Gathering and assessing information for individual and public assistance for a federally declared disaster is both challenging and time-consuming for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In the aftermath of two hurricanes and an on-going wildfire siege, FEMA has four active disaster declarations in Texas. Recognizing this challenge, the Texas Forest Service is helping FEMA acquire information from fire departments in 254 eligible counties seeking wildfire disaster reimbursement.

In close cooperation with FEMA, the Texas Forest Service is using its agency's innovative online Fire Department Fire Reporting System to collect and compile wildfire records, including the costs for responding to the fires. The reports provide a statewide picture of the unusual number of large fires and the severity, losses and threats from wildfires that began in December. The fires are continuing to strain the budgets and affect the resources of the individual fire departments.

A cadre of personnel stationed at the Texas Forest Service Emergency Operations Center in College Station is staffing a phone bank where fire departments may call for assistance with the online reporting process. After a fire department establishes an account in the reporting system, they are able to record data on multiple numbers of individual wildfire responses. Reports from individual fire departments are compiled on a county by county basis then passed to FEMA through a designated county representative and entered into the reimbursement process.

Dennis Penney, Training Coordinator for the Boonsville/Balsora VFD, Bridgeport, Texas says "The Texas Forest Service is responsive to the needs of VFD's and has developed a user friendly web based Online Fire Department Fire Reporting System. It is simple enough that a computer mouse is all that is needed to go through the various menus."
"The TFS reporting system is proving to be helpful in the timely collection of required data from individual fire department contacts," said Sandy Coachman, senior federal coordinating officer for the Texas wildfire response and recovery effort. "This information will speed processing of reimbursement requests."

As of February 2, 2038 individual wildfire reports had been entered into the online Fire Department Fire Reporting System by 325 fire departments. For more information, go to Texas Forest Service web site at http://texasforestservice.tamu.edu or www.tamu.edu/ticc.