Federal firefighters help relief efforts as western fire threat declines

Forest Service-led incident management teams from the West--typically assigned to fight wildfires--boarded military transport vehicles beginning Wednesday to aid rescue and recovery efforts in New York and at the Pentagon. Helicopters and airplanes supporting firefighters in the West were grounded last week following the Federal Aviation Administration's order to halt the nation's air traffic in the wake of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C., said Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. On a fire-by-fire basis, the FAA allowed the Interior Department and Forest Service to resume firefighting flights on Thursday. The FAA's order halting air traffic did not cause any forest fires being fought by federal firefighters to burn out of control, according to Davis. There are currently five major fires burning in the country, but the fires are far less expansive this year than last, and the number of fires across the country has declined. As a result, the Interior Department and Forest Service were demobilizing many firefighting crews last week anyway, she said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's emergency response procedures outline how Forest Service's management teams should respond in such emergencies. In Manhattan, Forest Service-led teams not directly involved in rescue efforts are supporting rescue personnel. About 100 federal firefighting personnel are providing logistical support, including two 20-person wildland firefighting crews--one from Staunton, Va. and one from the Chicago area--who are helping to distribute supplies to rescue workers. A mapping specialist is generating detailed maps for search and rescue operations out of a trailer equipped with geographic information systems. "For us this is different, we're doing the support for folks out in the field actually dealing with the incident," said Paul Johnson, chief of the crew from Staunton. "It's giving us a lot of insight into what the logistical teams who support us go through when we are in the field." In addition, a purchasing team is ordering supplies, catering meals for 7,500 people and running a portable shower unit for rescue workers. It has also set up three medical aid stations in Manhattan. Another Forest Service-led team, this one with 50 members, is managing supply distribution in a warehouse district in Edison, N.J. and at an Air National Guard station in Newburgh, N.Y., and a 42-person team is providing logistical support for recovery efforts at the Pentagon. The teams include personnel from the Bureau of Land Management and local fire departments from California and Washington state. --Tanya Ballard contributed to this report.