Morrill and Cottonwood Fires IWI Communications 2026

“Communication” was certainly the challenge on the Morrill and Cottonwood fires—that both started on March 12, 2026, in southwest Nebraska. Interoperability concerns surfaced between the federal agencies using VHF and the state and county agencies using 800 MHz. After three days of working with some locals, getting land use agreements in place, and setting up repeaters, the reliable radio communication system—which wildland firefighters are accustomed to—was still not operational. The culprit? The vast geographic areas that these fires encompassed and the flat terrain in which they were burning.

During the evening of the fires’ third day of no reliable radio communication, several members of the CIMT met to determine a reliable way to communicate Incidents Within an Incident (IWI) back to ICP and Base. The solution the CIMT devised was to provide every middle leadership position—Taskforce Leader through Branch—with a mobile Starlink. Approximately 50 were distributed. The communication trailer at ICP was provided a dedicated IWI phone. In the event of an IWI being called in on a tactical channel, the closest middle leadership would respond to the location. Once on scene, middle leadership would call incident Communication on the dedicated cell phone and proceed with IWI protocols.

The following morning this process was briefed to all middle leadership during the Pre-Ops meeting along with a short “cheat sheet” of specific instructions. The dedicated IWI phone number was added to the special instructions on the ICS 205 (Incident Radio Communications Plan) as well as in the ICS 206 WF (Medical Plan) under each Division.