Does the US have a national firefighting force? If not, why?

The United States clearly needs a national firefighting force. California’s experience proves this point – wildfires ravaged over 4.3 million acres in just one season, claimed 33 lives and caused $19 billion in economic damage.

The U.S. firefighting system relies on a complex web of local, state, and federal agencies. Federal government’s firefighting duties have grown four times since 1993, and agencies now protect nearly 1.8 million acres. This fragmented approach creates major problems, and permanent wildland firefighters quit at an alarming rate – 45% left their jobs within three years.

This piece explores the reasons behind America’s lack of a unified national firefighting force. We’ll get into the current system’s structure and look at ways to improve fire management throughout the country.

Current US Firefighting Structure

The United States has one of the world’s largest firefighting networks, with 27,228 fire departments operating from 58,150 fire stations nationwide. This decentralized system shows the country’s steadfast dedication to local governance but creates unique challenges in coordination and resource management.

State and local fire departments

Local fire departments are the foundation of America’s reliable firefighting system. These departments have both career and volunteer firefighters, with current data showing 1,216,600 firefighters across the country. Career fire departments protect 68% of the U.S. population, while volunteer services are more common in rural areas.

Department structures vary substantially across regions. Large urban areas typically have career firefighters, though many communities still rely on volunteer or paid-on-call staff. The size of these departments ranges from small volunteer units to large operations like the New York City Fire Department, which has over 11,400 sworn firefighters.

These departments have grown beyond just fighting fires. Today, 46% of fire departments provide basic life support services, and 17% deliver advanced life support capabilities. This expansion shows how modern fire departments’ roles continue to evolve.

Federal firefighting agencies

Several key organizations at the federal level oversee different aspects of fire management. The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), under FEMA, guides national fire prevention and response initiatives. The U.S. Forest Service has a specialized team of more than 10,000 professional firefighters who respond to wildfires on National Forest System land.

The federal wildland fire community looks after nearly 700 million acres of federal public land – about one-fifth of the total U.S. land area. This network has:

• Bureau of Land Management
• National Park Service
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Bureau of Indian Affairs
• U.S. Forest Service

These agencies work together through the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), which coordinates national wildland fire management programs and provides policy oversight.

Coordination challenges

The extensive infrastructure still faces obstacles in coordinating responses across jurisdictions. Fire departments must coordinate their activities to meet common operational and safety goals. All the same, communication issues can arise, especially during complex urban firefighting scenarios where managing role dependencies becomes difficult.

The current system faces several key challenges:

1. Resource Distribution: Major emergencies often require time to mobilize resources, leaving state and local departments that might be understaffed to handle the original response.
2. Staffing Pressures: Communities struggle to recruit and keep firefighters due to:
   • Rising emergency call volumes
   • Time-consuming training requirements
   • Physical and behavioral risks
   • Aging communities
3. Operational Complexity: Fire departments now handle EMS needs along with traditional firefighting duties, so they must blend new practices while maintaining core services.

Quick inter-agency communication becomes vital during major fire emergencies. Delays or miscommunications can substantially affect response effectiveness. Data sharing between agencies is also a significant factor in coordinating resources and avoiding duplicate efforts during large operations.

The USFA maintains a national database for fire protection and prevention communities to address these challenges. This database supports special studies and helps improve direct communication with individual fire departments. The National Fire Protection Association also sets and maintains minimum standards for firefighting duties and equipment, aiming to create consistency across this diverse system.

Why the US Lacks a National Force

Fire protection in America has deep historical roots that span centuries of local governance and community-based firefighting traditions. The story of why the United States operates without a centralized national firefighting force lies in these origins.

Historical development

American firefighting started with simple bucket brigades where community members passed water buckets from source to fire. The original fire prevention efforts focused on detection and simple prevention measures. Boston’s first fire ordinance in 1631 banned wooden chimneys and thatched roofs.

Benjamin Franklin changed everything in 1736 when he hosted the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia – America’s first volunteer fire department. This began a new era of firefighting that stayed local by nature. Fire companies worked as small, self-governed units without ties to municipal governments.

