多數會回答，增加對技術的資金投入，如提供更好的火災庇護物——鋁毯，在最后關頭，這些消防員最終死在鋁毯之下，還有為一些消防員配備GPS裝置，便于追蹤。但我們很少會聽到人們談論可能的政策轉變。

維斯特維爾：鑒于美國火災撲救的長久歷史，以及現在西部的嚴重旱災，野火存在的風險越來越大，具有前所未有的毀滅性。

迪克曼：的確如此。在過去40年，我們看到火災的規模增大了6倍。與此同時，我們看到每年被燒毀的房屋的平均數量是以前的3倍。現在有1億4000萬人生活在容易發生火災的環境中。所以火災的威脅是確實存在的。盡管每年的經費有47億美元，我們卻沒有看到很多證據證明這筆費用用于控制火災的規模或其破壞性。我想看到的是那筆經費的更大部分用于為野外火災做準備。所以與其花費數十億與它們搏斗，我們不如花費這筆錢修整森林、使用更多計劃火燒、讓更多野火燃燒，來預防火災。（編者注：計劃火燒又稱計劃燒除，人們常稱之為黑色防火工程。它是在事前選定的地段內，在有效的控制下，有計劃地用低強度火燒除林下和林緣可燃物，以達到和消除火災隱患，降低森林火險等級，提高森林對森林火災的自防能力的一種防火手段。）

維斯特維爾：凱爾·迪克曼。他的新書為《燃燒的邊緣》。十分感謝你跟我們聊天。

迪克曼：感謝你們邀請我。

小鏈接

歷史上特大森林火災

1825年發生在美國的緬因州和加拿大新不倫瑞克省，燒毀森林120萬公頃。

1871年發生在美國的威斯康星州和密執安州，燒毀森林152萬公頃。

1915年發生在西伯利亞，5個月燒毀森林1200萬公頃。

1976年發生在澳大利亞，燒毀森林及草原1.2億公頃，占國土面積的1/7，這次大火災曾有“世界火海”之稱。

1983年發生在印度尼西亞的加里曼丹，燒毀森林350萬公頃。

1987年5月6日至6月2日，發生在我國大興安嶺，燒了28天。

1997年夏季被稱為“世紀災難”的印度尼西亞的森林大火燒了幾個月，燒毀森林30多萬公頃。

1998年4月澳洲東南部的森林大火，燒毀森林150萬公頃。