\u201cWhen somebody says, \u2018Hey, I need a truck full of Gatorade,\u2019 it\u2019s our job to determine who is going to send the Gatorade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The center has handled 49 wildfires this season, many of them ignited by lightning that started fires in short succession, she said. Most of them have been contained and controlled before growing into sizable fires.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting, but it\u2019s short-lived,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The center handled 336 other incidents this year, such as search and rescues, illegal firewood harvesting and ATVs in areas closed to that use, she said.<\/p>\n
But at the center, staffed by almost all former wildland firefighters, fire is top-of-mind, she said.<\/p>\n
Overall, the fire season has been far calmer than last year when an exceptional drought set the stage for the 416 Fire, a 54,000-acre blaze that kept dispatchers busy for six consecutive weeks.<\/p>\n \u201cAll you knew was the computer screen,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n When the center is busy with a big fire or multiple fires, it gets a little \u201ceerie,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n Normally, radio traffic is audible through the dispatchers\u2019 computer speakers, but at high-traffic times, dispatchers plug in and the center goes quiet, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how you manage the chaos, you got to take the noise level down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n During major fires, additional dispatchers come in to help manage all the traffic, she said. For example, during the 416 Fire, eight extra dispatchers helped manage the traffic, she said.<\/p>\n At emotional high-stress times, dispatchers try to take a deep breath before relaying information. But Williams suspects she probably sounded a bit overwhelmed on the first day of the 416 Fire.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first day was definitely the one full of adrenaline,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Dispatchers use several computer programs, including a mapping program that does multiple overlays to track heat, smoke and lightning strikes, called a \u201csituational map\u201d or \u201clive map.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt has some insanely high-level capabilities,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n Another program tracks air resources.<\/p>\n Like a symphony conductor, the Durango Interagency Fire Dispatch Center helps unify all the parts of a major operation, from organizing portable toilets on the ground to managing the movements of aircraft in the sky. The center allows agencies to work with one another, including Mesa Verde National Park, Bureau of Land Management, San Juan National Forest, Bureau of Indian Affairs, among others.<\/p>\n The different agencies allocate part of their budgets to pay for dispatch services, said Justin Moore, the center\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n La Plata County receives more calls about possible fires compared with less-populated counties because more people are around to see and report incidents, Williams said.<\/p>\n The center\u2019s employees typically work 10-hour shifts, but that can increase to 16 hours depending on the emergency, something that has happened only a few times this year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are getting a major break after last year,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n