The news about a brand-new, state-of-the-art fire station burning down was shocking in scope and scale. With damage estimated at more than 24 million euros ($27 million), including at least 10 vehicles/trucks, this will undoubtedly reign as the most expensive fire station blaze in modern history. As devastating and shocking as the fire was, the contributing factors were predictable and shouldn’t leave us doing anything other than hanging our heads. Gordan Graham’s mantra — “predictable is preventable” — certainly applies here.
Granted, one fire station fire in Germany does not signify a problem, per se – if it were only one, and if the contributing factors weren’t so predictable. Preliminary reports by Euro News are that the Stadtallendorf fire began in or on a piece of fire apparatus with lithium batteries. Regardless of the cause, I can’t fathom building a public safety facility today without the latest and greatest fire detection, protection and suppression equipment.
Let’s be clear, firehouses burning is not merely a European problem. In the United States, we’ve seen firehouses burn in Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming over the past six years. Between 2019 and 2024, Georgia lost three firehouses to fire; California, Idaho, Florida and North Carolina each lost two; and the other states each lost one. All were firehouses without sprinkler systems, and many didn’t have working alarm systems. (Please note that these numbers do not include losses from wildfires in California and Hawaii, nor do they include two firehouses that had exterior fires in 2024 that did not result in relocation.)
Common factors, common (and predictable) outcomes
Germany’s case seemed shocking in the initial reports because the large, recently opened facility reportedly had no fire alarm and no automatic sprinkler system. Officials were quoted in press reports as saying the alarms and sprinklers were “not necessary.”The response is painfully similar to what I’ve heard from elected officials in the U.S. In fact, many have said exactly the same thing to me in the past 20 years – specifically that sprinkler systems were “overkill” and “not needed” in firehouses. Thankfully, what the politicians say can be balanced by the realities of the NFPA Life Safety Code – as long as new construction contractors and inspectors do what they’re supposed to do.
I hope it’s not a stretch to say that a $26 million firehouse investment in the United States today would be protected by the latest fire detection, alerting and suppression equipment. Yet the fact remains that most of firehouses are not brand new. As I’ve traveled the country, the most troubling trend I’ve observed is that many of these older stations remain completely unmonitored and unprotected. What are we doing?
A 2023 fire at one of my old departments, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, occurred in an ambulance late at night, while on-duty crews slept nearby. The station filled with smoke as the fire extended beyond the ambulance and began to consume combustibles in the bays. Crews were awakened by the wail of a siren shorting out on the burning ambulance in the bay. This was definitely a close call, with every bit of lead-up happening under my watch, along with the previous 10 county fire chiefs and volunteer chiefs, in a volunteer corporation-owned building. In this article, I asked readers to “make it personal” – to educate themselves and others about the benefits of sprinkler. Clearly, we still have much work to do.
Make no mistake, this is not a volunteer versus paid issue. A May 2024 fire in Los Angeles County’s Huntington Park was eerily similar to the Prince George’s County fire, although it wasn’t a shorted siren that awoke the firefighters; it was the sound of neighbors banging on the doors and windows of the fire station.
Now, back to the matter of all these fire stations burning. So far in 2025, three facilities have burned. And for 2024, I was able to find reports of 13 firehouse fires. Many of the stations were older; some were not. Some were unoccupied volunteer facilities, some housed full paid staffs.
The most recent fire took place in North Carolina on Jan. 17, 2025, with three engines being prepped to travel to the California wildfires destroyed in a station fire. As for the two other stations impacted in 2025 incidents as well as the 13 in 2024, most were destroyed or significantly damaged and at least temporarily uninhabitable. Many of the fires originated with apparatus malfunctions of some sort, likely engine and/or electrical fires. At least one began as a kitchen fire, with food left unattended while firefighters left on an emergency run, and at least one of the fires was deemed to be arson.
Call to action
Again, I ask, what are we doing? I am appealing to whoever needs to hear the appeal: chiefs, mayors, commissioners, directors, council members, county executives and governors. We must take action to protect our critical infrastructure equipment, facilities and, most importantly, the firefighters and EMS personnel who work inside them.
