Western Fire Chiefs Association

05/30/2026

The US is facing a decline in the number of firefighters across career and volunteer fire departments, with a greater drop in rural areas. In some communities, the low number is reaching a crisis state. Retaining fire service employees is essential, both to protect people and to ensure firefighters are healthy and supported.

05/29/2026

When Curry Fire needed a new ladder truck, they turned to Funding Navigator to help identify and secure funding opportunities that made the project possible. Their story highlights how departments can take a strategic approach to funding critical apparatus and equipment needs without carrying the burden alone.

Impact Curry Fire Part2 on Funding Navigator. Find and secure grants for fire departments, law enforcement, schools, nonprofit.

05/28/2026

The next Fire Tech U webinar features Baylie Scott from the Fire Safety Research Institute.

Register here: qr.codes/OoX9u3

05/28/2026

Looking for a way to stay up to date on fire service news, leadership topics, career opportunities, and industry trends?

The Daily Dispatch, powered by the Western Fire Chiefs Association, provides fire service professionals with daily news, recruitment resources, leadership content, training information, and career development articles from across the region and throughout the fire service industry.

Departments can also use the Daily Dispatch to share open positions and connect with qualified candidates across the fire service community.

Recent featured content includes firefighter career resources, recruitment strategies, resume guidance, and emerging topics impacting the fire service profession.

Oregon Fire Chiefs Association members and departments are encouraged to explore the Daily Dispatch and subscribe for updates. You can subscribe individually at https://dailydispatch.com/subscribe or subscribe your entire agency by contacting [email protected].

05/26/2026

Chiefs, admins, and union leaders don't get to wait for the perfect system. They decide what to change, what to work around, who to bring into the room, and where to push back, all while managing realities.

Join in for a panel with fire service leaders hosted with Stationwise to discuss: qr.link/zp9NJl

05/23/2026

Prep for your upcoming firefighter interview with top tips to stand out. Learn how Daily Dispatch offers career resources and current firefighter job openings.

05/20/2026

📛 Fire Tech U is the educational platform created by WFCA to build tech fluency among fire service professionals.

Next on the webinar schedule is "Beyond Reporting: The Analytics Potential of NERIS". It will introduce the growing ecosystem of analytics tools being built around NERIS and explore how departments can begin transforming incident data into actionable insights.

Register here: qr.codes/OoX9u3

05/19/2026

Decision-making breaks down during initial attack, but Genasys Inc. provides infrastructure that supports decision velocity, interagency coordination, and precise public alerting during initial attack.

05/11/2026

We're revisting this piece from our partner Stationwise.

"For most of that history, software decisions followed a familiar pattern. You bought what the incumbent vendor sold, accepted that it probably wouldn’t work the way you were promised, and worked around it. The institutional memory of bad software rollouts runs deep in fire departments. Chiefs who lived through a failed implementation or a records management migration that took two years longer than planned don’t forget it. That experience shaped a professional culture with a reasonable default toward new technology. Wait, be skeptical, and only move when staying put becomes genuinely untenable."

05/08/2026

Read National Fire News: Before You Buy: A Chief’s Blueprint for Technology Needs & Readiness from News Wire featured on Daily Dispatch (DD).