(College Station)—The Texas Forest Service Lone Star State Incident Management Team has dispatched personnel to two different types of disasters in the span of one week.
Team members reported to Eagle Pass April 25 in response to the devastating tornado that swept through the city. Team personnel have been performing functions involving command, operations, logistics, planning, and information, as well as assessing the damage and needs of the community.
The next call came from the state of Georgia, in the midst of their worst fire season on record. And initial wave of the team members sent to Georgia consisted of 26 firefighters and incident management personnel, along with firefighting equipment. An additional 32 team members arrived in Georgia May 5 to assist the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) with fighting the large fires the state has seen in the past several weeks.
“Georgia provided us tremendous support in our historic fire season during 2005-2006,” said Mark Stanford, chief of fire operations for Texas Forest Service. “This was critical, as fatigue was beginning to take its toll on our personnel. It is now time to reciprocate.”
Paul Hannemann, chief regional fire coordinator, reports the GFC has already been using the “Texas model” for managing their historic fire season this year.
“We will work with the GFC and assume responsibility for the initial attack on the fires that cover a 30-county area in southeast Georgia and for ‘mop-up’ of the 54,000-acre Sweat Farm fire near Waycross, adjacent to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge,” said Hannemann.
The Lone Star State IMT is a group of specialists always available for deployment to any disaster in Texas and around the nation. The team was called on to assist in the aftermath of both Hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005 and in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia ground and air search recovery effort. 