CO, KS & OK, Wildland Fire

[SECOEMS]

Agencies from 4 states responded to a grass fire in SE Colorado and the Oklahoma Panhandle. The fire started at 11:19 MST on a farm NE of Boise City OK. The fire spread to the Cimarron River and crossed into colorado. It took 95 responders and 55 aparatus to contol the fire. The fire burnt 4,000 acres over 10 hours.
It appears the fire was started by careless controlled burning. winds were 30-35 with gusts to 45 temp around 70F and low RH which made the fire spread extreme.

Colorado Agencies that Responded Include:
Springfield Fire - 1 engine
Walsh Fire - 2 engines
Campo Fire -2 engines
Baca County Emergency Managment - 1 command
Walsh Fire - 1 command
Baca Road & Bridge - 3 graders, 3 tenders, 4 pickups,
Campo Quick Response Ambulance - 1 unit
Rye Fire Department - 1 Engine (ordered but did not make it on scene before fire was out)

Kansas Agencies that responded:
Elkhart Fire - 2 engines, 1 tender
Elkhart CO-OP - 1 fuel truck

Oklahoma Agencies that responded:
Boise City Fire - 2 Engines, 1 tender
Keyes Fire - 4 engines
Chris Hunt water hauling - 1 Tender
Griggs Fire Department - 1 Engine
Yarbrough Fire Dept. - 1 Engine
Red Cross - 1 unit
Cimarron County Road & Bridge - 6 graders, 2 tenders, 2 pickups
Felt-Wheeless Fire - 1 engine

New Mexico Agencies that responded:
Clayton Fire Department - 1 Engine (did not make it on scene before fire was out)

Federal Agencies:
United States Forest Service - 2 Engines, 1 Command
2 SEATS on standby at Clovis NM
1 HEAVY on standby in California.

We also utilized local farmers/ranchers tractors we had 3 tractors and several personnel on scene with water.

We evacuated approx 15 local residents in CO. we had no loss of structure and 1 injury to firefighter before Baca county was on scene.

Radio Channels that was used:
Colorado DTRS - Baca MAC TG349
Baca Law TG344
Oklahoma State Fire: 154.130
Cimarron Med Ch: 453.025
Cimarron Rd & Bridge: 156.075
Cimarron Law: 155.610
Morton County Fire: 155.715
FERN 154.280
USFS 169.900
FS Work 163.100
Mt Carmel Repeater 860.2125
Walsh Repeater 855.9625
Springfield Fire 153.845

 

[Moosemedic]

Nice Freq spread
So much for inter-agency / inter-operability

 

[datainmotion]

At least it appears that this was a perfect example of interagency co-op. Thanks for the detailed post!

 

[SECOEMS]

Yes, there was little interoperability between trucks however command vehicles had all the frequencies in them and it worked almost flawlessly the fire was a success and showed the need for interoperability. However when you work across state lines and that many state lines it is hard to find interoperability. for as many units that responded it worked well. we also had communications with several local ranchers/farmers that were bringing in equipment as well. thank you all for reading our post.

 

[Moosemedic]

I disagree.... 7 seasons of Wildland Fire, all I ever needed was my Bendix King portable (EPH-5142). Incidents with 1,500 firefighters lasting months at a time. Not a single communication issue....