60 Major Western Fires Stretch Resources To The Limit - Oregonian

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BOISE -- Existing crews and equipment are stretched to the limit by nearly 60 major wildfires around the West, and federal land management agencies are being asked to make more employees available to fight them.

For the first time since 2003, the National Interagency Fire Center has raised its response status to the highest threat level, a move triggered over the weekend when nearly all available crews and firefighting resources were committed. "Preparedness Level 5" allows federal firefighting coordinators to summon additional federal employees, military reinforcements and foreign fire crews if necessary.

"It's a proactive move that kicks in the thinking about where the next round of resources is going to come from," said Randy Eardley, U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman at the federal firefighting center headquartered in Boise. "It frees up what we call the militia, agency employees whose regular job may be as a biologist or realty specialist but who are trained in fire duty and can now be called up to help."

While military firefighting mobilization coordinators and a liaison for the Canadian government's firefighters can now participate in national fire response planning, Eardley said there are no plans to summon those reinforcements.

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