International Support in Wildland Fire Suppression
| International Support and Structure | |
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Australia and New Zealand’s assistance is authorized by the Wildfire Suppression Assistance Act (P.L. 101-11) emergency provision, which states: “with or without an agreement” the U.S. Government can request assistance from foreign fire agencies. This new arrangement will allow us to draw on the Australian fire agencies during critical fire seasons. On September 9, 2001, the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior signed an agreement with Australian Prime Minister John Howard for mutual assistance in firefighting between the United States and three states in Australia. Similar command structures, training and physical requirements allow the New Zealand and Australian firefighters to easily blend into the upper level ranks of American wildland fire organizations.
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| 2000 U.S. Western Fire Season | |
| In 2000, more than 500 people from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico assisted in fighting wildfires. Although fire management personnel from the United States, New Zealand and Australia have exchanged research, training, and technology for years, the summer of 2000 was the first time their firefighters fought fires on American soil. | |
2002 U.S. Western Fire Season |
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150 people from Canada served in various overhead positions, and a total of 25 Type I crews from Canada helped fight wildfires. After a one-day orientation at NIFC, these well-trained and experienced crews were dispatched to fires filling orders for Type I crews. These crews represented an increase of about 30 percent of the number of Type I crews that were available to fight fire. |
| Fifty of the most highly trained and experienced firefighters from New Zealand and Australia arrived at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise on August 8, 2002 to help manage western wildland fires. These firefighters filled the most critical resource needs for fire suppression in the United States, which were for mid-level supervisors, and experienced aviation managers. This group includes 15 helicopter managers and 10 helibase managers. |  |
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The ground firefighter supervisors were deployed on August 11 and the air operations firefighters were deployed on August 12 after an orientation at NIFC. All the Australian and New Zealand firefighters went to fires in southwestern Oregon. |
At their demobilization point on September 12, the Australian and New Zealand firefighters had completed two two-week assignments, with two days R&R between their assignments spent in Eureka, California. |
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The 2002 -2003 Australian Fire Season |
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The 2002-2003 bush fire season in Australia saw some of the worst fires in over 50 years. The hardest hit states were Victoria and New South Wales. In later January of 2003, the State of Victoria requested U.S. assistance. Thirty six U.S. fire fighters went to Australia for a month. |
| A twenty person hand crew worked shoulder to shoulder with Australian fire fighters on the fire line. An infrared scanning aircraft with crew and infrared photo interpreters was also sent. And two small incident management teams took on management responsibilities for portions of a massive fire in the Alpine Region of Victoria. |  |
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This request for U.S. assistance tested and solidified the two-way nature of the Arrangements signed in 2002. |
The 2003 U.S. Western Fire Season |
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| By mid-July the affects of a multi-year drought, record high temperatures and low humidity and the right weather conditions caused numerous large fires to rage out of control in the Northern Rockies. |  |
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Canada was busy suppressing devastating fires of its own in several provinces so NIFC activated firefighters based on the 2002 Arrangements. 40 Australian and New Zealand fire fighters came to the aid of the U.S. |
| The 2006 U.S. Western Fire Season | |
NIFC went to PL5 on July 28 reflecting the increasing competition for resources especially in northern California and the Pacific Northwest. On August 8, a request was place with Australia and New Zealand for 41 firefighters and liaison personnel for primarily fireline leadership and aviation positions. Canada had an above average fire season in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario and currently has no assistance available outside the country. Through requests received in June, NIFC provided five crews and a Type 1 Team to British Columbia along with Infrared mapping support on their large fires. |
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