Notification of Fire Activity

Public Information Officers (PIOs) from the Great Plains Dispatch area have started this blog as a way to distribute information about initial attack fires within the Great Plains initial attack zone.  The zone covers public and private land in and around the Black Hills National Forest and Nebraska National Forest and Grasslands in South Dakota and Nebraska.

In previous years, the PIOs have emailed news releases to a very extensive email list.  When there is significant fire activity, multiple emails can cause the system to crash, preventing us from providing timely information to the public, media, and businesses in the area.

We hope that this blog will provide you with the timely information that you need.  If you have questions, we can still be reached by phone or email!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


211 Helpline Center’s Text Notification system


Great Plains Fire Information, comprised of the Black Hills National Forest, Nebraska National Forest and Grasslands and South Dakota Wildland Fire Division, has partnered with the 211 Helpline Center to notify the public of significant fire activity within the Great Plains geographical area (Black Hills and surrounding areas) using text messaging.

To subscribe, text ‘GPFire’ to 85511. Text ‘STOP’ to cancel at any time.

Notification text will be sent to those who subscribe on significant fire activity, including wildland and prescribed fires within the Great Plains Dispatch Zone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We have provided three methods for you to be notified when the blog has been updated.

1.  Email:
On the right hand side you can sign up for email notification. Due to program limitations, e-mail notifications are sent once a day around 3-4 p.m. (if there are updates) not each time the blog has been updated.

To subscribe to the blog e-mail:
  1. On the right hand side of any page enter your email address in the  “Get New Posts by E-mail” box.
  2. Hit “Subscribe”
  3. A new page will open asking you to confirm your request.  Follow the instructions on that page.
  4. Once you have confirmed your request you will begin getting emails each time a new post is published.

2. Twitter:
Follow us on Twitter.  Each time posts are made to the blog, a tweet indicating the blog has been updated will follow.

3.  RSS/Atom Feed:
You can download something called an RSS Aggregator or RSS Reader to your computer.  This software allows you to select sites that you want to monitor for updates.  We have included an Atom Feed on our blog.  At the bottom of the page you will see Subscribe to: Posts (Atom).  Right click on that link and select copy link address.  Paste the address into your Aggregator and subscribe to it.  This is an easy way to monitor changes to this site and any other site that includes RSS/Atom Feeds.  There is a lot of information on the web about RSS/ Atom Feeds and Aggregators that can be downloaded.