As a blizzard was beginning its impact in the region March 14, firefighters with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Emergency Services Fire Department were called to respond to a wildland fire within the installation’s impact area.
Fire department officials said the wildland fire started in the North Impact Area after munitions used during unit training ignited dry fuels.
“Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the team, the fire was successfully contained within the impact area,” said Fort McCoy Deputy Fire Chief Brady Brever.
As part of the department’s standard communication process, leadership notified the DES director, who in turn informed the Fort McCoy Garrison Command Team and began preliminary preparations to stand up the Installation Emergency Operations Center (IEOC).
The fire department’s swift and effective actions ensured the incident was managed without the need for mutual aid from outside agencies, and the IEOC did not need to be activated.
Fort McCoy Fire and Emergency Services deployed nine firefighters, four brush trucks, and one wildland Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV).
Crews established a buffer on the west side of the impact area through back-burn operations, creating a firebreak that prevented the fire from advancing. Their work was further supported by timely precipitation, which helped slow the fire’s spread, reports show.
The response relied on vehicles designed specifically for wildland firefighting, said Assistant Fire Chief Hunter Young.
These vehicles include:
— Brush trucks: Heavy-duty, off-road capable units equipped with a water tank, pump, hoses, and wildland tools. These vehicles form the backbone of wildland fire response.
— Wildland UTV — A smaller, highly maneuverable vehicle outfitted with water, a pump and hose, and hand tools, allowing crews to reach and extinguish fires in areas inaccessible to larger apparatus.
In the case of this wildland fire, Fort McCoy firefighters had fully contained it less than two hours after it began. And shortly after that, Mother Nature brought the snow that included more than a foot of snow over the next two days.
Fort McCoy’s Fire Department is one of few Army departments that are accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International. The department received this accreditation in 2022, and it renews every five years, Brever said in a previous news article.
The Fort McCoy Fire Department is one of more than 200 agencies to achieve Internationally Accredited Agency status with the Commission on Fire Accreditation International and the Center for Public Safety Excellence. Brever discussed the accreditation process for the fire department.
“It’s an international accreditation from a third party,” Brever said. “They are looking at the department as a whole and all the programs and processes that are in place to conduct business as a fire department. The accreditation process allows a fire department to review their programs and identify strengths in programs that are going well and weaknesses that provide opportunities for improvement. We see accreditation as a continuous improvement plan for the fire department to be able to provide the best emergency response to the community we serve and protect.”
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be “The Total Force Training Center.”
The post supports Army Reserve, National Guard, active duty, and other service members from all services.
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at [https://home.army.mil/mccoy](https://home.army.mil/mccoy), on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.” See more at [https://home.army.mil/imcom](https://home.army.mil/imcom).
| Date Taken: |
03.17.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
03.17.2026 18:08 |
| Story ID: |
560761 |
| Location: |
FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: |
17 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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This work, Fort McCoy firefighters complete successful response to range fire, by Scott Sturkol, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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