International Support

The U.S. has maintained wildfire cooperation with Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and Portugal for decades. 

Australia and New Zealand 

Arrangements with Australia and New Zealand set procedures for the exchange of wildland fire management resources and establishes a framework for mutual assistance and cooperation.  

Canada

Since 1982, the U.S. and Canada have maintained an arrangement between the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) in the U.S. and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) in Canada to ensure efficient resource sharing during peak fire activity.

Mexico

We have been working together since the early 1990s beginning with coordinating firefighting personnel and resources in response to fires along the U.S.-Mexico border. A new arrangement was formalized in March 2015, to expand that cooperation across both countries (not just along the immediate border), and to include joint pre-suppression and training exercises in addition to response activities. 

Portugal

We have cooperated with Portugal on specific fire management initiatives for many years, and in 2023 entered into an arrangement which will primarily be used to enable joint training and research activities, working toward the ability to exchange fire suppression resources in the future.

These bilateral interagency agreements allow reciprocal support during periods of severe wildfire occurrence when resources are fully committed and nations are in need of assistance from other countries to safely and effectively manage wildland fire incidents. They also allow us to exchange resources for wildfire preparedness, training, research, and post-fire recovery.