BLM joins partners at ribbon cutting for new combined interagency wildland fire dispatch center
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CASPER, Wyo. – On Friday, May 4, the BLM gathered with the United States Forest Service, the National Park Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Wyoming State Forestry Division, the dispatch center board, and county partners from across the state to officially cut the ribbon on the newly formed Casper Combined Interagency Dispatch Center.
The Rawlins and Casper dispatch centers were able to combine into one center that will cover wildland fire dispatch for the partners across Weston, Campbell, Sheridan, Johnson, Natrona, Converse, Niobrara, Goshen, Platte, Laramie, Albany, Carbon, Sweetwater, Uinta and parts of Lincoln, Sublette and Fremont counties. This streamlining will improve safety and wildland fire suppression by focusing the response effort into one center. Firefighters working on wildland fires along what used to be the boundaries of the old centers are now dispatched by a single center, reducing confusion. This serves the public and the partners better and faster.
Additionally, the new center’s location at the Natrona County International Airport allows for greater coordination with the Casper Single Engine Air Tanker base that is also located there. This center will also streamline the mobilization of firefighters that use the airport to travel to wildland fires within the center’s zone of responsibility.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.