Behind the Scenes: Dispatching Wildland Firefighters Around the Country

A wildland firefighter on the Midnight Sun Hotshot crew checks for hot spots on an active fireline. Photo from the Coffee Pot Fire on Inciweb.

BY JESSICA GARDETTO and KIM VAN HEMELRYCK  

On a hot, dry August day, the sound of a pulaski tool scraping against dirt and rocks echoed through the quiet of the winding river canyon. Seconds later, a chorus of clinks and clanks followed as wildland firefighters scoured the ash and blackened soil. Sounds of boots shuffling in the dry dirt accompanied the firefighters as they spread out to dig through the area, looking for hot spots that could ignite nearby vegetation.

After spending weeks on wildfire assignments in Alaska and elsewhere this summer, the Midnight Sun Hotshots were assigned to the Coffee Pot Fire in central California, The 21-person Bureau of Land Management wildland fire crew based out of Alaska soon found themselves setting to work in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Their job on that hot August day was to find and eliminate any hot spots that could allow the fire to spread farther, jumping over the established fireline into dry grass and brush.

Wait…why were firefighters from Alaska assigned to an incident in California? Weren’t there firefighters nearby that could handle this work?

The answer is: it’s complicated.

Wildland firefighters are dispatched based on a three-tiered, closest forces system. The first level consists of about 250 local dispatch centers scattered throughout the United States. When a wildfire ignites, the local dispatch center sends the closest available fire personnel and equipment. If the wildfire continues to grow and requires more resources than what is available to the local dispatch office, they turn to the second level, one of ten geographic area coordination centers that are spread throughout the country.

If more resources are needed to respond to an individual wildfire or a large volume of fires in the area, the geographic area coordination center works with the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC). Located at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, the NICC has authority to coordinate wildfire response resources for the entire country when local and geographic area coordination centers are unable to support response needs.

The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group, also based at NIFC, determines nationwide firefighting priorities and allocates resources that are in high demand, like hotshot crews, large airtankers, and complex incident management teams. Comprised of representatives from federal and state agencies, the group also works to ensure firefighters have opportunities to rest and recuperate between assignments and that sufficient resources are held in reserve to respond to new wildfires.

Through this well-established collaboration, firefighting resources are sent where they are most needed. The same system is also used to dispatch emergency response resources for other types of disasters such as hurricanes.  

To plan for potential new wildfire activity, firefighters and equipment are often strategically moved around the country. This pre-positioning relocates firefighters away from one area, as its potential for new wildfires drops, to another area where wildfires are increasingly likely to occur. This strategic positioning can be particularly vital when lightning storms roll through the country. Lightning can ignite hundreds of new fires in a short period. When personnel and equipment are already staged in the area, they can rapidly deploy for initial attacks to suppress new ignitions.

In this case, the Midnight Sun Hotshots were moved out of Alaska when wildfire activity decreased in the state so they could assist with wildfires in areas with more fire activity, like California. Because they were pre-positioned in the lower 48 states, the Alaska Midnight Sun hotshot crew was the closest available resource when a hotshot crew was requested for the Coffee Pot Fire in California.

As fire years become longer and more intense, the need for collaborative wildland fire management is more important than ever. Based on the tenet of partnership, the nation’s wildfire response system enables us to collaborate and move crucial firefighting resources like the Midnight Sun Hotshots around the country to where they are most needed.

Jessica Gardetto is a Public Affairs Specialist and Kim Van Hemelryck is an Emergency Management Specialist who both work for the Office of Wildland Fire.