No year is normal for the U.S. Forest Service’s emergency response crew. But even by their standards, 2017 was unprecedented. Relentless wildfires across the American West led to a 60% year-over-year increase in travel for the scouts, smoke jumpers and firefighters dispatched to get blazes under control.
2018 is shaping up to be even more demanding. In June, BCD Travel processed 2,439 travel requests from the Forest Service—all completed within 30 minutes. That’s a 15% increase compared to requests processed in June 2017 and a 103% increase compared to June 2016. Most of these travel requests happen during what the Forest Service classifies as a Level 5 response, meaning roughly 1,000 travelers are on the move at the same time.
“We are helping to move people who can save lives—the lives of humans, animals and trees. We have to get them to their destination fast; they are needed on the front lines,” said Andrea Woody Starr, a Cleveland, Ohio-based agent for the travel management company.BCD agents’ work is crucial because the stakes are high when wildfires burn. Lives, natural areas, homes and businesses are under threat. Every second counts, and there’s no room for error.
Agents must complete bookings quickly and accurately, keep calm in a crisis and get the crews to fire sites on very short notice. They’re often booking travelers in and out of rural airports where planes are small and few seats are available. Creativity and unconventional thinking are essential, and agents have to pay attention to detail and ensure every booking adheres to Forest Service protocol. Last year alone, BCD:
- Booked more than 24,400 emergency-response flights for the Forest Service on a 24/7 schedule
- Confirmed each trip complied with more than 80 federal government requirements from the General Services Administration
- Completed every booking process within 30 minutes of being contacted by Forest Service dispatchers
Meeting the agency’s unpredictable travel demands requires dedication and flexibility. When wildfires aren’t happening, the TMC keeps a few agents and a supervisor available 24/7 to serve Forest Service travelers. That small team can ramp up to about 20 people at the first sign of a crisis. Multiple team members get alerts when demand increases, so they can snap into action immediately. BCD’s full-response team can handle more than 1,000 bookings in a 24-hour period—and often does.
After the fires are extinguished, and weary firefighters and support staff return home safely, there’s still work to do. “We continually update our processes and procedures to align with new Forest Service requirements,” said Dan Lakatos, an Operations senior manager for BCD. “And at the end of each wildfire season, we meet with the Forest Service team to plan how to respond better the next year.”
In 2017, the Forest Service and BCD proved it’s possible to complete each crew member’s booking process in 30 minutes, even amid extraordinary demand. They’re hitting that target so far in 2018, too, but want to do even better. Jane Schoettle, BCD vice president of Operations, described the goal: “By the end of this year’s wildfire season, we aim to shave another minute off the time it takes us to get firefighters where they need to be.”
