San Diego—The first-ever deployment of an All-Hazards Incident Management Team ordered through the Regional Ordering Status System (ROSS) and the U.S. Forest Service took place on Sunday, Aug. 23, when 15 members of the San Diego Urban Area Incident Management Team (SDUA IMT) deployed to Washington State to assist with the wildfires in the Northwest.
The all-hazards team will be expected to provide non-traditional emergency incident support while deployed. Unlike a traditional mutual-aid response with firefighters, the SDUA IMT is comprised of firefighters, law enforcement officers, lifeguards and experts from a variety of other disciplines, including emergency management, public works and public health agencies.
This group, which has spent years training together, can hit the ground and in a short amount of time, be up to speed and providing management skills to any number of disaster types. San Diego’s team is managed by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department but also involves departments and agencies throughout the San Diego region. According to SDFD Assistant Chief Brian Fennessy, personnel from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, County of San Diego Office of Emergency Services, Heartland Fire & Rescue Department, Coronado Fire Department, Carlsbad Fire Department and Chula Vista Fire Department have all deployed.
Fennessy explained that there are 50 IMTs in the United States, but this call-up is a first-ever through ROSS, sending a local team to assist in another state on a national level. Another fact about this deployment was the time it took for local team members to respond, thanks in part to several years of training. Once the order had been given by the National Incident Command Center (NICC) and relayed to San Diego Fire-Rescue to activate the team, it took only two hours for the members to assemble and just three more for them to arrive at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, WA.
At Fairchild, the San Diego Team will work in the Mobilization Center, which will be a staging area for 20 fire engines and 10 water tankers. Those apparatus are coming from Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. San Diego’s team is expected to remain in Washington for 14 to 21 days.
