State emergency management and the North Dakota Forest Service told the Emergency Response Services Committee that the state’s response to large, fast-moving wildfires depends on pre‑season planning, mutual aid compacts and early coordination with federal partners — and that the October 2024 wildfire outbreaks exposed gaps the state is working to close.

Darren Hansen, director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM), described the agency’s role maintaining the state emergency operations plan and the fire incident annex: “Within that, we have what we call the fire incident annex. That describes how we will organize a response to both wildland fire and urban fires,” he told the committee.

HSEM emphasized centralized monitoring and the state ‘‘watch center,’’ which collects weather and dispatch intelligence and notifies local emergency managers when threats rise. Hansen said the watch center worked with the National Weather Service and the North Dakota Forest Service during the October outbreak and that, for the first time in state history, North Dakota received two Fire Management Assistance Grants (FMAGs) in one day during that event.

The Forest Service, which partners with the state on preparedness and suppression, described practical measures to help locals. Tom Clays, State Forester, outlined the agency’s investments in training, federal excess property (old federal equipment transferred to state/local use), and a cooperative fire task force that draws engines and crews from across the state and, when needed, from other states. "We build surge capacity so that local fire departments can go home,” Clays said. He described how federal excess property and grants have been used to equip departments and said grants from recent years have supported dozens of trucks and personal protective equipment purchases.

Operational lessons: speakers told the committee local incident commanders remain the lead on most fires. But as fires grow in size and complexity, unified command decisions — for example to deploy National Guard helicopters — become necessary. Hansen described constraints on aviation: deployments require an emergency declaration, a local request for help, unified command approval and safe flying conditions. "Before a Blackhawk or any National Guard resource can be deployed … the governor's office has to issue an emergency declaration," he said, and the aircraft cannot be used when winds or darkness create unsafe flight conditions.

Costs and recovery: committee members heard that concerns about who will pay for expanded state or federal resources can delay local governments from requesting outside help. Hansen said the state has traditionally used a prearranged cost-share approach (state/local shares tied to whether the local jurisdiction declared an emergency before requests were made). He and Forest Service staff urged clearer expectations for cost shares so local leaders are not deterred from requesting assistance.

What the committee may take away: staff and agency presenters urged continued investments in training and regional coordination, expanded hazmat and technical-team capacity, and improved communications between 9‑1‑1 dispatch centers and state monitoring tools. They also recommended continued work on a statewide mutual‑aid agreement to ensure resources can move quickly to regions that lack capacity.

Ending: committee members asked staff to draft options and cost estimates to present at a follow-up meeting; several members flagged the need to consider communications upgrades, pre‑positioned aviation assets and a clearer state-local cost‑sharing framework.