NIFC lends support to hurricane relief effort

12:24 PM MDT on Thursday, September 1, 2005

Andrea Dearden
Idaho's NewsChannel 7

BOISE -- During a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency calls on agencies across the country to help.

In Boise, the National Interagency Fire Center has dispatched 1,000 crews to the relief effort.

These are people normally assigned to fighting wildfire. But now, the crews from all over the U.S. are being sent to base camps set-up near the hurricane devastated areas in the Southeast.

"Right now, we are trying to give as many resources as possible to the hurricane relief, while still maintaining the necessary firefighting capabilities in the West," said Phil Street, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Four type-one incident management teams have been deployed to the disaster zone, and two more are expected to be sent in the next few days.

Ten hand crews are helping clear debris from the roads.

The relief effort is expected to continue for months to come, with NIFC providing more crews, along with radios and supplies.