(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-N-R recently awarded 138 Iowa rural fire departments federal grants for specialized equipment to fight wildfires. D-N-R forestry fire supervisor Jason Walker says Iowa fire departments are normally set up to fight structure fires in burning homes or commercial buildings. “And there’s specialized gear that goes along with that, whether it’s a heavy bunker protective equipment they wear, heavy boots, you know things like that, when you are out in the wildland where you may be walking miles at a time, it could become extremely burdensome,” Walker says.

The gear for wildfires is specialized for the challenges they provide. “A wildland fire, we do things a little bit different, where you’ve got a little bit lighter weight, more mobile, personal protective equipment,” he says. “it allows our firemen to be a lot more effective and efficient at moving around. You don’t get so tired so easily. ” Walker says the grants are a good way to help departments be prepared for anything. “Those departments that don’t have a lot of resources or money available to just go out and buy stuff, this helps supplement that, and they’re able to go out and purchase some of that more specialized wildland fire gear, whether it’s pants, shirts, coats, boots or some hand tools, etcetera.” Walker says. “This helps cover half of the cost of some of that stuff .”

Walker says Iowa wildfires are like the ones you might see on T-V in California where they consume, forests, homes and anything in their path. But they are still a concern. “The reality is across the state of Iowa we have a significant amount of opportunity for wildfire, whether it be early season spring grass fires, or, as we’ve seen with more drought conditions, especially this last fall, for a period of time, field fires that may happen with equipment malfunctions, etcetera,” he says. Walker says we saw one of the busier wildfire seasons in Iowa this year. “We had several days with higher temperatures, high winds, low humidities, which combined to be what we would call Red Flag Warning type days,” he says. “Any kind of spark or source of ignition can cause a very significant, catastrophic wildfire across anywhere in rural Iowa.”

The Iowa volunteer fire departments received a total of 416-thousand dollars in grants. In the KJAN listening area, departments receiving the grants include:

Anita, Avoca, Bayard, Clarinda, Creston, De Soto, Dexter, Early, Farragut, Glenwood, Grant, Hamburg, Logan, Oakland, Onawa, Orange City, Quimby, Shelby, Shenandoah, Sidney, Silver City, Stuart, Tabor, Underwood, and Yale.