Facilities

The foundation of our wildfire response lies in a network of airtanker bases, crew quarters, emergency dispatch centers, and other buildings that provide a home for firefighters, support staff, and their equipment. The Facilities Program funds construction and maintenance work throughout the Department of the Interior.

Two employees clean and repair fire equipment at a fire facility.

Two employees clean and repair fire equipment at the National Interagency Fire Center, where repair and refurbishment facilities support wildland fire management. Photo by BLM. 

Quick Facts

  • $10 million: money appropriated to this program in Fiscal Year 2025
  • 4: projects completed in Fiscal Year 2024
  • 7: projects completed in Fiscal Year 2023

Funded Projects:

  • Replaced the Lake Roosevelt Wildland Fire Cache at the National Park Service Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area in Washington.
  • Renovated the Yosemite Emergency Communication Center at Yosemite National Park in California.
  • Renovated the Fort Wadsworth Wildland Fire Facility at the National Park Service Gateway National Recreation Area in New York.
  • Finished a modernized, permanent Bureau of Land Management airtanker base to support aerial wildland firefighting located at the Casper-Natrona County International Airport in Casper, Wyoming.
  • Completed the first phase of the Bureau of Land Management Grass Valley Fire Crew Quarters Repair in Oregon. 
  • Constructed the Salmon Wildland Fire Crew Quarters in the Bureau of Land Management Salmon Field Office in Idaho.
  • Completed the first phase of the Lewistown Fire Crew Quarters Construction in the Bureau of Land Management Lewiston Field Office in Montana.
  • Completed the Minidoka Fire Equipment Storage Replacement at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho.
  • Replaced the Big Cypress Fire Station at the National Park Service Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida.

Every year, Interior bureau staff prioritize their shared wildland fire facility needs and develop a maintenance and capital improvement plan. The plan brings together the competing priorities within the bureaus. The final plan lists the projects in priority order, focusing on critical health and safety, public safety and resource protection, achieving sustainability goals, and decreasing long-term operation and maintenance costs. 

Staff in the Office of Wildland Fire help craft the annual budget justification and track the money spent on approved projects.

Was this page helpful?

Please provide a comment