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Yes, SMFR is contracted as a federal cooperator for apparatus and overhead personnel. At any given time we will have a Type I, Type III and Type VI Engine listed for national 14 day deployment commitment. Once an engine is requested we may remove the others from availability in the ROSS (Resource Order Status System) if we have high fire danger locally. We have numerous wildland team members with various qualifications in management or support roles who can be requested individually also. In recent apparatus posts I have shared photos of Wildland 39 & 41 which can both be used for individual deployment. Every year our engines end up out of state a few times, usually within the Rocky Mountain region. Last year Brush Engine 39 was in California for 21 days. At the 12 day mark a new crew of 4 firefighters flew out and did a crew change with them.
Locally we have a 12 hour free of charge mutual aid agreement across the state. Our units will respond with predetermined strike teams or task forces for those incidents and we don't get reimbursed for it. We had some catastrophic fires over the past couple years (Waldo Canyon & Black Forest) where we deployed on mutual aid and stayed for a couple days. At some point after the fact disaster funds will cover some of that cost.
Thanks for the information! Very interesting.