Here is the latest information we have gathered from the National Interagency Fire Center and the Eastern Area Coordination Center concerning the firefighters and incident management teams that are assisting with the recovery from Hurricane Sandy.
This is a very fluid situation. Some resources are arriving at one location and being reassigned in another state. The list is probably not complete or 100 percent accurate, but it will give you an idea of how wildland firefighters are assisting with the recovery.
Firefighting Resources Committed:
Massachusetts:
- Team: one short Type 2 Incident Management Team (Grant), staged at Fort Devens, MA.
- Crews: two Type-2 IA fire crews (MI and MN); staged at Fort Devens, MA.
New York:
- Teams: One short Type 1 IMT (Pisarek) is operating a supply depot. Also en route or arrived are three National Incident Management Organization Teams (NIMO) (Quesenberry, Hahnenberg, and Houseman; Dan Kleinman is the IC on the Houseman team)
- Crews: Cherokee IHC Short Crew, Augusta IHC, and five 2 person Saw Crews
- Buying Team: one is assigned to work remotely supporting IMTs.
Pennsylvania:
- Team: one Type 1 IMT (Wilder) at Middletown, PA is operating a mobilization center.
- Crews: four crews are en route or have arrived in PA (Laguna IHC, Palomar IHC, Los Padres IHC, and Breckenridge IHC) ; two of them will probably be reassigned to NY
HERE is a link to a five-minute podcast Jennifer Jones, a Public Affairs Specialist with the USFS in Boise did yesterday with Steve Gage, the new Assistant Director for Operations with the USFS at NIFC, about using IMTeams and fire crews to help with hurricanes and other non-fire emergencies.
