The Western Fire Chiefs Association (WFCA) serves as the representative of career and volunteer leaders of fire related emergency service organizations throughout Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and the Western Pacific Islands. The WFCA helps develop, and support the work of, those leaders and organizations in order that they may best provide for the protection of people and the environment from the occurrence and outcomes of fires and other natural, technological, and human-behavior-caused emergencies.
The WFCA members serve on committees dealing with communications, leadership, emergency management, terrorism, and wildland management, to name a few. The association also has a focus on wildfire protection and prevention, recruitment, and fire service data, especially emerging tech in the fire service and wildland.
A partnership between the WFCA, multiple public safety organizations (PSO), and Intterra created the Fire Data Lab, a non-profit organization dedicated to accelerating the use of data-driven decision making in the fire service. This common data warehouse provides immediate benefits to partner PSOs, in exchange for access to their performance data. Partner PSOs are also collaborating with each other in a series of workshops and visioning summits that are focused on identifying and overcoming data challenges.
The WFCA’s Wildfire Initiative promotes technology in the fire service, and community engagement as a means of mitigation and prevention. The initiative educates chief officers, the public, and stakeholders on wildfire issues through in-person events, such as the Camp Fire Tour, the Wildfire Policy Summit, and engaging videos.
WFCA is also partnered with Sourcewell, a self-sustaining government organization providing cooperative purchasing solutions to over 50,000 public-agency members across the United States and Canada.
Additional features of WFCA include the Daily Dispatch, a free electronic newsletter distributed each weekday to over 70,000 subscribers featuring state-specific news, national news, job announcements, events, and more.
Western Fire Chiefs Association Online
