Wildland Fire Program one of a kind in Missouri
The team members undergo special training to battle wildland fires.
Published Oct. 23, 2009
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The Boone County Fire Protection District is part of the National Wildland Fire Program and is the only program of its kind in Missouri. Wildland team members have been sent to help local fire departments around the country, including Florida, California, Virginia, Colorado, North Dakota and South Dakota.
The Boone County Fire Protection District is home to a select group of volunteers trained to battle wildland fires around the United States.
Boone County's National Wildland Fire Program, created in 1988, is the only program of its kind in the state of Missouri, said Boone County Fire Protection District Division Chief Gale Blomenkamp.
In recent years, Wildland team members have been sent to help local fire departments in Florida, California, Virginia, Colorado, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Because fighting wildfires requires additional skills than urban firefighting, Wildland Fire team members must undergo special training and meet the National Forest Service's red card requirements every year, the Fire Protection District's Web site stated.
In order to be red carded, firefighters must pass training standards and physical benchmarks, Blomenkamp said.
Given the diverse group of volunteers for the Fire Protection District, it is no surprise Boone County has a number of people willing to take on the extra training and join the Wildland Fire team.
The wildland fires in central Missouri are mostly grass fires. Some volunteers are eager to gain different kinds of wildland fire fighting experience.
"We have people from all trades and walks of life — lawyers, doctors and people from out in rural farmland," Blomenkamp said. "Some of them like to fight fires in the mountains."
He said the wildland fire season is in February and March.
"The state of Missouri doesn't have wildland fires throughout the season. And even then, it's mostly grass fires," Blomenkamp said.
Twelve volunteers make up the Wildland Fire Program out of about 220 in the Fire Protection District. Volunteers give their availability during the wildland fire season and are entered into the National Interagency Coordination Center data system. They are then deployed based on the needs of fire departments around the country during the season.
Once members are deployed, they are added to the federal payroll. Deployments last for two weeks and usually begin six to eight hours after the Coordination Center notifies the Fire Protection District of the need, the Web site stated.
Blomenkamp said his first experience with the Boone County Wildland Fire team was when he was working for the Castle Rock Fire Protection District in Colorado during the 2002 Hayman fire.
Four wildland team members from Boone County helped staff the fire engines in Castle Rock.
The Hayman fire burned more than 130,000 square acres of land in Colorado and occurred during some of the worst fire conditions in state history, a U.S. Forest Service news release stated.
According to the Web site, Wildland allows Boone County Protection District personnel to broaden their experience and gain knowledge in western wildland fire environments that is applicable in Boone County.