Incident Management Team To Help Manage Mark Twain National Forest Wildfires

Rolla, MO– USDA Forest Service’s Eastern Area Type 2 Incident Management Team has been brought in to assist managing Mark Twain National Forest wildfires. The incident management team is composed of experienced federal, state, and local fire and emergency response personnel from 20 states in Forest Service’s Eastern Region, which stretches from Missouri north to the Great Lakes states east to Delaware and up to Maine. Mark Twain National Forest experiences on average 5,000 to 6,000 acres of wildfires annually, mostly in fall and late winter/early spring. This year, however, severe drought has created extreme fire conditions on the forest and across Missouri. Given current fire conditions, predicted hot and dry weather in the days ahead, and no precipitation in the forecast, additional resources, including the incident management team, were ordered.  The team will assist Mark Twain National Forest, as needed, during this high fire danger period, ensuring that firefighting resources are managed effectively, and timely and accurate information is provided.