Project Star: Montana DNRC, sheriffs forge new partnership for combating wildfires

A new partnership is under way between Montana Sheriffs and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) to meet the challenges posed by large, hazardous wildfires.

The program, called Project Star, is a plan for integrating sheriffs’ deputies and peace officers into the command structure of a major wildfire. With the increasingly large, complex and potentially deadly blazes of recent summers, DNRC fire officials and the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (MSPOA) recognized a need for better communication and coordination between firefighters and law enforcement when evacuations are taking place and fire conditions are changing rapidly.          

“During 2007 there were 26 documented large-scale evacuations in Montana, and several were complicated and potentially very hazardous,” said Capt. Greg Hintz, Chair of the MSPOA Programs and Services Committee. “Many of our sheriffs involved in these events felt their officers would benefit from more direct interaction with the incident commander or the incident team managing the fire. We’ve also seen a need to get our people more situational fire training to keep them safe. It turned out that fire officials at DNRC were discussing these very same things.”

MSPOA and Montana DNRC signed a formal Memorandum of Agreement for the Project Star effort in 2007.

Doug Williams, Rural Fire Program Manager for the Fire & Aviation Bureau at DNRC, explained that Project Star will create a system for organizing law enforcement officers into teams that can be mobilized through the Interagency Wildland Fire Dispatch. The “Star Evacuation Team” and its leader will check in with the local Sheriff and Incident Commander for briefing and instructions.

“There doesn’t appear to be anything like this happening in the U.S. on a large scale,” Williams said.

The DNRC conducts training for an estimated 2,000 wildland firefighters each year and has developed a training package for Project Star members, Williams said. During the month of May, DNRC conducted training sessions at sites in Chouteau, Sweet Grass and Gallatin counties. The next Project Star training session is scheduled for Tuesday, June 3, at 1 p.m. in Big Timber, Mont., at the Big Timber Carnegie Library.

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