NJ Forest Fire Service and other Eastern States out of State assignments

It is the time of year where the New Jersey Forest Fire Service and other state firefighting agencies have answered the call to help work wildfires in other parts of the country.  Over the years that I have been writing this blog, I can say that I am more aware of what I will call mutual aid, whether it be structure fires or wildland fires, when the word goes out that a local fire company or an agency responsible for a wildland fire needs additional resources, the call is answered by those who are available to send people and equipment.

Today I focus on out of state deployments of crews and equipment from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service and other eastern area states. I knew earlier this week that two New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) engines and five NJFFS firefighters were deployed to Texas to assist the Texas A&M Forest Service, one type 6 and one type 4 engine were deployed the weekend of July 9th. For more information see this July 11th Tweet from the NJ Forest Fire Service. In going through the July 15th Resource Summary below I saw a third engine deployed in June to Wyoming.

Knowing that New Jersey had deployed engines and firefighters to Texas, I knew that other state firefighting agencies in the eastern area had deployed crews and equipment. I focus on the eastern area because that is where I live. I am fairly certain that as resources allow, states in other parts of the United States are deploying their crews and equipment out of state. 

I went to the Eastern Area Coordination Center, then I go to intelligence listed under predictive services listing of EACC products, many of which are updated daily during fire season. I selected resource summary, the one that I am looking at is dated July 15th (the date that I am posting). I am summarizing the deployments by type and by state:

• 3 fire crews, the Midewin International Hotshots and two Interagency Crews from the Missouri/Iowa Dispatch Center. The hotshots are deployed to Utah and the Interagency Crews are deployed to Alaska and Colorado.
• One module from Wisconsin is deployed to Texas (I need to check on what is meant by a module, it may refer to a smaller fire crew with less than 20 people.)
• Engines (with firefighters), the following states have one or more engines deployed outside the eastern region (to Wyoming, Colorado, California, Nevada, Texas): from Michigan (4), Vermont (1), Minnesota (8), New Jersey (3), Iowa (2), Wisconsin (7), Indiana (1), Illinois (1), West Virginia (2),  Maine (1), New Hampshire (1), and Ohio (1) for a total of 32 engines. 

I want to thank all the crews who are currently deployed outside their home states to support wildland firefighting operations in other parts of the United States. You are away from your homes and families doing good work to keep us safe from wildfires.