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Casper Fire Department reports nearly 10,000 responses in 2025 and urges wildfire preparedness
Summary
Chief Black presented the departments 2025 annual report — nearly 9,661 incident responses, a staffing increase, and improved training — and county emergency manager Mike Cavalier briefed council on drought-driven wildfire risk and mitigation needs, urging renewed community wildfire outreach.
Fire Chief Black presented the Casper Fire Departments 2025 annual report, telling council that the department responded to 9,661 incidents last year, including 7,135 EMS responses and 176 fire responses, and that the department had increased staffing and added a deputy chief position.
Chief Black highlighted training and prevention work: the department logged roughly 33,300 training hours in 2025, completed thousands of life-safety inspections and reviews of major building projects, and said average unit response time measured from 911 call to first-arrival averaged 4 minutes 41 seconds in 2025. The chief said overlapping call volume is increasing and urged council to consider that metric when making capacity decisions.
County emergency-management coordinator Mike Cavalier briefed council on wildfire-season outlook and mitigation priorities. Cavalier said drought and cured fuels are raising fire potential, cited a 6,200-acre March wildfire in Sherman County as an early warning, and described fuel- and energy-release metrics emergency managers use to assess risk. He urged unified messaging, mutual-aid planning and restoration of programs like Firewise for community outreach and mitigation.
Councilors asked about reimbursement when local crews deploy on federal incidents, the status of Firewise in the county and options for local mitigation and outreach. Cavalier said the city generally receives reimbursement for personnel and apparatus and suggested reviving Firewise-style outreach and using the community-risk-reduction program and public-works staff for mitigation work.
Chief Black and Cavalier encouraged signing up for emergency alerts and noted the importance of interagency training and preparatory planning ahead of the summer season.
