BLM Smokejumper Trains Mexican Leaders

Todd Jinkins, Assistant Base Manager with the Great Basin Smokejumpers, in his Boise, Idaho office. 

Todd Jinkins, Assistant Base Manager with the Great Basin Smokejumpers in Boise, Idaho, recently completed a two-week international assignment in Mexico. He was part of a team of U.S. wildland fire experts tasked with providing training to members of a Mexican National Incident Management Team (IMT). The Mexican IMT is training and developing command and general staff members to take on positions with newly forming regional IMTs in Mexico. 

Jinkins, a long-time smokejumper and a Type 1 Logistics Section Chief, was one of four federal employees on the U.S. training team. After a day of in-briefing at the Mexican Forestry Department headquarters in Guadalajara, Mexico, the U.S. team traveled to the Yucatan Peninsula to join the Mexican IMT for the start of training. 

Members of a Mexican Incident Management Team participated in daily planning and strategy meetings with U.S. wildland fire experts in Mexico.

The Mexican IMT, with its U.S. counterpart, took on two 400-acre fires which were threatening an airport and a major highway. Jinkins discussed ways to solve logistical problems with the Mexican IMT. His shifts on the fires were long, just as they are in the U.S., where the two teams managed two fires for a total of 10 days.

"As an initial step, our trip was successful," Jinkins said. "The U.S. government has a bilateral wildland fire agreement with Mexico, and we will continue to implement that with training, future exchanges, and sharing resources. Our two countries can really help one another out."

Brush in the Yucatan Peninsula served as fuel, making it difficult for firefighters to dig firelines.

According to Jinkins, countries across the world are recognizing the need for more formally structured organizations to deal with fire incidents. Many countries are adopting – or adapting – the Incident Command System (ICS), which was developed and is widely used in the United States.

"As the effects of climate change become more and more apparent, countries like Mexico are recognizing that they need to get systems in place to deal with incidents. And it is not just fires they are dealing with – there are earthquakes, hurricanes – you name it," said Jinkins.

Jinkins found time to visit some Mayan ruins while in the Yucatan.

Jinkins added that he came away with a greater appreciation for how functional ICS is in the United States. "Being in Mexico made me realize how well-versed we are in responding to incidents. Fire management specialists from the BLM and other federal agencies are some of the best in the world when it comes to managing incidents," he said.

Story by Ken Frederick, External Affairs, BLM Fire and Aviation. Photos by BLM.

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Reprinted from the  BLM Daily, June 29, 2015.