r/Wildfire • u/CBSnews • Jul 15 '25

News (General) National Park Service's handling of wildfire that destroyed historic Grand Canyon Lodge questioned

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grand-canyon-lodge-wildfire-burned-for-days-before-it-spread/
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-26

u/Lucky_Double_8301 Jul 15 '25

Nothing will happen There will be no accountability There Park Manager will more than likely end up being promoted up and out to a better job. There is no accountability whatsoever for land managers who make these mistakes. This happens multiple times every fire season. This one just happens to be high profile

12

u/larry_flarry Jul 15 '25

So you'd prefer to go to jail or get fired because you lost a burn? It's not just the inevitable nature of putting fire on the ground amidst uncontrollable variables?

That's...fucking idiotic.

21

u/No_Mind3009 Jul 15 '25

I think it’s a super slippery slope to “hold people accountable” for decisions like this if the decision made sense given the conditions at the time (which I assume it did since the decision maker had a lot more information than we do here). If we penalize everyone for when something goes wrong it’s going to hamper the decision making process. What’s next? You can’t do burn ops because if you lose it, you’re going to get fired or sued? People need to be covered if the decision was made within reasonable parameters.

I think there should be a deep dive into this situation, but I dislike every one immediately calling for heads on pikes.

17

u/larry_flarry Jul 15 '25

Yeah, it's just ill-informed idiots playing at NPS expert and advocate. Two weeks ago they couldn't have told you whether or not that lodge existed, and they certainly couldn't be bothered to call their representatives to demand adequate funding for the agency.

'Member just last year when that piece of shit sheriff in John Day tried to railroad Rick Snodgrass? I do, and everyone I work with sure does. Used to be everyone wanted the experience and the responsibility. Now it's who draws short straw to bethe fall guy if things go tits up.

There will be a clownish amount of AAR on this... it's the park service. There's gonna be nerds researching every aspect of this for decades. Accountability will be had.

-13

u/Lucky_Double_8301 Jul 15 '25

Two different things and I do not agree with that Sheriff. All I’m saying is that one small fire crew could have prevented all those buildings from burning. It would have been prudent to put that fire out in the peak of fire season. Manage the fires that start naturally later in the season when cool weather and moisture is in the forecast. I just hate to see so many buildings especially historic ones like that burn when that fire could have easily been prevented with a minimal amount of effort

9

u/No_Mind3009 Jul 15 '25

Do you have all the information about the fuel moisture levels, weather forecasts, available resources, etc? Because the person that made the call did. The issue is you’re jumping straight to calling it a bad decision when you don’t have all the information and you have the benefit of hindsight. No one has an issue with doing an investigation, we have issues with jumping to conclusions.

If it turns out they did make a call that wasn’t consistent with the information at the time, then you can lead the mob. Until then, quit being an armchair quarterback.

-5

u/Lucky_Double_8301 Jul 15 '25

I did have all the information. It’s not a hard decision. When the fire is small and easy to catch, put it out. Or things like this will happen. I’ve seen this numerous times in my 20 career as a boots on the ground firefighter. I’ve had opportunities to catch small fires that turned into big, expensive campaign fires because someone could make a decision. It’s not that difficult to make the connection that letting a fire go in peak fire season with forecasted wind is a bad idea. I don’t really care as much because it was NPS buildings that burned but try explaining to a private person why their house burned when the fire was only smoldering at an acre for 3 days??

12

u/Interesting_Local_70 Jul 15 '25

If you were such an experienced firefighter, you’d know mid-July is not peak fire season in AZ. It’s monsoon season. Quit larping.

1

u/Lucky_Double_8301 Jul 15 '25

Then explain why this fire went big????