Wildland Fire Crew Updates 7/23/2025

The following update comes from our Incident Management Specialist, Chad Northcraft, as of 7/17/2025:

"The National Planning Level has been raised to 4. (This means National Resources are heavily committed. National mobilization trends affect all Geographic Areas and regularly occur over larger distances. National priorities govern resources of all types. Heavy demand on inactive/low activity Geographic Areas for available resources. Significant wildland fire or non-fire activity is occurring in multiple Geographic Areas with a substantial commitment of IMTs. NICC increasingly engages GACCs to coordinate and fill orders for available resources. Potential for significant incidents emerging in multiple Geographic Areas indicates that resource demands will continue or increase.)

While the Great Basin remains the highest priority geographic area, both the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions are beginning to enter their active seasons.

I spoke with one of our single resources today about the likelihood of receiving a trainee assignment. Our conversation quickly shifted to how unusual this season has been. What stands out is the high volume of operational resources being ordered despite the relatively low number of Incident Management Teams (IMTs) assigned. Although the number of CIMTs assigned recently climbed to twenty, that increase has only occurred within the past few days. Typically, IMT activity is a key driver for resource orders, but this year, it feels like the Geographical Area Coordination Centers (GACCs) — or even the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) — are influencing orders more directly.

A good example occurred last week when our crew was ordered before even being officially available. Under normal circumstances, once a resource (like a crew) is posted, NICC - if it has an order - checks with the GACCs for availability. If a GACC confirms availability, an order is placed through them. While there are more steps involved, that’s the basic process. However, with our first crew, we needed to secure vehicles. When the vehicle request went to the Mid-Atlantic Coordination Center (MACC), the Eastern Area Coordination Center (EACC) saw the request and placed an order for a crew, knowing one would be available soon but not knowing exactly when.

I share this to highlight that we had an active order for a crew before the crew was officially available, something that’s certainly out of the ordinary.

Another factor that makes this season feel unusual is that number of our personnel are committed to national IMT, and despite their availability, these teams have yet to be utilized. This isn’t necessarily unusual for the time of year, but it does seem odd given the current Planning Level. 

If anyone is interested in seeing what is going on across the country in the wildland fire world here is the link to the Incident Management Situation Report.

Here is what Pennsylvania has happening:

• PA-PAS – Independence (20-person Type 2IA Crew): Put on the board nationally today (7/17/2025).  We are picking up vehicles on Friday (7/18/2025) in anticipation of an order.  I will send out more official word when I get it.  Districts that will mostly make up the crew are 12, 13, 14, 15 and like always over head from all over. On July 19, the crew mobilized in Harrisburg and then departed July 20 for a preposition assignment in Colorado.
• E-604 (4 Person Engine): It departed Wednesday night for Moab UT, while they are currently on a Preposition order, that could change.  They are expected to arrive in Moab tomorrow (7/18/2025).
• PA-PAS – Liberty (20-person Type 2IA Crew): Currently assigned to the South Rim Fire. Specifically, Division Papa. They are currently trying to steer the fire around a large set of transmission lines via night burning. 
• E-603 (4 Person Engine): Currently assigned to an Initial Attack (IA) assignment on the Malheur National Forest.  They have been patrolling, mopping up small fires and doing smoke checks.  The job of IA is to keep the fires small and that is what they are doing."