FDNY INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAMS ACTIVATED TO HELP
BATTLE RAGING ARIZONA WILDFIRES

The New York City Fire Department today announced that nine members of the Department’s Incident Management Team (IMT) have been activated to assist the U.S. Forest Service and Arizona firefighters in battling the raging Cave Creek Complex wildfire in the Tonto National Forest in northwest Arizona. More than 112,000 acres have been consumed in this fire.

FDNY members have been assigned to the two Type I IMT’s that have been activated for this fire. They will be involved in the planning, safety and management of multi-agency resources for the more than 800 firefighters battling the fire on the frontlines. The FDNY is the only structural firefighting team in the country with the training and capability to be assigned and activated to this type emergency incident.

Since 2003, more than 100 Department members have received extensive classroom and field training from federal instructors in utilizing IMT’s to manage large-scale, long-duration disasters. That same year, members received hands-on training at major forest fire sites in the Western states. FDNY members are also specifically trained to handle the management and logistics of large-scale disasters in urban environments. The development of the IMT’s and training on the Incident Command System is an outgrowth of the Fire Department’s Strategic Plan created in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

FDNY Members Activated to Arizona:

Deputy Chief Bob Maynes, Division 13
EMS Division Chief Mark Stone
Battalion Chief Charles Williams,
Battalion 9 Battalion Chief John Gulotta,
Battalion 17 Battalion Chief John Belnavis,
Battalion 9 Battalion Chief George Maier,
Battalion 9 Battalion Chief Paul Tauber,
Battalion 50 Battalion Chief George Carlin,
Battalion 16 Capt. Justin Werner, Ladder Company 147

To contact FDNY members in Arizona, please call Virginia Lam at 718-999-2056.

Contact: Francis X. Gribbon and Virginia Lam (FDNY) (718) 999-2056

http://www.nyc.gov/fdny