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Fire chief briefs Seward County commissioners on Andrew Lane wildfire response
Summary
The fire chief told Seward County commissioners that three strike teams, mutual-aid engines and National Guard aircraft are working the Andrew Lane fire and that the incident management goal is to mitigate the fire and return responsibility to property owners by Sunday evening; county dozer/operator use and radio interoperability were discussed.
The fire chief phoned into the Seward County Commission work session on Feb. 19 to give an operational update on the Andrew Lane wildland fire and request guidance on using county equipment.
“We have 3 strike teams assigned to the Andrew Lane…they have 2 additional units, 1 from Sherman, Kansas, 1 from Louisville, Kansas assigned to that strike team,” the fire chief said, describing mutual-aid brush truck support and a county night operations crew. He said the National Guard also provided personnel and that two Type 1 Blackhawk helicopters would arrive the next morning to support water drops and sawyer operations.
The chief outlined the operational objective: “Our goal with this is to have this fire mitigated and be able to turn this back over to the property owners Sunday by 6.” He asked whether state crews could use county dozer equipment or if county operators should remain on county machines for safety and liability reasons.
Commissioners and staff discussed options for sharing equipment. One commissioner said the county should keep its operator on its equipment to limit liability and protect county assets; another suggested pairing a state operator with a county operator or having both state and county machines on scene. The fire chief said it was not an issue if the county requested a state dozer and operator, adding that state resources would facilitate logistics if the county asked for a dozer and operator.
Staff clarified that incident communications are being run on a state EOC channel and that any county operator using county equipment on-scene would need proper radios to communicate with strike teams and incident command. Commissioners agreed to make a dozer and county operator available and to coordinate radio access with the Forest Service and state operations.
The briefing concluded with the commission asking staff to continue coordination and keep commissioners updated on changes to resource needs and timelines. No binding operational decisions beyond the immediate coordination and authorizations were recorded in the session minutes.
