SCFC employees mobilizing for busy western wildfire season
Five Forestry Commission employees have already been deployed to western assignments, most in Alaska.
Both Santee Unit Forester Anneta Pritchard and Environmental Program Manager Holly Welch took assignments as a Public Information Officers (PIOs) with the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center, which is managing several large wildfires that have ignited across the interior of the state.
One of those fires, the Bear Creek Fire, north of Denali National Park, is where Coastal Region Assistant Regional Forester Andrew Williams went to assist, also as a PIO. Coastal Region Firewise/Prevention Coordinator Andy Johnson went out as a Logistics Section Chief to the Copper River Basin where the Alaska Division of Forestry is managing two large wildfires. Lynches River Assistant Unit Forester Brandon Smith has been pre-positioned as an engine boss by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in preparation for wildfires in that state.
South Carolina’s fire season typically peaks between November and April, but the western United States’ wildfire season is throughout the summer months. Because the western and southern fire seasons do not generally overlap, it is customary for Southern state forestry agencies to send its wildland fire personnel on western assignments when requested. It is common for all states to share resources on such incidents; for example, the Forestry Commission received assistance from firefighters and other incident command system (ICS) personnel from many different states during the Covington Drive and Table Rock wildfires earlier this year.
The Forestry Commission sends its highly trained personnel out west every year in response to calls for out-of-state assistance, which have continued to grow in recent years. These deployments are great training opportunities for those who go on what are typically two-week assignments. All of our IMT personnel and all of our firefighters undergo regular training for exactly these kinds of special assignments; not only do they provide much-needed help, but they also bring that valuable ICS experience with them back to South Carolina.”