NIFC

A Pla

A Miss

NIFC got its start in the mid-1960s, when the 

Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land 

Management, Department of Agriculture’s 

Forest Service and Department of Commerce’s 

Weather Bureau (now the National Weather 

Service) pooled their fire resources to form 

the Boise Interagency Fire Center, or BIFC. 

Subsequently, the Department of the Interior’s 

Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service 

and Fish and Wildlife Service joined the Center. 

Today, the National Association of State 

Foresters and Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA) also have representation at 

NIFC. In 1993, the name was changed from 

BIFC to the National Interagency Fire Center, to 

reflect the center’s national mission. NIFC is 

still located in Boise, Idaho, where the partner 

agencies employ about 600 people. 

In the Beginning NIFC – Acro

Country, Aroun

the World

The agencies at NIFC do more than respond 

to wildfire. Often, they are asked to support 

natural disasters and emergencies in 

conjunction with FEMA. Through the US 

Department of State’s Office of Foreign 

Disaster Assistance, and international 

agreements, NIFC can help with incidents 

in other countries as well.

Wildland Fire 

Natural Proc

In simplest terms, fire is a chemical 

reaction among oxygen, heat and fuel. 

Fire has shaped much of the landscape 

as it is today and will continue to do so in 

the future. NIFC will be a part of wildland 

fire’s future, helping to manage and better 

understand this vital, primitive force. 

Like to Learn 

Visit NIFC’s website at www.nifc.gov

You may also get information by writing to:

National Interagency Fire Center

3833 S. Development Avenue

Boise, Idaho 83705

BLM-FA-GI-04-007-1120
The National Interagency Fire Center 

(NIFC) is the nation’s logistical and 

support center for wildland fire and, 

sometimes, national emergencies. 

NIFC is the place where state, federal 

and tribal agencies work together to 

get fire personnel, aircraft, supplies, 

and equipment from anywhere in the 

country to where they are needed the 

most.

NIFC doesn’t fight fires. That work 

is the responsibility of local, federal, 

state, tribal, and community agencies. 

NIFC’s primary mission is to provide 

cooperative leadership, technical 

expertise, people and equipment for 

national and international wildland 

fire management and emergency 

assistance. 

NIFC, then, is a place with a mission 

-- to ensure that wildland firefighters 

everywhere have the support and 

information they need to be safe, 

effective and efficient. 

Wildfire suppression is 

built on a three-tiered 

system of support – the 

local area, one of the 11 

geographic areas (see 

map at left), and finally, the 

national level. When a fire 

is reported, the local agency 

and its firefighting partners 

respond. If the fire continues to 

grow, the agency can ask for help 

from its geographic area. When 

a geographic area has exhausted 

all its resources, it can turn to 

NIFC’s National Interagency 

Coordination Center for help 

in locating what is needed, 

from air tankers to radios to 

firefighting crews to incident 

management teams. 

Also at NIF

Other services and programs include:

• Infrared mapping services

• National Interagency Coordination Center

• Remote Automatic Weather Station headquarters

• Fire meteorology and predictive services

• Radio and communication cache

• Fire intelligence and information

• Joint Fire Science Program 

• Equipment development

• Training development

• BLM Boise smokejumper base

• Great Basin fire cache

• Boise National Forest air tanker base

When Fires B

Natio

Multi-Agen

Coordin

Gro

When the national fire situation becomes 

severe, the National Multi-Agency 

Coordination Group (NMAC) is activated. 

It identifies national needs and issues, 

and sets priorities for allocation of 

resources. NMAC is composed of the fire 

directors of each agency, representatives 

from FEMA and the states, plus technical 

specialists as needed. 

Portland

Missoula

Fort Snelling

Atlanta

Albuquerque

Lakewood

Salt Lake City

Reno

Boise

Redding

Riverside

Hawaii

Puerto Rico

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