Rural departments can save huge capital expenditures if they know they can count on a neighbour to share specialized resources ranging from air pumps and dangerous goods equipment to life-saving tools, search and rescue (SAR) equipment and medical equipment. Tactically, you want to work with people who know your districts, resources, and constraints so you can identify and fill gaps in responsiveness. Sharing the inventory of vehicles and equipment as an addendum to the agreement itself and its regular updating are elements of the MA`s best practices. Mutual assistance does not necessarily have to be limited to emergency measures. Inter-agency training, community service opportunities, collaboration mitigation projects and staff exchanges are additional bonuses that help build relationships and reduce resource pressures, especially in small rural ministries. Depending on the state you`re in, MAAs often require approval and filing with state legislators. Intergovernmental agreements require special attention, especially when they involve contract firefighters and emergency responders in state and federal fires. Before you begin, you should research the regulatory requirements that govern the creation and operation of MAAs in your state. Especially in voluntary services, firefighters can take the initiative and run boldly to help another community outside their district, exposing their own district to potentially devastating legal consequences without knowing it. Mutual Assistance Agreements (MAs) codify how agencies allocate resources. It may sound simple, but these standard documents are much more important than the basic definition suggests and are not as „standard“ as you might think. The MAA is a legal agreement, a promise between neighbors, the promise of one community to another that says, „We will be there for you.“ „By building relationships and becoming familiar with each other`s resources, we can work in harmony with Norwood and other organizations,“ said John Bennett, Executive Director of FDST. „This is especially important for larger events such as wildfires, where we need more vehicles, water and people.“ John Bockrath, CEO of Norwood, added: „Caring expands our departments and gives us an edge in difficult situations.
We are able to do a better job, and when we are on fire, we have more confidence knowing that more water is coming and more people are on the way. Shortly after Norwood Fire renewed its MAA with the Telluride Fire Protection District (TFPD) last year, several agencies and our Wildland team responded to a fire that spiraled out of control and threatened neighborhoods. The property defense tactics used are now recognized by Colorado`s West Region Wildfire Council as excellent examples of cooperative fire control and mitigation programs in action. For prevention and suppression, MAOIs are particularly useful in fighting forest fires, where operations managers have to deploy tired firefighters for many hours. Fortunately, mutual mitigation projects are booming and often require significant allocations of management, manpower, time and equipment. The MAAs embody civil society, this French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville considered unique in the United States when he traveled across the country in the early 1800s. His examination of social conditions in his classic „Democracy in America“ highlighted the premise that individuals, families, villages and cities working together are the basis of a new social order. He saw it manifest itself in churches, service groups, firefighters and militias, where freedom, security and well-being were provided more by small communities than by bureaucrats in distant capitals.
We all want to help each other, but we have to be smart about it. As rural America grows, we need to grow a little bit and make sure we go through our t`s and punctuate our i`s in all kinds of organizational maturity. Rock-solid self-help agreements are a great place to start. They put us on the path of cooperation and mutual trust and take us away from the isolated attitudes of the past that no longer have to afflict the rural departments. In the vastness of our country, MAOIs are the safety net for rural emergency infrastructure and a great way to carry on the legacy of U.S. self-government at the local level. Our small district in Norwood, Colorado is not that small – it is over 500 square miles. And while we have a long-standing MAA with neighbor Telluride to the east, we only recently reached an agreement with our neighbor to the west, the Nucla-Naturita Fire Protection District (NNFPD). Before we had a formal agreement, we often wanted to jump into the service and help when we knew the NNFPD needed it, and we usually invited each other to training. But without a legal document describing our consent, we would be exposed to the responsibilities of uninsured firefighters, vehicles and equipment operating in dangerous situations.
.