By Patrick O’Connor, President & Co-founder 3AM Innovations
• Fire Departments request $7 billion in grants annually but only receive 10% of that.
• The need for a National Mutual Aid System (NMAS) has never been more urgent.
• The increase in natural disasters exposes the fire service’s chronic underfunding.
As the recent Los Angeles wildfires tore through homes, businesses, and wildland, the devastation left behind serves as a stark reminder: natural disasters are becoming more frequent, more severe, and more destructive.
Throughout the United States, communities face similar threats from the merciless and unyielding force of nature every year. Hurricanes batter coastal towns, tornadoes tear through southern states, floods engulf cities, and wildfires ravage entire regions. Here in Buffalo, New York over the 2022 Christmas weekend a “once-in-a-generation” blizzard overwhelmed the city, famous for its epic snowfall. With wind speeds reaching 72 mph, the storm pounded the city with 37 hours of whiteout conditions and record-breaking lake-effect snow. Leaving 47 people dead and hundreds of residents without power for days. Yet, as these risks escalate, emergency responders, the people who stand between us and catastrophe, are being asked to do more with less.
Equipping First Responders for Today’s Disasters
The LA wildfires highlighted the incredible resilience and dedication of firefighters and first responders. Often with limited resources, they worked tirelessly to combat the flames while contending with extreme conditions including record temperatures, prolonged drought, massive spread of multiple fires, and the relentless force of the Santa Ana winds. While I was in LA assisting the response effort, those who had been on the front lines described their experience as “like fighting a fire in the middle of a hurricane”.
The firefighters and first responders worked relentlessly to save lives and minimize damage wherever possible. Being loudly lauded in the media as the world watched Los Angeles burn. However, neither their heroism nor the media spotlight can erase a sobering reality: these disasters are outpacing the tools and systems first responders are equipped with to confront them.
Emergency responders are being stretched too thin, relying on outdated equipment, incomplete information, and limited situational awareness. As disasters grow more complex, these shortcomings place lives at greater risk. If we are serious about protecting our communities from the growing threat of natural disasters, we must adequately fund our first responders, so they have the manpower and tools necessary to meet these challenges head-on.
Why Technology Matters in Emergency Response
Technology has long been a cornerstone of disaster prediction. Weather satellites, RADAR systems, atmospheric modeling, and ground-level sensors help forecast meteorological threats, while seismographs and remote sensing alert us to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis. Yet, we expect underfunded and ill-equipped first responders to respond to these crises and risk everything to protect our lives, communities, and livelihoods.
Whenever large-scale wildfires erupt, fire departments rely heavily on mutual aid to bring in additional personnel and equipment. However, the process of ordering and coordinating these resources is often slow and inefficient. Decentralized systems, lack of real-time visibility, and jurisdictional complexities hinder coordination across local, state, and federal agencies. Which can result in delays and resource mismatches.
A National Mutual Aid System (NMAS) would address these challenges by providing a centralized, real-time platform for tracking and deploying resources, reducing administrative burdens, preventing duplication, and accelerating response times. By modernizing mutual aid coordination, NMAS would ensure that emergency responders receive the right resources quickly.
The True Cost of Inaction
Natural disasters do not discriminate, and prediction models can only warn us they are coming. When they do, the costs are staggering. Wildfires, hurricanes, and floods cost billions of dollars annually. AccuWeather estimates that LA wildfires may end up costing between $250 billion and $275 billion.
But the human toll is even greater. Lives are lost, families displaced, and communities shattered. Survivors are left to confront the scarred landscapes where their homes and livelihoods once stood. Faced with the daunting task of rebuilding their lives.
Investing in disaster mitigation strategies and better resources for response may seem costly upfront, but the cost of inaction is unimaginable.
A Call to Action
Funding for the fire service is shamefully insufficient. According to a Congressional Research Service report from 2024, $720 million in federal funding was awarded to the fire service through the Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Program, Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) Grants, and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants. State-funded grants for fire services bolster funding but vary widely across the U.S., with each state allocating resources based on local needs, legislative priorities, and budget availability. Also worth noting is the time donated by volunteer firefighters in the U.S., who make up approximately 65% of the entire fire service, saving localities an estimated $46.9 billion per year.
While programs like AFG and SAFER provide critical grants, appropriations rarely match authorized levels, leaving departments underfunded. Many fire agencies, especially volunteer and rural departments struggle to afford essential equipment, training, and personnel, forcing them to rely on outdated gear or insufficient staffing. The increasing frequency and severity of wildfires, urban fires, and hazardous material incidents further strain resources, while rising costs of equipment and fair salaries for firefighters outpace available funding. According to the Congressional Research Service in 2023 alone, fire departments requested nearly $7 billion in federal grants but received only $720 million, covering just a fraction of their needs.
Without increased, sustained investment, fire departments will continue to face dangerous shortfalls, putting firefighters and the public at greater risk.
A Shared ResponsibilitY
Disasters like the LA wildfires should serve as a wake-up call. Just as the winter storm that paralyzed Texas in 2021 should have. And the devastating August Complex Fire which burned over 1 million acres in Northern California in 2020, the EF5 tornado that ripped through Moore, Oklahoma in 2013, the assault on the Eastern Seaboard courtesy of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the extreme flooding of the Mississippi River Basin in 2008, and Hurricane Katrina’s catastrophic 2005 journey across Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana where it breached the levees of New Orleans and submerged 80% of the city. The list goes on. These events are not isolated; they are part of a growing and alarming pattern. For years, those in emergency response and disaster preparedness have been warning about the increasing frequency and severity of these crises.
Publicly available data paints a stark picture of the gulf between funding for our first responders and the staggering cost of natural disasters. Between 2016 and 2022 $23 billion was issued in grants for first responders, while according to Climate.gov the total cost of U.S. billion-dollar disasters in that time frame was $595.5 billion
Increased funding will not prevent natural disasters, but it can give those responding to them the best chance of containing them quickly and mitigating the damage and loss of life. By adequately equipping and supporting our first responders to the best of the U.S.’s capabilities, we can strengthen response efforts and ultimately reduce the cost of these monumental disasters.
What’s next?
Right now, firefighters’ work is in the spotlight, and so is the staggering gap between what they need and what they receive. We must keep the focus on them, we must advocate for them to get adequate funding and suitable tools. When they go toe-to-toe with Mother Nature on our behalf, it is our duty to ensure they have the best equipment available. Not only to save other lives but also to come home safely themselves. They deserve more than gratitude; they deserve real support, and not just in times of crisis. Because even after the world’s media moves on, firefighters continue to put their lives on the line for others, every single day.
Want to support firefighters and advocate for better funding? These organizations are leading the charge:
- International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC): https://www.iafc.org/ (Advocacy for fire service funding and policy changes.)
- International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF): https://www.iaff.org/ (Advocacy for fire service funding and policy changes.)
- National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC): https://www.nvfc.org/ (Support for volunteer and rural fire departments.)
- First Responder Center for Excellence: https://www.firstrespondercenter.org/ (Resources for firefighter safety, training, and mental health.)
- National Mutual Aid System (NMAS) Information: https://www.napsgfoundation.org/our-work/nmas/ (Efforts to modernize emergency resource coordination.)