Expanding Wildfire Preparedness Efforts for the 2026 Fire Season

As we enter wildfire season, Central Pierce Fire & Rescue is expanding its wildfire preparedness efforts through enhanced firefighter training, community risk reduction programs, and regional partnerships designed to strengthen both prevention and response.

This year’s wildfire readiness strategy includes several major initiatives focused on protecting lives, property, and the communities we serve before and during fire season.

A key community-focused addition in 2026 is the launch of Central Pierce Fire & Rescue’s Defensible Space Assessment Program. These assessments are designed to help community members identify ways to reduce wildfire risk around their homes by improving vegetation management, reducing hazardous fuels, and creating safer buffers around structures. By empowering residents with practical prevention tools, the district is expanding its focus on wildfire mitigation before a fire starts.

To further improve public awareness, Central Pierce Fire & Rescue has also installed new fire danger signs at Stations 43, 64 and 92. These signs provide visible, up-to-date fire danger information to help community members better understand changing seasonal conditions and encourage increased preparedness as fire risk rises.

Central Pierce Fire & Rescue is also continuing its partnership with South Pierce Fire & Rescue through the second year of Crew 6, a seasonal wildland hand crew program. Crew 6 supports wildfire response and mitigation through fireline construction, fuel reduction, defensible space projects, and other wildfire prevention efforts throughout the region. This program strengthens operational capacity while continuing to build a workforce trained in wildland firefighting.

Internally, firefighters across the district train every Wednesday from March through the end of June in wildfire-specific operations. This ongoing training includes wildfire behavior, structure defense, safety systems, wildland-urban interface tactics, apparatus positioning, and coordinated emergency response strategies. These weekly sessions prepare firefighters for the real-world scenarios where wildfire threatens neighborhoods, infrastructure, and natural landscapes.

In addition, Central Pierce Fire & Rescue once again partnered with the Washington National Guard for helicopter training exercises focused on ground-to-air communication and aerial fire suppression coordination. These joint exercises help crews build familiarity with bucket drop operations and strengthen interagency coordination during complex wildfire incidents.

Central Pierce Fire & Rescue encourages residents to take an active role in wildfire preparedness by creating defensible space, monitoring fire danger conditions, and developing emergency evacuation plans for their households and pets.

For more information about wildfire preparedness and creating a defensible space, please click on the following link: www.centralpiercefire.org/crr/wildfire-awareness/