Tag: COVID-19

Wildfire Today has previously reported on the activation of an interagency Incident Management Team mobilized to assist in Washington state, assessing and modifying existing COVID plans to enable a broader distribution of vaccinations. They are handling three counties for the Southwest Washington Health Services — Clark, Cowlitz, and Skamania. At least 30 personnel were dispatched, 20 from the USFS, 3 DOI, and 9 from state and local governments.

Alex Robertson of the U.S. Forest Service has an update on the teams’ activities in Washington. Here is an excerpt from his report:

…Fourteen USDA Forest Service staff from the Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 3 are bringing those skills to bear on the national vaccination effort. More are expected to deploy in the days to come.

In speaking with Incident Commander Randy Johnson, I learned this isn’t the team’s first go-round supporting COVID response.

“Last spring, Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 3 supported COVID response in Spokane County and now the team is working with the three counties in southwest Washington to develop a coordinated, scalable approach to vaccine delivery,” said Johnson.

The team is helping scout and plan vaccination sites, verify transportation capacity and methods, and develop other critical logistics in support of the Washington Department of Health, and public health authorities in Clark, Cowlitz and Skamania Counties. Team members are helping track eligibility guidelines, vaccination capacity and availability, and striving to ensure equity in access.

Their efforts have already made people safer. Skamania County Community Health vaccinated more than 250 people just last week at an appointment-only, drive-through vaccination site. The team is sharing lessons learned and refining plans for additional vaccination sites for Cowlitz and Clark counties, while working out logistics for mobile delivery to hundreds of eligible seniors living in adult family homes.

It’s support like this that will help make the safe, effective and comprehensive vaccination campaign called for in the National Strategy for COVID (PDF, 24 MB) a reality. President Biden called for a whole-of-government response to end the pandemic, and the USDA Forest Service is delivering.

And this is just one example of how the USDA Forest Service and its national interagency partners can be called up to respond when needed.

“While our team responds to a lot of wildland fires, the Incident Command Structure is easily adapted to many types of incidents. The team has served during disasters like hurricanes, recovering space shuttle Columbia (PDF, 2 MB), and on 9/11,” said Johnson.

“Adaptability and flexibility are crucial for team success on these missions and this team is made up of skilled professionals from local, state and federal agencies who exhibit those qualities.”

I knew when I recently accepted a position as Fire and Aviation Director for the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region, that we’d be facing new challenges this year. As we continue to recover from the 2020 wildfires and prepare for another fire season, we have the added challenge of keeping firefighters, employees and communities safe in the face of the pandemic.

I see this additional COVID support mission as a continuation of what wildland firefighters have always done—supporting the health and safety of the broader community.

I’m grateful that we have this opportunity to add another layer of support. Working closely with our partners, I look forward to seeing all that we can get done together.

Alex Robertson is the director of Fire and Aviation for the Pacific Northwest and Alaska regions in Portland, Oregon.

The U.S. Forest Service has confirmed that 643 FS wildland fire personnel have tested positive for coronavirus as of January 19, 2021, according to spokesperson Stanton Florea.

Of those, 569 have recovered, Mr. Florea said, but 74 have not yet fully recovered or returned to work as of January 19. There have been no reported fatalities in the FS tied to coronavirus, he said.

I asked Mr. Florea how many have been hospitalized and he would not provide a number, saying, “We do not have complete data on the number of personnel hospitalized as some employees have sought medical treatment on their own, not related to work/fire assignments.”

I attempted to obtain similar information from the Department of the Interior, but after several days of delays, receiving no data, and the request being elevated to higher levels, spokesperson Richard Parker wrote in an email, “We respectfully decline to comment further on this topic at this time.” I asked Mr. Parker why the DOI would not release the information, but have not received a reply.

Four land management agencies in the DOI employ fire personnel — Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fish & Wildlife Service, and National Park Service.

NBC News reported August 29 that one BLM employee in Alaska died August 13 shortly after testing positive while on the job. Another was in critical condition at that time.

The number of fire personnel that had tested positive at that time according to NBC included:

• U.S. Forest Service: 122
• Bureau of Indian Affairs: 54
• Bureau of Land Management: 45
• Fish and Wildlife Service: 1
• National Park Service: (would not disclose the number to NBC News)

When we checked September 2 with the National Park Service about the total number of positive cases, Christina Boehle, Branch Chief for Communication and Education, would only say, “The agency has no active cases among our firefighters at this time.”

In spite of the information vacuum, we reported September 2 that at least two firefighters on Colorado’s Cameron Peak Fire had been hospitalized suffering from coronavirus symptoms. One of them spent five weeks on a ventilator.

On November 5 Mr. Florea said the total number of FS fire personnel that had tested positive for coronavirus had risen to 219. On that date 141 employees of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection had tested positive, said Alisha Herring, Education, Outreach, and Engagement Officer for the agency. We also learned then that more than half a dozen members on one of the national teams managing wildland fires had also tested positive.