Firefighters respond to mutual aid request
By SUZETTE PORTER
Article published on Tuesday, May 8, 2007  |
PINELLAS COUNTY – Twelve firefighters from around Pinellas are responding to a request for help to fight a large brush fire in Alachua County.
Mike Cooksey, fire coordinator for the Pinellas County EMS and Fire Administration, said when the call for assistance came in Tuesday morning, about 5,500 acres of wild lands were burning in Alachua County.
Cooksey said many of the firefighters in Pinellas go through training to fight wild land fires. He said the two team leaders heading up the task force had received specialized wild fire fighting training from the Division of Forestry.
Cooksey said the mutual aid request had been for three days.
“But I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said. “Bradford County also has a huge brush fire.”
The firefighters took with them four brush trucks, specially equipped to fight brush fires, along with a tanker truck that can hold 2,500 gallons of water and two jeeps.
Cooksey said Pinellas was the only county in the state not currently under a red flag warning and one of the only counties not battling wildfires.
“We’re one of the most densely populated counties,” he said. “There’s not a lot of brush and wild land to burn.”
The task force is part of the state’s mutual aid emergency response plan.
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Article published on Tuesday, May 8, 2007
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