FireRescue magazine recently checked in with Captain Leon Schlafmann, emergency services coordinator for the Fargo Fire Department, on the current flood status in Fargo. According to reports, the area will again be deluged by floodwaters from the Red River of the North, and responders have already begun preparations. Last year, responders worked around the clock as record-breaking floodwaters caused hundreds to evacuate. Note: FireRescue will post a full-length article on the 2009 flooding in Fargo in the coming weeks, so keep watching!

FireRescue: Captain Schlafmann, are the reports correct? Are you on track for another flood in Fargo this year?

Captain Schlafmann: Right now, the conditions are the same as last year, so there’s an 80 percent chance that we’ll reach flood status, which is 30 feet or higher. But in about 20 days, around mid-February, we’ll get a better projection from the weather service.

FRM: What are the overall conditions right now?

Schlafmann: We’re probably a little above the typical winter conditions. We froze up, so everything is pretty saturated. There’s also a little more snow than normal, so conditions are right for major flooding.

FRM: Do you reach flood status every year?

Schlafmann: Well, it definitely seems like it occurs every year. I’ve had this job for 4 years and in those 4 years, we’ve had three floods. We always flood to some degree, but the city has been extremely proactive in its mitigation efforts. We usually have to do some work with earthen levees and sandbags, but we can handle it.

FRM: What preparations have you made so far?

Schlafmann: We pretty much started our flood planning 2 or 3 weeks ago. We’re sitting down with different departments and discussing how we’ll handle some of the problems we had last year.

FRM: Are you taking any protective measures right now?

Schlafmann: There’s nothing to do so far regarding protective measures. We rely heavily on volunteers. We don’t want to call them up too early or too late, so right now we’re in a holding pattern.

FRM: What were some of the lessons learned from last year?

Schlafmann: The incident command system (ICS) was a challenge last year, but we made it work. We’ll have a stronger ICS this year. We’re working hard at making sure everyone understands their position and has a better understanding of who’s responsible for what. Everyone needs to see the game plan ahead of time. Of course, we’ll still have people who step out of the game plan, but we’ll deal with it. We also need to delegate out more responsibilities to more people so no one becomes overworked. That was a problem last year, so this year we’re making changes. We’re working hard with the state to stay ahead of the game.

FRM: From an operational standpoint, how will you do things differently this year?

Schlafmann: Other than the organizational strategy, we’re going to try water tubes as a protective measure, along with a couple other new products. Last year, we used tubes that are used by the military in Iraq. Volunteer-wise, things will be pretty much the same, but we’ll make things safer this time around. Last year was a bit chaotic. We started sandbagging on the 21st and we crested on the 28th. We also crested about 3 inches higher than we thought we would, so we had a lot more city to protect and a lot more work to do. So this year, we’ll have a little more lead time to make things as safe as possible. Safety is our biggest concern.

Copyright © Elsevier Inc., a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. SUBSCRIBE to FIRERESCUE