About the Office

We employ a team of people to develop a budget, coordinate work, create policy, and pursue technological innovation on behalf of a fire management program that spans 535 million acres and thousands of employees.

The Office of Wildland Fire oversees a program spanning multiple bureaus that manage 535 million acres of public and Tribal lands: including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Neal Herbert, National Park Service)

Quick Facts

$1.73 billion: Funding provided through the 2024 budget appropriations for the Interior Department’s wildland fire management*
5,600: number of Interior Department wildland fire response personnel (2023)
38: number of employees in the Office of Wildland Fire
2001: year the Office of Wildland Fire was established

Organization

The Department of the Interior is organized into ten bureaus and dozens of smaller offices like ours. On behalf of the Secretary of the Interior, the Office of Wildland Fire oversees a Wildland Fire Management Program spanning multiple bureaus that manage over 535 million acres of public and Tribal lands: including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

History

Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton established the Office of Wildland Fire Coordination in 2001 after a 400% increase in wildfire management spending created the need for consolidated oversight of Department of the Interior programs. Coordination is just one of many services we provide, so it was dropped from the office name in 2012. Read more about our history.

Location

The Office of Wildland Fire maintains offices in Washington, D.C. and Boise, ID. Read more about contacting our staff. 

Partnerships

Facing the challenges posed by a force of nature that burns across administrative boundaries requires a lot of collaboration. To create a wildland fire management program that's effective and efficient, we cultivate partnerships with a number of federal agencies, states, Tribes, local land managers, and other stakeholders.

Programs

The Department is appropriated funds from Congress for Wildland Fire Management Program activities, including preparedness, suppression, fuels management, facilities, burned area rehabilitation, and science. Each program receives specific funding through an annual budget justification. The Interior Fire Executive Council, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council, and a number of other groups collaborate to establish program goals and priorities.

Publications

Many documents shape the government’s approach to wildland fire management. Visit our publications page for links to annual reports, budgets, guiding documents, policy memos, and more.

Services

Our staff provide a variety of services in order to maintain a unified Department of the Interior Wildland Fire Management Program. We develop policy and guide its implementation to ensure the bureaus share a common approach to managing wildland fire. We coordinate the development and execution of an annual budget to ensure that work aligns with Department priorities and strategic plans. We perform program reviews to ensure that program objectives align with priorities and are accomplished in an efficient way. We support the consolidation and development of new technology used by fire managers and field personnel. And we serve as a liaison between the Department of the Interior and the wider wildland fire community that includes other federal agencies, states, Tribes, local stakeholders and more.

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