Storm Cell Challenges HFD's Capabilities

On Thursday night, August 5, 1999, a severe lighting storm cell moved across the Hanford Site, disrupting power to many Hanford facilities and keeping the Hanford Fire Department busy for several hours extinguishing wildland fires.

The storm ignited 14 fires. Three were located on Gable Mountain, four occurred in and around the 200 East Area (two near the old grout facilities just east of the PUREX building), three were ignited on Rattlesnake Mountain, one was located north of the 251 Substation, two blazed near the intersection of Route 11A and Route 4 South, and one burned along State Route 240 on the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve.

The Hanford Fire Department responded with nearly 35 personnel, almost double the number normally on duty for a typical night shift. They broke into six separate crews -- three working north of the Wye Barricade and three working to the south.

Eight of the fires found by the crews were extinguished by rain, but seven had to be extinguished by fire personnel. All fires ranged from 5 to 10 acres in size. According to veteran Hanford Chief Don Good, two fires on Gable Mountain were especially difficult to access because of the hilly terrain.

HFD established incident command at the intersection of Routs 11A and 4 South using area command, splitting the numerous fires into two separate incidents on either side of the Wye Barricade. In total, more than 200 "trouble alarms" caused by electrical power surges and interruptions came in to the HFD Dispatch Center. Each one had to be checked, and before the night was over, every single one of the HFD's 300 alarm transmitter boxes on the Hanford Site had to be re-set.

Chief Good expressed high praise for his crews. "They performed outstandingly," he said, "especially in view of the fact that the situation was constantly changing. As soon as they would finish one task, they would be dispatched to another, and this continued until about 3 a.m. on Friday."

On August 6, 1999, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management flew over the area, searching for additional fires not found and for fires that might have been rekindled by the heat of the day. None were found.

The lightning-set fires of August 5, 1999, surpassed even a set of five Hanford Site blazes started by a spectacular lightning storm on July 12, 1991.

Excerpted from Hanford Reach, August 9, 1999