The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources held a mock wildfire exercise from it's Black River Falls location, utilizing 17 area fire departments. In the case of a major wildfire, it was an exercise in "practice makes perfect".
"Getting all of these entities together, getting all of them working together, that's the goal," said Jack Workman, Emergency Management Director for Jackson County. "If there was a real event we would be doing this all for the first time, meeting for the first time." The day began with everyone meeting at the command center, with the drill beginning as a mock fire starting in the town of Brockway. "Large scale fires, they don't often happen," said Bruce Henderson, Fire Incident Commander. "So to make all of that happen, whether we're fighting a real or simulation fire, it takes a lot of multi-agency partners. That's what you see here today."