Professional firefighting emerged step by step. Cincinnati created the first full-time, paid fire department in 1853 after firefighters sparked city riots. Insurance companies soon became vital players in making urban firefighting more professional. They demanded trained companies replace the street gangs that controlled city fire services.

The Civil War altered the map of American firefighting. Veterans coming home brought military discipline and knowledge of new technologies to fire departments. These trained personnel helped rebuild fire services across the nation, though the system stayed decentralized.

State rights and local control

America’s constitutional framework and deep-rooted principles of local governance explain why we don’t have a national firefighting force. The 10th Amendment protects each state’s right to handle internal affairs not given to the federal government. Fire protection has always been a state and local responsibility.

States typically got involved in fire protection after disasters struck. To name just one example, the 1946 Winecoff hotel fire in Atlanta sparked major changes. Indiana passed its first statewide fire safety code. Georgia created building exit rules. Pennsylvania and Maine required formal training for firefighters.

Decentralized fire services come with benefits and drawbacks. States run commissions and boards that watch compliance and update local standards. Communities can adapt regulations to their needs and access standard-developing processes easily.

Most firefighters back this local approach. They support national NFPA standards but want local authorities to decide how to use them. President Jefferson believed the federal government should handle foreign affairs and national issues, leaving fire service management to states.

Today’s fire protection services work through several structures:

• Municipal fire departments staffed by agency personnel
• Fire protection districts
• Contract-based services with other jurisdictions
• Regional fire protection authorities
• Emergency service boards

The federal government agrees that states and localities should lead fire prevention and control. Yet federal support helps achieve big reductions in fire losses. This led to coordinated programs that support local fire prevention without central control.

This decentralized system sometimes creates problems. The 1904 Baltimore fire showed this clearly – visiting fire companies couldn’t connect their hoses to local hydrants because the couplings didn’t match. National standards came later, but today only 18 of the 48 biggest U.S. cities use standardized fire hydrants. This shows how local control can still cause issues.

Growing Need for National Coordination

The United States has experienced an unprecedented surge in wildfire activity over the last several years. This situation highlights our significant need to improve national coordination in firefighting efforts. The changing nature of fire management requires a fresh perspective on our current approach.

Increasing wildfire threats

Climate change has revolutionized how wildfires behave and spread. The western United States saw the number of large fires double between 1984 and 2015. Scientists project an even more alarming scenario – a single degree Celsius rise in average annual temperature could boost burned areas by up to 600% in a typical year.

The devastating 2021 fire season recorded 58,733 wildfires that burned through more than 7.13 million acres of U.S. land. These fires caused damages between USD 70 billion and USD 90 billion. The average annual acreage burned by wildfire from 2017 to 2021 jumped 68% higher than yearly averages from 1983 to 2016.

Cross-state emergencies

Our current firefighting system faces substantial challenges from increasingly complex cross-state emergencies. Officials at the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) in Boise, Idaho coordinate resource mobilization nationwide for wildland fires. Recent data from July 2024 shows 2,417 nationwide requests for vital fire resources remained unfulfilled.

Resource strain becomes clear through these numbers:

• California’s Forest Service couldn’t use 90 out of approximately 270 fire engines
• Hotshot crews operated with insufficient staff in more than one-third of statewide units
• The Forest Service lost 45% of its permanent employees within just three years

Resource sharing difficulties

Mounting pressures affect the current mutual aid system. Recent data shows that better-equipped local and state agencies must focus on their jurisdictions first. Multiple regions experiencing simultaneous fire emergencies strain the available resources severely.

The Department of Interior and Forest Service nearly doubled their combined wildfire management spending from 2011 to 2020. A lack of resources continues because:

• Fire occurrence varies greatly in time and space
• Fire activity’s timing and severity prove difficult to predict
• Future fire seasons might not match past experiences

The National Multi-Agency Coordinating group at NIFC sets priorities and distributes resources during multiple simultaneous fires. The Department of Defense provides two battalions (500 personnel each) as firefighting crews in extreme conditions.

Emergency Support Function (ESF) #4 helps coordinate firefighting activities and supports local, state, tribal, territorial, and insular area agencies. ESF #4 can mobilize resources from across the country and several foreign countries through existing agreements.

