Throughout the history of the Sweetwater County Fire Department, crews and firefighting equipment have responded in cooperation with the United States Forest Service and the Department of Interior to major wildfires across the United States. Today, we still maintain cooperative agreements with the Forest Service and Department of Interior by committing crews and equipment subject to immediate response for Wildfire protection and management.
During the hours and days following the attacks of September 11th 2001, the Sweetwater County Fire Department placed a Tactical Response Team and one four-wheel drive "Quick Attack" fire engine on stand-by per request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Since those dark days, our members felt the need to further develop relations with other Federal agencies to enable a rapid response to incidents of natural or man-made disasters. Through this dedication, the Sweetwater County Fire Department has four members who have completed training with the Department of Homeland Security and has placed into service a multi-tasked unit capable of assisting Federal, State and Local agencies requiring a large, technical response. Even though this unit is still being developed and personnel trained, the capabilities of this new program were tested during the loss of the Columbia Space Shuttle (STS-107). This unfortunate incident placed our personnel into service for three months in Texas and proved not only to ourselves, but to the Federal agencies managing the crisis, that we are more than up to the task of serving our country.