Help for GA Firefighters - Waycross

[JAD733]

I have recieved this from a source in Georgia.
Please see how you can help.

Greetings to each and every one of you

I am sending out this email to everyone that is in my address book. Waycross, Georgia located in South Georgia is facing the worst brush fire in history with more than 800 firefighters working to halt its progress. With the lack of rain and high winds the fire has been burning for 3 weeks and the expected time until final extinguishments and cleanup is now 4 weeks from now.

Attach is a list of items that would greatly help our brothers on the fire front. If you or your department or company could please help out it would be greatly appreciated. Please pass this list to others that you think would as well provide some assistance. In the attachment is a contact number to send the items to.

If you have firefighters that would like to respond they are in need of pump-n-roll trucks and tankers. The firefighters are working 12 hour shifts. At this time they are working mostly to save structures.

Most importantly please remember all that are working this event in your prayers.

[Dalmatian190]

If you have firefighters that would like to respond they are in need of pump-n-roll trucks and tankers. The firefighters are working 12 hour shifts. At this time they are working mostly to save structures.

Please don't take this as a kill-the-messenger message, it's not!

In this day and age, there really shouldn't be any need for such requests. While appeals like that are made with the best of intentions, resources should be requested through the State's Emergency Management Agency or it's equivelant...and units dispatched with specific instructions as to where they're to show up when.

I'm certain there's technological improvements that could aid in resource matching what's available to what's requested, and without those it's not neccessarily the quickest or most efficient to go through the proper channels.

But we as a fire service should work to fix those problems, and make sure we don't just go responding a couple guys on a truck on a whim...but respond as part of county-wide strike teams and task forces that are organized to meet needs funneled between State EMAs.

I'm certain a fire commander would be much more pleased with knowing he's getting 5 Engines with guys used to working together coming as an organized group and reporting to a specific location at a specific time...then having reports coming in from the field of units find freelancing crews.

[wombat]

Not trying to start an AL Gore Climate debate but looking at what we have in front of us and how do we deal with it. Seems like you guys in the Northern Hemisphere are getting the same changes we are having down under.

Downunder the days of going to wildfires with half a dozen neighbouring trucks and a Group officer appear to be over. This used to be the norm.

Nowadays a national approach in Australia is needed to get sufficient manpower and resources to deal with the post 2000 wildfire. The need to operate either as a single large agency or several agencies is needed. The days of the hero one man band fire captain are over and replaced by the incident management team. The need to plan and deploy sufficient forces to control big wild fires quickly applies in Australia just as much as you guys in the States.

Stay safe and don't let your water run low.

[Dalmatian190]

Climate issues are only one part of the puzzle.

We've seen fires of this class historically. Same area of Georgia burned 60,000 acres fifty years ago. That area had a fire-based ecological system that's largely been replaced by commercial species with fire removed. But the basic climate is one, stuff wants to burn and eventually it will.

15,000+ acre fires have occured in New England within the memories of many people living today, still the next time one comes it will be a "surprise" and "shock." The fires we're seeing today aren't abberations when viewed on a 50 or 100 year perspective and considering the effects of fire suppression over the years building up fuel levels or encouraging ecosystems that burn more intensely then native ecosystems did.

I suspect the "more resources" is a complex combination of better systems to request aid, more willingness to ask for help, not working guys till they drop, and more concerns to issues other than just direct suppression, etc.