These coordination mechanisms face growing challenges. The wildfire season has grown longer in many areas due to:

• Warmer springs
• Extended summer dry seasons
• Drier soils and vegetation

The United States has faced 22 wildfire events causing more than USD 1 billion in damage between 1980 and 2023. Notably, 18 of these events happened since 2000. Climate change continues to affect fire patterns, making improved national coordination essential. U.S. firefighting efforts regularly cost more than USD 1 billion annually, reaching USD 3.5 billion in 2022.

Challenges of the Current System

America’s firefighting system lacks central coordination, which creates many problems that affect how well it protects communities across the country. The current setup shows gaps in how departments respond, use resources, and train their personnel.

Fragmented response

Fire services work in a disconnected way that creates big challenges. Teams spread across different stations and shifts can’t communicate well or work together smoothly. This scattered approach makes public safety agencies build too much infrastructure. They spend more tax money and use more resources than they should.

More than 50,000 public safety agencies across the country don’t have a unified plan. Each police department, fire department, and emergency medical service buys its own equipment. This often leads to systems that don’t work together properly.

Budget limitations

Money problems limit what fire departments can do. Los Angeles recently cut $17.60 million from its budget, including $7.00 million in overtime hours. This makes it harder to handle big emergencies. The department also lost 58 positions, which affects vital services like checking for brush that could catch fire.

When money is tight, departments must:

• Take equipment donations
• Work with local communities to use their facilities
• Cut back on training
• Work with fewer people

The Roseburg Fire Department shows these problems clearly. They have fewer firefighters now than 35 years ago. Yet emergency calls went up from 318 in 1968 to 3,573 in 2002. Without doubt, having fewer staff means slower response times and less public safety.

Training variations

Different training levels between departments create another big challenge. Volunteer firefighters must be as skilled as professionals but often can’t get good training. Many fire departments don’t have money for gym equipment, facilities, and training experts that athletes usually have.

Not having standard training creates more problems:

• Few studies show which training methods work best for firefighter fitness
• Research mostly looks at new trainees instead of experienced firefighters
• High call volumes and other priorities make it hard to train while on duty

Firefighting demands peak physical condition. Most career and volunteer firefighters aren’t fit enough to work safely and well. Heart problems cause 40-50% of deaths during duty, often because firefighters aren’t in good shape.

Staff shortages make these problems worse. By 2021, departments had the lowest number of firefighters ever. About 43.2% of volunteer firefighters are obese. These firefighters are 5.2 times more likely to get hurt on the job.

Emergency medical services face similar problems. Each department trains differently and has its own way of doing things. Without standard rules about how many EMS staff fire departments need, communities get different levels of service and emergency response.

Benefits of a National Force

A national firefighting force could transform America’s fire protection capabilities through standard practices, better resource use, and unified command structures. The benefits of this system would be way beyond the reach and influence of just making operations more efficient.

Standardized training

A national skill-based professional development system would eliminate duplicate work across jurisdictions. This detailed approach builds on four vital pillars:

• Training programs
• Academic education
• Relevant field experience
• Continuing education

Fire departments and training agencies struggle to measure and compare how well their training works. A national force would set uniform standards for training, qualifications, and certification to ensure consistent service quality across the country. These standard programs that line up with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Professional Qualification Standards help reduce firefighter injuries and deaths in the line of duty.

Resource optimization

Managing resources through a central system offers major operational benefits. Fire services can track and monitor everything better through unified data management at the corporate level. This central approach helps:

• Personnel move smoothly between locations
• Information becomes more accessible during audits
• Report data stays consistent
• Resources get allocated better to control costs

Mathematical modeling to optimize firefighting resources has showed great promise to improve efficiency. These models find the most cost-effective level of fire management spending. This systematic approach to resource allocation cuts both fire-related costs and damages while working within real-world fire management limits.

Unified command structure

A unified command system brings together multiple stakeholders through common structures and joint exercises. This approach creates several advantages:

The system helps develop unified goals for the whole ordeal. Teams create better strategies through improved information sharing and coordination between jurisdictions. All agencies work more effectively as they follow a single Incident Action Plan.

