Wildland Engine Cooler Melt Down

Keep the Engine Cooler Valves Closed

In this report, I and another NV-xxx(Eng Capt), look at a problem believed to be caused by an Engine Cooler Valve being left in the OPEN position continuously at the direction of NIFC/NFEP recommendations (as stated to myself) and how this can create a very serious personal safety or injury risk, that is completely avoidable. This is likened to and nearly setting up a duplication of the 2017 Crescent Fire Scald Injury that took place on the Plumas NF during a parallel Pumping operation that lead to a failure of a coupling due to the high temperature/pressure combination. In this case, three engines are experiencing the same issue and are NOT even engaged in a pumping operation. The severity of this is such that if the apparatus was continuously operated in this fashion and then plumbed into a hose-lay, the pump motor throttled up to the same or similar pressures as the 2017 report indicates, there would be no warning to the operator and it could lead to near-instantaneous failure upon reaching whatever pressure would be necessary for a hose to separate from the already hot expanded hose fitting!