Greening Fire Team - Sustainability and Fire
New Efforts are in Place to Reduce Plastic Waste at Fire Camps
The repurpose of expired or broken fire hose transformed into enriching wildlife habitat in zoos and animal sanctuaries.
On the Klamath National Forest, in northern California, a recycling program was implemented in fire camp to green fire.
The National Greening Fire Team (NGFT)
Taking tangible steps to reduce impact from wildfire operations, reduce costs, and improve operational outcomes that enhance employee safety, wellbeing, and overall public benefit.
Announcements and Webinars
The 2025 National Greening Fire Team Virtual Tech Expo, 4-6 March 2025 has been postponed until further notice.
'Red Book' References
Incident Management and Environmental Sustainability - Chapter 11, Page 267, Line 11 - 19
Every incident should seek opportunities to reduce unnecessary waste and limit impacts associated with management actions. This can be accomplished, for example, by implementing “greening fire” sustainability best management practices (e.g., energy and water conservation, alternative energy, sustainable acquisition, and waste prevention and recycling) as long as such efforts do not compromise operational or safety objectives. To the degree possible, prioritize the procurement of sustainable products and services whenever lifecycle cost-effective.
How to Support the Greening Fire Team
Are you interested in becoming a Greening Fire Team Ambassador or you would like to participate in another capacity? To find out more information, review the Working Groups information on Ambassador Program page.
In Case You Missed It
Available: the Greening Fire Incident Recycling Dashboard, is a resource for the latest GFT accomplishments across the nation (This site requires ESRI/Arc GIS account to open).
The Greening Fire Team
How to Green Fire - Learn how the Greening Fire Team greens fire
Projects
Net Zero Waste (NZW) is a critical element of the GFT mission to meet the requirement of Executive Order 14057 to reduce waste by 75% and in the Red Book under Incident Management and Environmental Sustainability, (PDF) (5 MB) with the requirement to implement waste prevention and recycling.
Power and light in fire camps often come from diesel generators. Green alternatives provide reliable mobile power with reducing fuel, emissions, and noise.
Opportunities exist to reduce the water footprint tied to fire camp operations, while also reducing single-use plastic bottle waste.
Mobile Water Treatment Systems pilot program
If you are interested in providing green products or services in support of wildland fire operations, please provide your information in our GFT Green Procurement market research survey.
"Greening Fire" is specifically mentioned in the Incident Management and Response section (Chapter 11, Page 269, Lines 23 - 31): In the 2022 Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations (Red Book),
Learn about past lessons learned and success stories, as well as promising partnership opportunities.
Learn how the "Red Book", the national Multi-Agency Coordinating Group and fire and aviation leaders call on incident and fire personnel to promote greening fire efforts.
Contact Us
Do you have questions, ideas, or simply want more information?
If so, contact the GFT at: Greening Fire Team