DNRC rep visits county commissioners
SUPERIOR - A representative with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation met with county commissioners last Friday to have them approve the updated fire management plan for Mineral County.
DNRC Fire Program Manager Matt Hall said the purpose of his visit was to have commissioners sign off on the plan that was last updated in 2006. Hall said the major changes to the plan included communication protocols and updating contact information for local resources that may be called upon to help fight a fire in Mineral County.
“We updated communication information the county has developed in the last few years,” Hall said. “We updated contact information and generated some new maps so they (commissioners) can see where the coverage area is.”
Hall said the fire management plan consists of a comprehensive set of guidelines and information that dictate how a fire event is handled by a wide variety of state, county and local resources. He said the document covers an extensive variety of topics from how to prepare for fire and how to address one when it happens.
“This plan goes over fire organizations in the county,” Hall said. “It covers cooperation in the county, training goals and objectives within the county, prevention efforts, dispatch and coordination as well as mobilization and how that occurs in the county.”
Hall said in addition to dictating how a fire event is handled between various entities and organizations, it also dictates what resources the DNRC will provide for the county before a fire happens.
“This agreement is between the state and the county,” Hall said. “It determines what training and equipment we will provide. They (Mineral County) will provide protection for state and private land that does not have wildland fire protection.”
Commissioner Duane Simons said the agreement was part of a system that would ensure fire fighting resources know what they are supposed to do, who they are supposed to coordinate with and how a fire event is supposed to be handled.
“It’s an annual agreement we have with the DNRC,” Simons said. “It says what the DNRC will do, what the Forest Service will do and what Mineral County will do as far as fire protection. That plan hadn’t been updated in a few years but it’s pretty much the same plan we have had.”
Commissioner Laurie Johnston said the agreement represents a cooperative partnership with the DNRC and other resources to maintain a comprehensive and organized fire response system.
“If there is a fire on state land, it’s our plan for how the county and the state coordinate what they’re going to do and how they are going to do it,” Johnston said.
According to the DNRC website, the purpose of a cooperative fire management agreement is to “improve wildland fire management by facilitating the increased availability of resources including the exchange of personnel, equipment, supplies, services and funds among the agencies in accordance with this agreement.”