Having an Alert for Arkansas Wildfires
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Updated: July 5, 2012
With several wildfires across Arkansas so far this summer, some Arkansas residents want to know if there is a way to be alerted more quickly if a fire is near them. Fires can move fast in hot, dry weather and good information can save your life.
But where do you get it? The short answer is, there is no real-time fire monitoring available to the public.
Fires are called in to county dispatch centers and the Forestry Commission's emergency dispatch in Malvern. At best, hat information is put in incident reports and summaries that are posted online on Facebook, on Twitter, but not until the day after it happens.
According to the Forestry Commission and emergency managers KARK spoke with, if a fire is threatening your home or safety officials will send out warnings over the television or radio or send deputies to your home.
National-level events are the exception. For large fires like the ones burning in Colorado the National Interagency Fire Center has communications teams that work on site constantly posting information and updates online where the public can see it.
