Texas A&M Forest Service maintains an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) at the agency headquarters in College Station to provide statewide situational awareness and strategic oversight and management of all Texas A&M Forest Service emergency response activities. The EOC continually monitors fire risk, state and local fire occurrence, and the availability and utilization of firefighting resources, equipment and personnel across the state.
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Response personnel are still “on the ground,” while in the EOC, managers direct the incident response by prioritizing resource allocations where they are most needed and collecting and disseminating real-time information back to the incident responders using the high tech capabilities of the EOC.
+ Multiple Wildfires
Wildland fire management is not what it used to be … it is better. Using weather prediction models and accumulated fire fuel data, Texas A&M Forest Service can mobilize advance prevention teams and pre-position heavy equipment and fire crews to areas of the state where fire risk is greatest, thereby providing rapid initial response and more cost-effective use of resources.
+ Multiple Incidents
The EOC's high tech capabilities allow Texas A&M Forest Service to manage several different incidents at one time, such as multiple wildfires in West and Southeast Texas and hurricane response on Texas’ Gulf Coast.
+ Other Features
- Satellite communications: Used for incidents where telephone lines and cell phone towers are destroyed, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and Hurricane Ike in 2008.
- Web-based meeting capabilities: Enables command personnel in the EOC and response personnel at the incident to conduct web-based briefings without requiring lengthy and expensive travel to a single location.
- Briefing room: Houses a video conferencing system capable of transporting large data files, connecting Texas A&M Forest Service to the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management, State Operations Center in Austin as well as the Texas DPS Disaster District Centers (DDCs) around the state.