Cooperative Fire Agreements at Work

Shawnee National Forest's cooperative fire agreements with fifteen local fire departments and districts are successful in providing assistance fighting wildland fires across boundaries.

Shawnee National Forest's cooperative fire agreements with fifteen local fire departments and districts are successful in providing assistance fighting wildland fires across boundaries. The Forest's wildland firefighting resources have been responding efficiently and effectively supporting wildland firefighting efforts within the jurisdictions of the participating agencies.

Williamson County Fire Chief Don Swiatkowski was talking about a forty acre brush fire in February 2009, near the Lake of Egypt when he said, "Three agencies worked in unison to extinguish this fire. Unified command does work!" He went on to thank the Forest firefighters for their efforts in training local structure firemen in wildland fire suppression. The joint efforts kept this fire from spreading to homes and other structures in the area.

In March 2009, an overturned semi truck caught on fire in Saline County, Illinois. The fire spread to nearby grass fields by winds gusting up to 40 mph. In all, eight fire departments from four counties responded to the fire. Saline County Sheriff Keith Brown said, "The U. S. Forest Service responded to the fire with a bull dozer, which quickly aided in slowing the fire." By the time the fire was extinguished, approximately 160 acres of grass fields and trees had been burnt, however, even though the fire was close to them no houses were damaged.

These are just two examples of the eighteen wildland fires totaling 389 acres the Shawnee National Forest fire crews have assisted local fire departments and districts with since entering into the cooperative fire agreements. Without the agreements, the Forest's resources would not have been available to help fight these wildland fires, perhaps resulting in additional acres burned and structures damaged or destroyed.

Forest's Fire Management Officer Chris Peterson working with the local fire departments and districts has resulted in a more effective and efficient way to respond to wildland fires and protect ecosystems across boundaries.