East Bay Hills Fire (Oakland-Berkely, CA - October 1991) » Analysis - Stress

Both physiological and psychological stress had significant effects on the firefighters who were involved in this incident. The physiological stress aspects are easy to comprehend, since many firefighters were involved in continuous and intense fire suppression activities for hours on end. Most of the on-duty Oakland crews and the mutual aid forces that responded in the first two hours were actively engaged in fire suppression for 12 hours or more, without more than a few minutes of rest at any time.

The reductions in the Oakland and Berkeley Fire Department budgets had reduced their staffing levels and number of companies and made their challenges even more difficult in this incident. While it may be assumed that reduced company staffing subjects the crew members to additional stress and exertion, it is clear that every firefighter on the front lines was subjected to a maximum amount of stress and exertion at this fire.

The heat of the fire and the exertion of extended heavy labor drained strength and challenged the stamina of firefighters well beyond normal limits. Even when they could take a brief rest, the 900 ambient temperatures and the strong hot wind provided no respite. Officers had to be extremely concerned with the dangers of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and simple fatigue from overexertion. There were few opportunities to rehabilitate or rotate crews for most of the day and providing drinking water and fluid replacement drinks for the front line combatants was a major problem. After several hours, volunteer groups, including the Red Cross and Salvation Army, began to deliver food and drinks to the suppression forces wherever they could be reached.

It would be reasonable to conclude that many of the participants pushed themselves far beyond their normal limits of stamina and endurance, based on the magnitude and potential consequences of the situation. As long as the fire did not quit, they were determined to keep up the battle. But there was a definite psychological impact of being unable to stop the enemy as it overran fire department defensive lines time and time again. In the past they had always been able to attack and defeat the fire or at least define and hold a perimeter around it; this fire could not be defeated and it could not even be contained.

There were a few reports of conflict between units regarding the tactics employed and the level of effort that was being directed toward operations. These seemed primarily to involve units that were extremely fatigued and had reached the point where their physical stamina and aggressive spirit had both been depleted, encountering units that were fresh or supervised by unrelenting officers. These situations were unusual, but they were widely reported, suggesting that conflict existed between different agencies or between structure-oriented units and wildland-oriented units. The more frequent observation was that everyone worked together very effectively, in spite of the many adversities created by the fire itself.

Another psychological factor was the fear of being overwhelmed by the fire. Few of the firefighters had ever imagined an urban conflagration of this magnitude, and no one had ever seen one. Many experienced firefighters expressed their feelings of fear as the fire jumped from building to building, swept over and around them, and overwhelmed 2their efforts to control it. They described their feelings as the smoke reduced their visibility to zero, and they wondered if the fire was going to close in on them or cut off their escape.

Many of the companies that had been involved in the initial actions on the hills had been driven out by the fire, abandoning their positions and, in some cases, losing track of crew members. One company officer did not know the fate of his crew for several hours; he drove the engine down from the hills alone. There was no effective organization structure in place, and the communications system was so overwhelmed that it was impossible to account for companies or individuals. The Battalion Chief who died was not missed in the confusion until his body was found, and there were several reports about finding burned bodies in the streets or not being able to rescue persons who were known to be trapped in burned homes. This information spread among the firefighters on the scene and helped to create an extreme stress level.

Many of the individuals who were involved in fighting this fire were also involved in the Loma Prieta Earthquake that struck the Bay area in 1989. The Cypress Freeway collapse in Oakland had been a devastating incident, in terms of its magnitude and consequences, and most of the crews that were involved in the first few hours of that incident were also on duty on the day of the fire. They described the fire as being more stressful, because of the continuing fear that the fire kept getting bigger and nothing they could do seemed to stop it. While the earthquake was an extremely stressful incident, they did not feel a personal commitment to stop a freeway from falling down. They did feel a personal commitment to control fires, but they were facing a fire that was a major threat to their own safety.

The Oakland Fire Department instituted its Critical Incident Stress Debriefing system in the days immediately after the fire. The long term consequences of the stress are not known, but it was evident that a very high level of stress surrounded the incident, particularly the loss of so many lives and such a large part of the community. The mental health agencies and professionals in Oakland and Berkeley also provided counselling for residents of the devastated area. The sight of more than two square miles of devastation, with the total destruction of more than 3,000 dwellings, is convincing evidence of the need for these services.

Some of the most difficult feelings were faced by command officers who were responsible for managing and directing the fire suppression efforts. There were experienced officers who were extremely familiar with the risk factors and the history of previous fires in the hills and had some expectation of what could happen, but the actual fire was worse than their worst predictions. Some of these individuals had tried unsuccessfully for years to make residents and political leaders aware of the risks and to convince them to take measures to mitigate the hazards. They had a high level of personal commitment to prevent this fire from happening and to be prepared to manage the situation if it did happen, but they were defeated in both respects by forces beyond their control.

It was particularly devastating when reports were published after the fire accusing the Fire Department of negligence or inadequate response to the fire. Some of those accusations came from fire service professionals who had not been involved in the incident and were not aware of the situation. These accusations caused additional stress to several experienced and conscientious officers, who were already suffering from physical and psychological stress.

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