Project Star - What Is It and How Does My Sheriff's Office Sign Up?
Project Star Authorization Form (pdf)
The Associated Press’ top Montana news story for 2007 were the wildfires that raged around the state. In fact, 1,763 fires burned approximately 740,000 acres, with the total cost surpassing $100 million. According to Doug Williams, Rural Fire Program Manager for DNRC, there were 26 major evacuations last year which occurred on large fires-so that doesn't include all the ones on fires that stayed local or were over within the first 12 hours.
What does this have to do with you? The fact is that sheriffs’ offices were the ones conducting emergency evacuations, establishing secure areas with roadblocks, and providing security for established fire camps.
MSPOA and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation have entered into an agreement that is designed to help county sheriffs be better prepared when the disaster strikes your county or when your neighbor needs your help.
Please respond today. If you have questions, call the MSPOA office at 443-5669 or Greg Hintz at 258-3302. If we haven’t received the completed form by April 1, expect a follow-up call. The goal is to have strike teams identified and trained by June 1.
This is quite simple and there are no onerous requirements. Complete the enclosed form. Designate the person or persons who will participate in the 6 hour training. MSPOA will work with DNRC to make training sites available around the state.
Some of our more rural counties have been concerned that their participation could result in their being short-handed. Not so. The trained person will be listed as a resource but not obligated to go out when called. In addition, we are strongly encouraging groups of neighboring rural counties to collaborate on putting together a strike team. A strike team consists of 5-6 individuals.
In addition to providing training, every effort will be made to procure for the strike team individuals, flame retardant personal protective clothing, including but not limited to shirt, pants, hard hat, gloves, and fire shelter. Responding officers must arrive at an incident prepared to operate in a self-sufficient manner for up to 48 hours with personal items, appropriate clothing, drinking water, food, and other necessary items.
We rarely can ever anticipate what the impact of a major fire can do to local resources. Last summer’s experience led Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Cheryl Liedle to comment, “The 2007 fire season taxed our office to its maximum. Having the aid of additional strike teams in place would have helped us greatly, not just with the daily exhaustion of the deputies, but also with the financial impact the fires had on our budget.”
To date several Sheriffs’ offices have submitted the agreement to the MSPOA office. It is our goal that by the end of May we have the majority of our sheriffs’ offices signed up, trained up, geared up, and on the resource list. The better our resources, the better our outcomes for all concerned.
Gallatin County Sheriff Jim Cashell was one of the first sheriffs to sign on. The did so because, “Participation in “Project Star” provides your office with access to needed resources and expertise to deal effectively with situations that normally would create very difficult circumstances for any of our offices.”
Sheriff, your agency, large or small, can easily participate whether solo or in conjunction with neighboring counties. Put this on your “to do” list and complete the form ASAP!
Let me re-emphasize that the training is free and can be scheduled to fit your needs. We will assist in locating the necessary protective clothing. You already have the marked patrol units and the communications equipment. You are ready to go.
Thank you for your participation.
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