Meade County Firewise Program
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"Hire a Veteran, train a Veteran, and you will help a Veteran on a mission toward a career path."
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Donated Equipment to Firewise Program John Deere Gator ($5000) by RDO Equipment, Rapid City, SD Veteran James Adams working on a Fire Mitigation project near Black Hawk, SD.
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The primary goal of this Community Wildfire Protection Plan is to reduce the risk from wildfire to life, property, and critical infrastructure. The Wildland Urban-Interface, (WUI), is a set of conditions that exist when man-made fuels (e.g. structures and other human development) meets or intermingles with natural vegetative fuels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Interior identified a list of communities at risk from wildfire and placed them in the Federal Register. Communities are located in the WUI and are in the vicinity of federal lands and have been identified as being at high risk from wildfire.
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Meade County and the BLM partner on Veteran Initiative
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 | | S-212 - Wildland Fire Chain Saws training in Rapid City january 15-17, 2013. (3) Veterans successfully trained and certified. |
Meade County's "Veteran in the Woods" initiative is funded by the BLM and falls under Meade County's current Firewise program. The primary goal of this Community Wildfire Protection effort is to reduce the risk from wildfire to life, property, and critical infrastructure.
Veterans are hired and trained to facilitate this effort by working with private landowners on the education and implementation of fire/fuel mitigation efforts. The primary scope of work finds veterans being trained on cutting, thinning, and removing trees on private land.
Veterans are also trained on other job skills with the end goal seeing them find full-time employment in a career field of their choice.
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Shawn Dempsey
Meade County Fire Mitigation Specialist
VETERAN
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James Adams
Meade County Fire Mitigation Specialist
VETERAN
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 Travis Ugland Meade County Fire Mitigation Specialist VETERAN |
 Dan Campbell Meade County Fire Mitigation Coordinator VETERAN |
 Dan Campbell explains the current Meade County Firewise project to Travis Lipp, BLM Fire Management Specialist. Mr. Lipp provides on-site guidance and direction on project efforts. |
- Offer veterans short-term employment (4-6 months) which leads to full-time career opportunities.
- Train veterans in various skill-sets based on career path.
- Seek community support and involvement for Firewise program.
- Solicit private donations to support program efforts.
- Graduate veterans to full-time employment and repeat the effort with unemployed veterans.
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Meade County Firewise
February Newsletter
2013
Meade County, SD
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MSHA Training - January 9, 2013
- Mandatory Safety & Health Standards
- Transportation Controls & Communication Systems
- Firefighting
- Ground Conditions & Control
- Traffic Patterns & Control
- Working in Areas of High Walls
- Water Hazards, Pit & Spoil Piles
- First Aid
- Electrical Hazards
- Accident Prevention
- Health
- Mobile Equipment Hazards
- Maintenance & Repair; Material Handling; Working Around Moving Objects
- Hazard Communications
- Machine Guarding
- Review of Mine Safety Act
Emergency Management - FEMA
- ISO-00100.b Introduction to Incident Command System ICS-100 (January 7, 2013)
- IS-00200.b ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incident, ICS-200 (January 7, 2013)
- IS-00700.a National Incident Management System (NIMS) An Introduction (January 8, 2013)
- IS-00120.a An Introduction to Exercises (January 10, 2013)
- IS-00800.b National Response Framework, An Introduction (January 10, 2013)
- IS-00701.a NIMS Multiagency Coordination Systems (MACS) (January 11, 2013)
- IS-00130 Exercise Evaluation and Improvement Planning
- IS-00634 Introduction to FEMA's Public Assistance Program
- IS-00240.a Leadership and Influence (January 18, 2013)
GIS Training Class
- GIS, Geographic Information Systems, is a technology in which data in the form of points, lines, and polygons are connected to databases providing information about a geographical area. GIS is a digital map containing several layers of data, each layer containing specific information within the digital map.
- Training on mapping projects and using GPS coordinates.
CPR
- CPR class instructed by Meade County Jail medical Staff
- CPR Certification obtained
S-212 Wildland Fire Chains Saws Class
- Classroom and practical
- Certified
Successfully passed and received certiciations in all training classes
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 Project (4 acres) consists of thinning all ponderosa pine to a spacing of 15 to 20 feet, the average being 18 feet. Project includes piling of thinned trees/brush for future burning as weather permits. - Creating a fire-break to protect residences in subdivision.
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Thanks to RDO Equipment of Rapid, SD for the generous donation of a John Deere Gator.
Efforts continue for further equipment/financial donations to the "Hire a Veteran" initiative under the Meade County Firewise Program.
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"The unemployment rate for veterans between 18 and 24 exceeded 20 percent last year. It was also in double digits for those 25-34. The unemployment rate for both age groups was higher than for their nonveteran peers and much higher than the national average." Associated Press 2.19.13
You can assist the Meade County Firewise Program
Office: 605.720.1625 / email: jderr@meadecounty.org
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