05/19/2026
I have been asked many times how state support for wildfires works in Kansas, so if you are interested I will do my best to explain how this works. (If you are in the TLDR crowd, the attached graphic provides a basic explanation. Apologies for the AI graphic, but I am not a talented graphic artist.)
1) Fire protection is Kansas is a local responsibility handled by cities, townships, Fire districts and counties. If a wildfire exhausts all local resources and neighboring departments mutual aid, the Fire Chief contacts their county emergency manager and requests state assistance with identifying and dispatching fire trucks for other areas of the state.
2) The county emergency manager communicates with the Kansas Division of Emergency Management (KDEM) duty officer, submitting a resource request for the types of fire trucks, firefighters, and equipment they need.
3 &4) KDEM activates “Emergency Support Function 4” and the state forest service and state fire marshal work together to fill the requests from the county. Forestry focuses on deploying firefighting aircraft operated by state contractors and out of state resources, if needed. The state fire marshal coordinates response of in-state fire department, soliciting departments to provide their fire trucks and firefighters for 48 or more hours.
Almost all resources are provided by local governments, with limited state assets- such as KDOT dump trucks serving as water supply tenders to shuttle water to fires in rural areas.
5 & 6) Fire departments respond to a poll indicating if they have fire trucks and firefighters to send and how long they are available. When resources are assigned, priority is given to departments who can provide crews for at least 48 hours. whenever possible, agencies are asked to talk with neighbors to form “ Task Forces“ or Strike Teams” made up of five fire trucks, firefighters and a team leader. This is a national practice that makes management of resources easier on the incident commander and increases firefighter safety. Ideally, under the Incidenet Management System, one leader should not supervise more than 5 resources. This is known as “span of control”.
7) Task Forces, Strike Teams, and some specialized single resources provide the name of the firefighters deploying, a list of the trucks responding, they are assigned a task force number and given a time and location to report to. This may be a state staging site near the disaster or in smaller incidents, teams may be sent directly to an incident commander. The staging manager ensures that incoming resources are fueled, full of water, have the proper radio channels selected, and will assign them to the area they are most needed at that time.
The state DOES NOT command any of these incidents- instead they are directed locally with state agencies supporting local incident commanders. State employees are not permitted to conduct command roles or make decisions for a local jurisdiction.
8) Once a team or resource is assigned to a local incident, that incident commander is generally responsible for logistically supporting them, providing fueling sites, food, etc. While teams are deployed on state tastings, KDEM arranges for hotels for the deployed firefighters whenever possible. Firefighters are required to get at least 8 hours rest per 24 hours deployed, unless there is an immediate danger to the public.
After the incident, fire departments are eligible for reimbursement from the state for their firefighters pay, use of their fire trucks, damage to their equipment, and other deployment expenses.
