From the National Interagency Coordination Center, here is a list of the Incident Management Teams that were assigned to COVID-19 pandemic related issues on April 10, 2020:
–Area Command teams (Team 1 Stutler, Team 2 Sexton and Team 3 Jalbert) along with IMT2 (EA Silver Team) have been assigned by the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) to develop a national COVID19 wildland fire response plan.
–NIMO (Houseman) has been assigned to COVID-19 support at Forest Service headquarters in Washington D.C.
–IMT1 (GB Team 2) has been assigned to Intermountain R4 Regional Office COVID-19 Support, providing complexity analysis, risk assessments and short/long-term planning guidance.
–IMT1 (NW Team 3) has been assigned to the Spokane Regional Health District, WA, assisting with strategic planning and building capacity.
I am a VIPR potable water contractor. Before I retired I was involved with logistics for fires. With fire season upon us, I’m wondering when these teams will come up with a strategy for dealing with the corona virus at fire camps. In my wildest dreams, I cannot see how a wildfire camp can be made safe for employees and or contractors. Social distancing would be near impossible, especially on the fireline and in the chow line. You can probably separate the team personnel, but the morning briefing would be very interesting. I personally will not accept a dispatch if some sort of program/procedures are not in place to safeguard the fire fighters and the contractors. If you take a look at a lot of the support personnel, they are probably in the vulnerable class (older with underlying conditions). I hope it can be done, but as I always told the firefighters I was responsible for , there is nothing worth you getting hurt or sick out there!!
It will be a different world in camps this year. The word is patience, they’re working on it.