CHENEY — An encampment at Cheney Middle School was erected on July 5 to host a Type 3 incident management team (IMT) in fighting the Andrus fire that burned 232 acres. The camp remained in place for the entirety of the week and began to disband on July 11. Incident management teams are called upon when local community resources are taxed beyond capacity and require additional aid from governmental entities.
“When the fire grew to a point where resources would be needed to mitigate the fire for a long duration, coupled with the financial implications of these size fires,” Cheney Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said, adding, “then the local authority requested a State Activated IMT. Washington State Patrol is responsible for approving these requests. Since 2015, Chief John Batiste has been appointed, by the governor, for the responsibility of leading the WSP and managing the process.”
There are varying tiers of incident management teams ranging from 1 to 4. Each outfit maintains different emergency proficiencies, levels of training, and funding to allow increased support dependent on the degree of emergency. Type 4 teams are the lightest equipped and remain under local jurisdiction and can respond rapidly for rotations on the fire line. The next level, Type 3 teams, possess a wider skillset, trained across “multiple disciplines (finance, planning, safety, incident command, liaison, public information, logistics, and support personnel),” according to Chief Jenkins. These teams can deploy for up to two weeks.
1 and 2 teams are the best equipped and are called up after an event has expanded in size and complexity. They will typically respond after 24 hours, when initial resources are exhausted.
“A Type 3 team was requested by the incident commander for this fire (Andrus) once we realized that we exhausted our local resources and that this incident would require multiple operations to ensure the fire was extinguished,” said Jenkins. The official handoff from the Type 4 team to the Type 3 was carried out at 10 p.m. on the night of July 5. Approximately 272 responders worked on the fire.
Cheney Middle School, which has previously hosted fire encampments, was requested and approved for use along that timeframe. Locations such as schools are ideal because they provide adequate space for vehicles, equipment, and firefighters, as well as proximity to the fire location for 24-hour support.
Scott Davis can be reached at [email protected].
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