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Idaho EPLO ready for 2009 wildfire season

  • Published
  • By Carol Carpenter
  • AFNORTH PA
In late June 2008, Air Force Reservist Lt. Col. Scott Tagg was enjoying a pleasant, restful day at home in Boise, Idaho, when he received a phone call from the director of the National Interagency Fire Center, located in his hometown.

The news wasn't good.

He learned that during a period of extremely dry conditions in Northern California, parts of 12 counties had been set ablaze, with about 6,000 lightning strikes in a recent two-day period. About 1,200 out-of-control wildfires were now spreading into huge swaths of forestland and threatening inhabited communities in all directions.

Unfortunately, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and U.S. Forest Service firefighting crews were becoming overwhelmed with the magnitude of the situation and were calling for help. Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had declared a state of emergency and requested federal assistance in fighting the fires, including support from the Department of Defense.

Hearing this unsettling news, Colonel Tagg knew his leisurely summer day was about to abruptly end. Immediately, he was called to duty as both an Air Force Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer and as DoD's liaison officer for NIFC. Along with a team of military firefighting experts, he would soon become an important player in DoD's emergency preparedness plan.

The experienced coordinator quickly informed his wife, Kelley, and 6-year-old daughter, Vivian, that he would not be home much in the next few weeks. Instead, he would be spending most of his time at the NIFC office. 

He also notified his regional Reserve director in Montana, Col. David Parker, about the emergency, informing him that additional EPLOs would likely be needed to support the DoD response to this natural disaster.

Once on duty, he would be busy more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week for as long as needed to help coordinate actions related to controlling the quickly spreading wildfires.

"I was not directly involved in fighting any fires," Colonel Tagg said. "My job was to coordinate DoD aircraft and helicopters used for firefighting and the deployment of more than 1,000 California National Guard personnel in support of this effort."

For the next few weeks, the dedicated coordinator, among other things, helped ensure that eight Air Force aerial firefighting C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems, which drop water and flame retardant onto the fires, and an equal number of Marine and Navy helicopters with water buckets were doing their job to extinguish the massive wildfires.

Eventually, thanks to the unrelenting efforts of thousands of DoD and civilian firefighters, the emergency was over. The heavy final toll included nearly 1 million acres of forestland burned; the loss of civilian lives, including 12 firefighters; and extensive timber and structural damage throughout the region. The total financial cost was estimated in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Two full months after the fires started, Colonel Tagg was able to breathe a sigh of relief that his job was done. "I felt a great sense of having done something worthwhile to help the citizens of that area," he said. "But it wasn't just me; it was a team effort in which everyone did a great job."

A crucial part of that team were MAFFS air crews from the 302nd Air Expeditionary Group, which includes Air National Guard units from California, North Carolina and Wyoming, and an Air Force Reserve unit from Colorado. Like the EPLO program, all of these units operate under the authority of U.S. Northern Command.

The Air Force EPLO program is directed by the Air Forces Northern National Security Emergency Preparedness Directorate at Tyndall AFB, Fla. The program is part of the Defense Support to Civil Authorities mission under Continental U.S. NORAD Region - 1st Air Force .

Retired after 22 years with Hewlett Packard and a former member of the Idaho Air National Guard, Colonel Tagg has served as Idaho's lone EPLO for three years and hopes to continue doing so for several more. Not only has he assisted during wildfires, he has also been involved in major floods that have affected Idaho and other states in his region.

Whether a disaster is natural or manmade, the common threads that run through all emergencies―the reasons EPLOs take these arduous jobs―are saving lives, relieving suffering, providing humanitarian assistance and mitigating property damage, Colonel Tagg emphasized.

With the 2009 wildfire season now officially under way, he knows he could be called back to EPLO and NIFC duty this year, especially since NIFC has predicted an above average season for wildland fires across parts of the U.S., particularly in California, the Southwest and north-central Washington state.

According to NIFC, already this year, between Jan. 1 and the end of May, there have been more than 41,000 wildfires that have burned more than 1.3 million acres across the United States.

While the official fire season begins in the southern portions of the nation in May, Colonel Tagg's own Northwest region wildfire season officially occurs from June to late September. "The Northwest has received a normal amount of snow this past winter, so the threat is somewhat less than last year," he said. "However, it depends on lightning, winds, humans and amount of fuel on the forest floor."

If there is another major wildfire this year, he will be ready, even though it will mean having to temporarily shift priorities. "Like any Reservist, I do my best to balance my military, civilian and family life, trying not to do too much of one to the detriment of the others," he acknowledged.

Colonel Parker, regional reserve director for Region 10, which includes Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska, said because EPLOs work mostly behind the scenes during emergencies, the general population is usually not aware of their contributions. "Unfortunately during an emergency, if the public hears about DoD involvement, it is because something bad has happened."

The director has only good things to say about Colonel Tagg. "In his dual-hatted positions he's an expert and our on-the-scene forward scout when it comes to wildfires," Colonel Parker said. "He also works very well with high level officials and agencies during these emergencies. We're glad he's with us."