Updated Monday, Sep 26 at 2:28 PM

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Old Potato Road Fire in Bastrop Texas is a wildfire and is now 25% contained.

AUSTIN -- As wildfires continue to burn in Central Texas, there are several ways to help out the victims and donate.

Secure, tax-deductible online donations to the Texas Wildfire Relief Fund can be made by visiting, www.txwildfirerelief.org.

Fires broke out across Central Texas Sunday. Firefighters said that the hot, dry, windy conditions make this weather, the perfect storm for a fire.
All 13 Travis County fire departments worked on grass or brush fires Sunday. Two of the major fires were in Pflugerville. One was located at Hodde Lane and the other was off of Pfluger Street. The fires are not yet contained.
A Bastrop fire caused several people to be evacuated. People in the areas of Wilderness Ridge, Cedar Creek and Alan Creek are being asked to leave. The fire is near FM 1441 and Highway 21.

You've seen Texas tourism commercials that tell us that Texas is like a "whole other country" and here is a case in point. While the rest of the United States' National Night Out festivities occur in August, in Texas we know that our mid-summer temperatures can wilt the cucumber sandwiches and limit participation. So most of Texas defers their NNO observation until October -- October 7, this year.

VMERU has been asked to participate with Maxwell Volunteer Fire Dept. again this year, and we are planning to be on hand.

Sheriff Greg Hamilton and the Travis County Sheriff’s Office invites everyone to join us for the Sheriff’s Extravaganza, Saturday, October 1, 2011, from 11am until 4pm, at the Wells Branch MUD Office, 3000 Shoreline Drive.
There will be plenty of free food, entertainment, a children’s area (clowns, magicians and moonwalks), plus booths set up to show off the crime prevention programs, SWAT Team, Lake Patrol, K-9, Traffic (Motorcycles and Cars), STAR Flight, and Fire Department. There will be free raffles with prizes.

We have been asked, "Where can I get ICS Forms?" If you search the internet, you will find a number of sources, including http://training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/ICSResource/ICSResCntr_Forms.htm .

There you would find individual links for the following:

•ICS Form 201, Incident Briefing
•ICS Form 202, Incident Objectives
•ICS Form 203, Organization Assignment List
•ICS Form 204, Assignment List
•ICS Form 205, Incident Radio Communications Plan
•ICS Form 206, Medical Plan
•ICS Form 207, Organizational Chart
•ICS Form 209, Incident Status Summary

One of the Blogs we follow, Three Mouse Clicks From Disaster, http://grumpydispatcher.blogspot.com/ , has taken up a topic that strikes a chord with us.

With emergency scene REHAB becoming near the mainstream, this might be one of the next big things.

Here's an excerpt. "Figure what happened in Japan happens in your area. Hundreds of thousands need help, right now. And where is your family? Are they OK? Do they need you, too? Right in the belly of the beast of a MAJOR catastrophe is when rescuers are needed more than ever, and when many of us are simultaneously more likely than ever to abandon our posts because our spouses, children and other loved ones are non-negotiable personal number one priorities."

http://grumpydispatcher.blogspot.com/2011/03/your-agencys-disaster-famil...

For the benefit of those who are outside the Public Safety world, LODD refers to Line of Duty Death.

[Additional images, not shown in the body of this story, may be downloaded, below. Please see the image links at the bottom of the story. --ed.]

Calls to Sunset Valley (TX) Police Dept. peaked, unusually, during the weekend of March 5-6, 2011. It wasn’t Saturday’s brief rainstorm or the high winds that wouldn’t quit. It was that the residents of Sunset Valley aren’t all that used to seeing several simultaneous ground search and rescue operations going on throughout the trail system and in the riverbed. This exercise had plenty of that.

According to Emergency Incident Rehabilitation, FEMA, USFA FA-114/July 1992, www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/FA-114.pdf,these are some guidelines:

5. GUIDELINES.
a. Rehabilitation Sector/Group Establishment.
Rehabilitation should be considered by staff officers during the initial planning stages of an emergency response. However, the climatic orenvironmental conditions of the emergency scene should not be the sole justification for establishing a Rehabilitation Area. Any activity/

The placement of Rehab at an emergency scene is part art and science. There are many considerations.

If a location has been designated by Command, then the decision for the arriving Rehab Unit Leader is simplified. But, if not -- or if you are Command, what are some of the considerations?

According to Emergency Incident Rehabilitation, FEMA, USFA FA-114/July 1992, www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/FA-114.pdf,these are the site characteristics:

In this day and age every one will agree that money is scarce especially for the most vital services that we have grown to expect to be available to us at a moments notice and 24-7 days a week.The many volunteers who make up Volunteer Fire Departments,EMS Stations and other Emergency Organizations use their own personal resources and have limited help from the communities they serve and protect.It is the goal of the Volunteer Mobile Emergency Response Unit to help any Volunteer Emergency Service and the many volunteers who ask us for our help.We will do what we are able to do to the best of ou

Over on 9-ECHO-1, you'll find some thoughts on emergency scene rehab for EMS. Medics get heat stress too.

http://9-echo-1.blogspot.com/2010/07/heat.html

She knew he was going to wake up the head of her agency. It was four A.M. on a Sunday and she was standing as close to their burning offices as officials would let her. The phone call couldn't wait. In fact, the wake-up call was overdue.

Jim Page hosts the History of Modern EMS.

Your webmaster, on observing an usafe act, has been known to point and say, "If you look up 'stupid' in the dictionary, you'll find a picture of that guy."

Well, the chickens have come home to roost.

If you look up "Fire Department Rehab" on Wikipedia.org, you'll find this web site.

No, we're not the leading authority on care for responders at emergency scenes. But we do try to stay on top of best practices and we're developing some of our own.