A workplace investigation into a firefighter’s death in a utility vehicle crash last year in northern British Columbia has blamed a series of failures by the BC Wildfire Service, in the second such report to emerge in two days.
The WorkSafeBC report into the July 28 death of Zak Muise, employed by contractor Big Cat Wildfire, says the wildfire service didn’t adequately supervise use of the utility vehicles, lacked procedures and training about their operation and didn’t ensure they were inspected for safety.
It says neither 25-year-old Muise nor the wildfire service supervisor who was also in the vehicle, known as a UTV, were wearing helmets, despite them being provided and required for use by the manufacturer.
The report says a netting system to keep occupants inside the UTV in the event of a rollover was damaged and ineffective, something that would likely have been identified if a pre-use inspection had been carried out.
The findings, first reported by the CBC, also say at least one of the occupants wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, although the report has been redacted in a way that prevents them being identified.
Another WorkSafeBC report, released on Wednesday, into the death of 19-year-old firefighter Devyn Gale last summer cited ineffective hazard management by the wildfire service, inadequate supervision, training and orientation of young workers, unsafe work procedures and normalization of risk.
Gale died when a burning tree fell on her northeast of Revelstoke last July, despite the cedar having been identified by colleagues as dangerous before the accident.
It says “no actions were taken to eliminate or mitigate the risks” posed by the tree.
The report into Muise’s death says he and his BC Wildfire Service supervisor were riding in the UTV near Fort St. John when it was driven through a ditch to avoid an oncoming truck.
But the UTV driver, whose identity is obscured by redactions, was unable to stop before driving off a steep four-metre embankment, resulting in a rollover crash that killed Muise and left the supervisor with unspecified injuries.
“BC (Wildfire Service) did not provide adequate supervision of the operation of UTVs and thus did not ensure the health and safety of the workers performing work at the workplace,” the report says.
Muise and Gale were among four wildland firefighters who died last July across Canada.
It was one the deadliest fire seasons in recent memory.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 2, 2023.
