IMETs provide forecasts and briefings that all personnel working the wildfire to ensure the safety of all wildland firefighters and their support teams who are working the wildfire. If you are interested in learning about NWS IMETs as the 2018 wildfire season continues, you can read the NWS IMET Facebook Page, it is publicly available so you don’t need a Facebook account to read. Among the things they post about are IMET assignments to wildfires and other incidents along with fire safety tips and posts about NWS Fire Forecasting.
I went to the NWS IMET Facebook Page today to find about recent IMET assignments. I saw that two IMETs, including an IMET trainee were assigned to the Buzzard Fire in NM last week. I’ll get to the two IMETs in a moment. But first a little about the Buzzard Fire in NM. The Buzzard Fire is currently burning in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico, the fire has burned 20,300 acres and is at 34% containment as I write this. The Buzzard Fire was discovered on May 22nd. I found a map dated, May 28th on this Buzzard Fire Inciweb page that I am sharing below this paragraph. For those that like satellite photos of wildfires, here are some nice satellite photos of the Buzzard Fire, also from the Buzzard Fire Inciweb page, the satellite photos may be found here.
Obtained on May 30, 2018 from https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/photograph/5814/0/78172 |
Now to the IMETs that were assigned to this fire last week. I don’t know for sure if they are currently assigned to the Buzzard Fire, but they were on the fire late last week. On May 24th an IMET from the US National Weather service El Paso Texas was enroute to the Buzzard Fire, see this NWS IMET May 24th Facebook Post. Then two days later, on May 26th, an IMET trainee from the US National Weather Service Elko Nevada was enroute to the Buzzard Fire, see this NWS IMET May 26th Facebook Post Thank-you IMETs for your work on the Buzzard Fire, what you do helps to keep the wildland firefighters safe as they work the wildfire. Stay safe!