DO YOU THINK INTERCOUNTY WILDFIRE CREWS HELP LOCAL FOREST FIRE DISTRICTS

IN SOUTHCENTRAL PA. WE HAVE FORMED LOCAL WILDFIRE CREWS. THESE CREWS ARE FORMED FROM VOLUNTEER AND PAID PERSONNEL FROM LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS AND MOST OF THE TIME ARE CALLED OUT TO ASSIST IN WILDLAND FIRE CONTROL. AT THIS TIME THESE CREWS ARE NOT FEDERAL FUNDED SO THEY ARE NOT HOT SHOT CREWS. WE GET CALLED IN TO BABYSIT FIRES AT NIGHT THAT VOLUNTEERS HAVE BEEN ON DURING THE DAY AND WE ALSO CAN BE CALLED IN TO ASSIST IN FIRE CONTROL IF THE VOLUNTEERS NEED HELP.

NOW I GUESS MY QUESTION IS. WOULD IT BE MORE EFFECTIVE TO CALL THESE CREWS IN RIGHT AWAY OR ONLY WHEN IT IS A LARGE FIRE OR IF THE LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS NEED HELP?

I HAVE HAD THE CHANCE TO SEE TWO CREWS WORKING AT NIGHT ON A BABYSITTING JOB STOP A 100 ACRE OR SO GIVE OR TAKE A FEW ACRES. 30 PERSONS AN 800 GALLON TENDER AND A MINIPUMPER IS ALL THE WATER THEY HAD. I AM CONVINCED THAT CALLING RIGHT AWAY WOULD BE GOOD.

THANKS AND STAY SAFE.

Sounds like your right on target with the local wildland crews.We are looking to develope a local strike team county to county
made up of volunteer and career firefighters in kentucky which would respond to fires.The divison of forestry could call this strike teams out on a region level.Initial Attack is do by the Structural departments along with division wildland crews.When things ready get busy the division does not have the manpower.The strike teams would give the division a pool of trained firefighters to pull from to develope local crews when needed.

Your wildland fire crews you speak of are an asset to the departments in your area, as well as the forestry folks in your area. The problem that could arise in these crews being initially dispatched is, do they have the right kind of training to be initial attack qualified? AFFF, it sounds to me that the crews you speak of are not IA carded, and would be considered ICS type 2 hand crews. A initial attack qualified 20 person hand crew could generally be considered a Hot-Shot crew. The Forest Service, BLM, BIA, NPS are the big 4 federal agencies that have hotshot crews. ( the Kern County Fire Dept in sounthern california has the only non-federally funded hot-shot crew in the nation, i believe) AFFF, IMHO what your crews need to do first is achieve a higher level of training. Maybe do some control burns in which your folks could practice cutting hot line under controlled conditions. I'm by NO means an expert, I suggest you contact your local forestry folks for more info and/or suggestions

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don't tell someone how to do something, tell them what to do and they will suprise you with their ingenuity

BJ In our crews have had training classes called the PA-130. These classes are equal to the S-130 most of the things that are in this class is what is in the PA-130 class with the execption of a few things. The crews we have are lead by area Wardens. Most of the people with in the crews that act as the leaders in the crews are red carded. This is to keep people with training and experience in control and put the younger people with someone who knows what is going on.

I understand what you are saying though and I can agree with you on it.

Staying safe through training.
AFFF

We use wildland strike teams (brush engines) structure strike teams, and tender(tanker) strike teams. The initial IC requests the appropiate teams based on the size up of the incident. You need to have the wildland fire courses including those on wildland-urban interface to be most effective. There will also probably be a learning period for wildland size up. You need to call the teams early as it takes a while for them to get there. We are also a mix of paid and VFD units. It's better to err on the side oc caution. You can always cancel the teams if you do not need them.