September 26, 2019
MFC employee injured in Yazoo County
JACKSON, MISS. – The following is a statement from Mississippi Forestry Commission State Forester Russell Bozeman regarding an incident in Yazoo County:
“At approximately 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon, while in route to a wildfire, a Mississippi Forestry Commission employee was involved in a single vehicle accident at the intersection of State Route 433 and U.S. Highway 49 in Yazoo County. The employee was airlifted to UMMC in Jackson for treatment.
While our thoughts and prayers are with our employee, there was no break in service and a separate unit was dispatched to contain and suppress the wildfire. MFC employees put their lives at risk each time they respond to a wildfire in Mississippi.
The state has not had significant rainfall in more than three weeks and we continue to ask the public to use extreme caution when starting an outdoor fire. Even the smallest ember or spark can start a wildfire, particularly in the dry conditions we are seeing. Help protect MFC and local firefighters by using fire responsibly. The public can check for county burn bans at www.mfc.ms.gov/burn-bans.”
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The mission of the Mississippi Forestry Commission is to provide active leadership in forest protection, forest management, forest inventory, and effective forest information distribution, necessary for Mississippi’s sustainable forest-based economy. Established in 1926, the Mississippi Forestry Commission protects the state’s valuable 19.8 million acres of forestland from wildfire, manages approximately 480,000 acres of forested School Trust Land and delivers quality forest management services and assistance to both rural and urban landowners. To learn more about the Mississippi Forestry Commission, please visit www.mfc.ms.gov and like and follow the MFC on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube at @MSForestryComm.
