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Keeping Fire On Our Side
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has been using and managing fire safely and cost-effectively since the 1930's, leading to lands being in healthier ecological condition overall, with lower risk of catastrophic fire. This long-term, balanced approach to fire management benefits both people and wildlife.

Hot News Employees Train Military and International Firefighters When the record-breaking fire season in California quickly escalated last June, National Guard and firefighters from overseas were called in to help. Read More... Firefighters Extinguish Refuge Fire On August 19, firefighters from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management, officially declared the Lazy Eye Fire, which burned 570 acres on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in north-central Montana, out. Read More... Fire Personnel Hold Tenth Annual Interagency Training On June 14, firefighters from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming participated in the 10th annual interagency All Fire Day training with cooperators from the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand Teton National Park, Bureau of Land Management, Wyoming State Forestry Division, and Teton, Sublette, and Lincoln counties. Read More...

North Carolina, Virginia Fires Continue to Challenge Firefighters The Evans Road Fire on the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and the South One Fire on the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge have been burning since early June. Read More...

Did You Know...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages public land in every U.S. state and territory, including 547 national wildlife refuges and 69 national fish hatcheries.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages 75 million burnable acres, including 24 million acres of forest/brushland and 4 million acres of grassland.

More than 50% of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands in the continental U.S. (and more than 90% in Alaska) include fire-adapted ecosystems with vegetation dependent on periodic fire.

An average of 500 wildfires burn 260,000 acres each year on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. The Service also burns about 300,000 acres a year using prescribed fire.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annual fire program budget is approximately $80 million.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employs more than 530 permanent fire professionals, along with 270 seasonal and temporary fire employees during fire season.

More than 3,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees are qualified to assist with wildland fire management on an interagency basis.

The U.S. Fish and Wildland Service Fire Management Program protects more than 700 communities and wildland-urban interface areas.

Historically, an acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day. This measures 90% of a football field. There are 640 acres in a square mile.

More than 90% of the hazardous fuels reduction by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completed using prescribed fire.

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