After two devastating wildfires in Kansas in the past two years, Shawnee has decided to join the Kansas Wildland Task Force to pool resources with neighboring fire departments.
The Shawnee council agreed in a 7-0 vote to proceed with a memorandum of understanding between local fire response agencies in Johnson, Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties, including Olathe, District 2, Gardner and Kansas City, Kan.
Fire chief John Mattox said Shawnee firefighters deployed twice in the past two years on wildfires in Kansas. “Part of the disaster was the organization of the deployment of crews in Kansas the last two years,” Mattox told the council at its Monday evening. “This is an effort to make that more coordinated and organized.”
The statewide effort, led by the Kansas Office of the State Fire Marshal, coordinates plans for mutual aid requests and responses across the state, an organized regional response force, and operational plans for those responding units.
(Read more: Prairie Village Post – Neighborhood news and events for Prairie Village, Fairway, Mission Hills)