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Logo of the United States National Park Service.svg

The National Park Service, or NPS, is part of the United States Department of the Interior. It manages 423 park units and more than 85 million acres of land throughout the entire United States and its territories, from Maine to Guam. Of the 423 park units, 307 have burnable vegetation for a total of 53 million acres.

Through interagency agreements NPS fire management resources support other federal, state, tribal, local and non-governmental partners in wildland fire management activities.

As of 2023, the NPS firefighting fleet consists of approximately 275 pieces of dedicated wildland fire equipment The fleet is broken down into:

  • 100 Command Vehicles
  • 4 Crew Carriers
  • 130 Engines
    • Of which 49 are Structural Engines
  • 31 Fire Module Vehicles
  • 3 Water Tenders
  • 7 Helicopters
  • 2 Fire Boats

Structural Fire Program[]

Engine company parks are national park units that maintain an NPS-staffed and owned Type I or II structure fire apparatus for structure fire and all-hazard response within the park. In most cases these parks are part of a local mutual aid agreement. Currently 16 NPS sites maintain 45 fire stations, which are equipped with 47 structural fire engines, staffed and supported by approximately 250 employees and partners. Additionally, six fire boats are owned by NPS and staffed by NPS firefighters.[1] Although engine company parks comprise only six percent of the total number of sites in the NPS, many of them are seen as the agency's “crown jewels” and represent the first parks ever established.

  • Big Bend National Park
  • Bryce Canyon National Park
  • Crater Lake National Park
  • Death Valley National Park
  • Glacier National Park
  • Glacier Bay National Park
  • Glen Canyon National Recreation Area
  • Grand Canyon National Park
  • Grand Teton National Park
  • Kalaupapa National Historical Park
  • Lake Mead National Recreation Area
  • Mesa Verde National Park
  • Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
  • Yellowstone National Park
  • Yosemite National Park
  • Zion National Park

NPS-owned apparatus managed and staffed by local volunteer fire departments to provide fire suppression capabilities to the park:

  • Acadia National Park
  • Buffalo National River
  • Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
  • Mammoth Cave National Park
  • Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Wildland Fire Program[]

The National Park Service Wildland Fire Management Program manages wildland fire to protect the public, park communities, and infrastructure, conserve natural and cultural resources, and maintain and restore natural ecosystem processes. The program is divided into 48 Fire Management Zones which are served by 81 Type 3 -> 6 engines, 3 water tenders, and numerous support vehicles. The agency maintains a number of modules including:

  • Alpine Interagency Hotshot Crew
  • Arrowhead Interagency Hotshot Crew
  • Black Canyon Wildland Fire Module
  • Black Hills Wildland Fire Module
  • Buffalo River Wildland Fire Module
  • Cumberland Gap Wildland Fire Module
  • Great Smoky Wildland Fire Module
  • Kaweah Wildland Fire Module
  • Rocky Mountain Wildland Fire Module
  • Saguaro Wildland Fire Module
  • Shuksan Wildland Fire Module
  • Whiskeytown Wildland Fire Module
  • Yosemite Wildland Fire Module

Apparatus On Order[]

On 3rd March 2024, the DOI awarded contracts to numerous manufacturers for new engines to replace the ageing fleet, NPS will recieve;

  • 12 Model 662s from BFX (Acadia, Big Thicket, Cape Cod, Dinosaur, Grand Canyon, Harpers Ferry, Lava Beds, Mount Rainier, Point Reyes, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Shenandoah, Theodore Roosevelt)
  • 6 Model 665s from Pierce (Everglades, Joshua Tree, Point Reyes, Redwood, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Whiskeytown)

References[]

All items (69)

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