The Central Arizona Wildland Response Team (CAWRT) is a consortium of approximately 20 local fire agencies in central Arizona that participate in state and nationwide wildland fire response. Agencies are categorized as Automatic Aid Members, divided in to two geographic zones (East and West), or Associate Members who also have wildland fire resources. These local fire agencies work together with state and federal land management agencies such as the Arizona State Forestry Division, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. The East Zone membership includes six municipal fire departments and one fire district. All agencies follow the guidelines of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) and the NIMS Incident Command System (ICS).
Daily operations are dispatched through either the Mesa or Phoenix Fire Department dispatch centers. All agencies work together on a daily basis through the Automatic Aid System.
CAWRT equipment is dispatched for wildland fire assignments by the Arizona Interagency Dispatch Center (AIDC) through established Inter-governmental Agreements with the Arizona State Forestry Division.
CAWRT engine crews and overhead have responded to many Arizona wildfires including the Lane 2 Fire (Crown King), Brins Fire (Sedona), Willow Fire (Payson), Cave Creek Complex (Cave Creek) and the Potato Fire near Heber. Engines have also mobilized to Southern California in 2003, 2007 and Northern California in 2008. Additionally, CAWRT has deployed to the states of New Mexico, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Georgia to name a few. During peak availability, the CAWRT can form complete Type 1 or Type 6 strike teams for response anywhere in the western U.S.
This site is designed to provide coordination between agencies and a deployment system for the dispatch of east valley fire resources from the CAWRT to AIDC requests. The East Zone specifically coordinates equipment from the following fire agencies:
Apache Junction Fire District
Chandler Fire Department
Guadalupe Fire Department
Mesa Fire Department
Queen Creek Fire Department
Scottsdale Fire Department
Tempe Fire Department
Equipment deployed includes ICS Type 1 structure engines, a Type 3 Heavy Wildland engine, several Type 6 light wildland engines and Type 2 Water Tenders.
Resources can be dispatched by calling the AIDC at 1-800-309-7081
The CAWRT Strategic Plan is the planning guide for the team.
http://www.freewebs.com/cawrteast/CAWRT Strategic Plan 2007.pdf
