EL PASO COUNTY — There are plans to better fight wildfires with a new kind of a partnership between a half dozen El Paso County Fire Departments.
"It just enables us ot have more personnel, higher trained personnel,” said Hanover Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief, Kevin Junglen.
The agencies have combined resources to form a shared, highly trained volunteer wildfire team called the South Group or SOCO.
"We're actually manning extra apparatus or combing with apparatus that are already being manned down here, so when the fire call does come out we're on scene way quicker and we're not trying to respond from various locations,” said recently appointed South Group Superintendent, Shane Coyne.
South Group fire departments include: Security Fire Protection District, Hanover Fire Protection District, Fountain Fire Department, Stratmoor Hills Fire Protection District, Fort Carson Fire & Emergency Services, and Southwest Highway 115 Fire Protection District
"If you look at the South Group and look at the fire districts it's almost the entire south end of El Paso county and into Pueblo County,” said Junglen
A major driver behind forming this group is the increasing number of fires requiring the departments to team up.
" I think in the big picture we just have to realize the fire season is all year long. that we can get a big fire like that anytime of the year,” said Coyne.
South Group volunteers can be called to assist. They will also go on duty for staging when fire risk is heightened. For example, they will be called-up when a Red Flag Warning is issued.
The new team is part of addressing growing fire danger and threats in the southern part of El Paso County.
Junglen said, "We're getting more of that urban interface, we’re getting larger fires, we're getting more wind events which drives those fires, so we need to be prepared for that."
_____
Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.
