Summary
No one can stop Mother Nature. But we can make sure we’re prepared. That is the basis for the Texas Wildfire Protection Plan. Originally funded in 1999 as a pilot program, the plan since has been successfully tested and adopted as a national model.
Texas Wildfire Protection Plan calls for a five-part approach to disaster response: Predictive Services, Prevention & Mitigation, Planning & Preparedness, Local Capacity Building and Rapid Response.
When a wildfire breaks out, Texas must compete with other states for aircraft, firefighters and equipment. Often, we can’t get the assets we need. The protection plan combats that problem by increasing state resources and personnel, which improves our response and reduces the need for outside resources.
Texas Forest Service has planned a progressive funding approach that would allow the state to pay for the program in installments over the next three legislative sessions. The first request for this current biennium is $7 million per year. That’s just 4 cents per acre in Texas.
Predictive Services
When you’re tasked with protecting the state from devastating wildfires, you better know when conditions are ripe for an inferno and when they aren’t. That’s where the Texas Forest Service Predictive Services Department comes in.
Combining data from remote automated weather stations and current weather conditions, forecasters and analysts can predict a three-day window for wildfires and position resources nearby.
Rapid Response
Once you know when the fire will break out, you need the personnel to respond. As part of Texas Wildfire Protection Plan, Texas Forest Service will hire 60 new wildland firefighters to be stationed throughout the state.
Currently, Texas Forest Service has just 160 wildland firefighters. That’s one firefighter for every 1,600 square miles. To put that into perspective, the Bryan-College Station area — home of Texas Forest Service headquarters — together have more firefighters to protect a community of roughly 150,000 than Texas Forest Service has to protect a state of more than 23 million.
Prevention & Mitigation and Local Capacity Building
When firefighters aren’t battling blazes, they’ll be in the field. They’ll work with communities to identify and eliminate potential hazards, and they’ll train volunteer firefighters so their departments are better prepared.
In 2002, Texas Forest Service surveyed more than 1,800 fire departments — made up of more than 60,000 members — from across the state. Overwhelmingly, firefighters listed wildland fires as the top emergency response issue facing their departments.
Yet, more than half the firefighters — 38,254 — reported they weren’t equipped with protective equipment designed for fighting wildfires. More than 6,000 said they didn’t even have standard bunker gear.
Planning & Preparedness
Texas Forest Service plays a significant role in general disaster response, which falls under planning and preparedness. We’re named in the state’s emergency management plan as the go-to agency for incident management teams — no matter the disaster.
Texas Forest Service has headed up responses to hurricanes, floods and fires. We became the first state agency to lead a federal incident when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas.
How does Texas Forest Service currently benefit me?