In anticipation of this weekend’s winter storm, the Virginia Department of Forestry has assembled six strike teams and three incident management teams that will assist state and local governments in the event of any emergency needs they may have.

“As an all hazard emergency response agency, the Department of Forestry provides chainsaw crews, bulldozer teams and incident management personnel who are well trained to tackle such situations,” says State Forester Carl Garrison. “We provided similar teams during the major snow storm in December.”

Each chainsaw strike team includes: one strike team leader in a 4X4 pick-up and ten chainsaw personnel (in five two person teams) in 4x4 pick-ups. Each dozer strike team includes: one strike team leader in a 4X4 pick-up, two dozer/transport crews (each crew with one dozer and two operators) along with two chainsaw personnel to function as one team. The three incident management teams consist of four personnel each that could fill the role as an overhead team on a local level, most likely assisting county emergency operations centers.

In addition, a team from the agency’s headquarters in Charlottesville will be working at the State Emergency Operations Center in Chesterfield.

The strike teams and incident management teams will be available statewide to assist as needed.