The unified command structure also aids:

• Multiple stakeholders in making decisions
• Groups in approving operations and logistics
• Teams in sharing facilities to reduce costs
• Better communication

Company Officers (COs) find this system especially helpful as it gives them a detailed understanding of what multiple agencies need. Special training helps COs learn everything they need to handle complex incidents, particularly when they serve in Command or General Staff roles during operations with multiple agencies.

Resource optimization also improves. Mathematical programming models can find the best mix of firefighting resources to minimize all fire-related costs and damages. These models work within real-world fire management limits while letting teams analyze how changes affect key factors.

Proposed Solutions and Models

America’s firefighting infrastructure is getting a modern makeover. Federal agencies and stakeholders have proposed new models to improve coordination and make operations more effective. The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) leads several initiatives to strengthen fire departments across the country.

National Fire Service concept

The USFA champions its Fire Is Everyone’s Fight® initiative that brings together fire services and safety organizations to reduce fire-related losses. This framework has several key parts:

The National Fire Academy offers free training programs that support fire departments and emergency medical services. These programs focus on:

• Prevention strategies
• Emergency response protocols
• Fire safety education
• Life-saving techniques

The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) stands as the world’s largest annual database of fire incident information. Fire departments use this system to make informed decisions that improve their operational efficiency.

The USFA’s Fire Service National Strategy, launched in October 2022, highlights these vital objectives:

• Getting firefighters ready for increased climate-driven wildfires
• Supporting national apprenticeship programs
• Creating detailed cancer prevention strategies
• Offering behavioral health resources
• Building safer communities through code enforcement
• Strengthening fire service in federal policy development

Hybrid federal-state systems

The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) shows how a hybrid model works as the nation’s main wildland fire support center. The system uses a three-tier dispatch coordination structure with:

• Over 250 local dispatch centers
• Ten Geographic Area Coordination Centers
• The National Interagency Coordination Center

This setup allows quick resource movement across the country from East Coast to West Coast. Resources fall into five functional areas: aviation, overhead, crews, equipment, and supplies.

The Department of Interior and U.S. Forest Service work together to modernize fire management through technology. Their two-part approach includes:

1. Creating cloud-based systems with better data capabilities
2. Using streamlined data standards to capture information better

The President’s 2025 budget shows strong support with $1.60 billion to reduce wildfire risk and build a stronger firefighting workforce. This detailed package includes:

• $75.00 million for permanent pay increases
• $20.00 million for physical and mental health support
• $39.80 million for expanded wildland firefighting capacity
• $5.00 million for firefighter housing improvements

The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) develops cutting-edge tools for first responders. They work with federal, state, local, and tribal agencies to create technologies that solve specific operational challenges.

Hybrid fire suppression systems show promise for the future. These systems mix traditional methods with new technologies, including:

• Nitrogen-based suppression
• Fine water droplet distribution
• Advanced detection systems

The Fire Modeling Institute (FMI) helps by connecting fire managers with technical experts. They provide:

• Science application development
• Software support
• Training programs
• Information services

These solutions and models help create a stronger, more efficient firefighting system. Local departments keep their independence while getting benefits from national coordination and resources.

Conclusion

The American firefighting system faces a turning point today. Local control and state rights have shaped our decentralized approach. Yet climate change and limited resources just need a fresh point of view on national coordination.

Our current system struggles with real challenges. Scattered responses, tight budgets, and different training standards hold back effective operations in various jurisdictions. A national force structure could boost America’s firefighting capabilities while keeping local autonomy intact.

The USFA’s Fire Service National Strategy and hybrid federal-state systems show practical ways to improve coordination. These programs create solid frameworks to standardize training, optimize resources, and unify command structures.

The key lies in balancing local control with national support. We could boost firefighting effectiveness across the country by strengthening current coordination systems and using standard protocols, rather than completely changing the existing setup.

Moving forward requires every stakeholder’s commitment. Federal agencies, state governments, and local departments must build a more resilient firefighting infrastructure together. This shared approach will protect communities better against complex fire threats while keeping American firefighting’s proud traditions alive.

FAQs