Did you know that the National Weather Service has a SWAT Team? Well, not quite SWAT, but pretty close! Today we talk with Robert Rickey who is an IMET – an Incident Meteorologist. They are a group of about 100 forecasters who go to where the danger is, in harm’s way. They primarily get deployed to wildfire events, but have worked at floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and even oil spills. Their main goal is to provide weather information that keeps emergency responders, firefighters, and the public safe while adding valuable insight into the many pieces of the response puzzle. Robert and the other IMETs are invaluable part of our nations’ response operations and we are grateful for their dedication to our safety!

Robert joined the Incident Meteorologists program in 2017 and when he is not deployed, he serves as the Information Technology Officer at the NWS Flagstaff Weather Forecast Office. He started at the NWS in 2011 and his military background well prepared him for his IMET assignments.

A lesser known, but equally important duty IMETs have is to provide real-time forecasts for prescribed burns, also called beneficial fires. These burns help mitigate the potential for catastrophic wildfires.

Finally, we’ll hear why Smokey the Bear is still right. Thank you for joining us today.

National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists