The Sundowner Forces

1
The Sundowner Forces
2
Lessons Learned

• The day shift plan was to work dozers on the
  south flank of the fire.
• The tactic would be safe as the fire was out of
  alignment with wind and slope on that flank.
• When a Sundowner was forecast, the wind would put
  the south flank of the fire in alignment with
  wind and overpower the negative slope.

3
Lessons Learned

• If the Sundowner should surface, the tactics
  would be wrong for the dozer attack.
• The night Ops Chief attempted to extract the
  dozers as the danger was evident.
• What I learned was to assure that the tactics
  were based on a forecast. If we had acted before
  the fire changed to a wind-driven fire, we would
  have avoided the accident.

4
Sundowner situation
The Romero Fire of 1971 graphic. Location may
not be exact. The fire in daytime was out of
alignment with wind and slope on the south flank.
When the Sundowner surfaced, the alignment of
forces changed and overran the dozers who were
working below the fire. This slide is made up
from Bruce Schuberts emxsys.com project.