It is beyond time to provide the protection our folks deserve. And it is beyond time to practice what we’ve been preaching for years in public education campaigns: smoke and CO alarms, evacuation plans, practicing and sprinklers. Please take the time to strategically analyze your needs and develop a local plan of action. Yes, this will cost money, but you don’t need to eat the entire elephant in one bite. Develop a strategic plan that prioritizes and stages funding to make the improvements that you all know we need.
Start with monitored fire alarm systems. Can’t afford that? Then start with inter-connected electric smoke alarms with a battery backup. Can’t afford that? Then at least install the standard 10-year lithium battery smoke alarms that most of us give away to any resident who asks. Whether the building is occupied or not, install the alarms that will provide early notification should a fire break out.
No matter whether you have natural gas, propane or electric service in your firehouses, you need CO detectors as well. As long as you have combustion engines and/or equipment in the facility, you need the CO alarms (and don’t forget that a regular or gas fireplace/heater is also a CO alarm indicator).
In a more perfect world, even in older facilities, sleeping quarters would be separated from bay areas by a positive-pressure air-lock vestibule to keep CO and carcinogens out of sleeping areas. On that same note, make sure PPE is kept out of the sleeping and other common administration areas.
Finally, sprinklers – yes, fire sprinklers in your firehouse. How can we possibly look people in the eyes and preach the importance of residential sprinklers when the vast majority of our own facilities, where our own people live, are not protected by them? If you need more information or help understanding what to do, contact the National Fire Sprinkler Association.
Speaking of residential sprinklers, Maryland and California are the only two states with statewide legislation. Along with the District of Columbia and more than 400 local codes around the country, it’s a start – but a start we’ve been stuck on for a long time. With a 100% success rate with properly installed and working residential sprinkler systems in Prince George’s County, I’m not sure how we can justify anything else.
Change is usually uncomfortable. But it’s time to get uncomfortable because protecting our people, facilities, equipment and all other investments must happen now. When you hear people argue against these needed changes and improvements, ask them to imagine themselves in court and add “your honor” to the end of their protest.
While I urge you to install residential sprinklers in your own home as I did in mine, today I’m just asking you to focus on the fire and EMS stations under your control. We must stop making excuses and justifying the lack of protection in our firehouses. Prioritize the protection of your people, along with the facilities and equipment they use. Your actions must rise above your excuses. The time is now. What are you doing?
Read more about firehouses burning in the United States:
- New York, 2019: Long Island Firehouse Burns Down, Equipment And Vehicles Destroyed
- Georgia, 2021: Monroe County fire station burns down over weekend, firefighter injured battling blaze
- Illinois, 2021: Fire destroys Washington Park municipal building adjoined to fire and police departments
- Idaho, 2022: Fire trucks destroyed; firefighter sent to hospital in fire station blaze
- California, 2023: Structure Fire at the Montecito Fire Station
- Georgia, 2023: Fire destroys parts of East Point fire station, displaces firefighters
- Tennessee, 2023: ‘The irony is not lost on me': How a fire at a Nashville Fire Station is being used as a teaching moment
- Alaska, 2024: Ketchikan firefighters lose vehicles in station fire
- Iowa, 2024: Fire Marshal: Iowa firefighter sets blaze at fire station
- Florida, 2024: Fire erupts at fire station in West Palm Beach, investigation underway
- Florida, 2024: $1 million in damage reported after Maitland firefighters put out blaze at their own station
- Georgia, 2024: Ladder truck ignites blaze inside Spalding County fire station, officials say
- Idaho, 2024: ‘It’s a pretty devastating loss.’ Here’s why part of the Ririe Fire Station went up in flames
- Louisiana, 2024: Fire station burns; former firefighter accused
- Maine, 2024: Fire at Maine fire station causes damage, lithium-ion batteries suspected as cause
- Mississippi 2024: Fire chief: contractors spark blaze at Gulfport fire station
- Missouri, 2024: “The fire house has burned. It is a total loss” - Shannon County First Responders
- North Carolina, 2024: Firefighters awoke to alarms and smoke. It was their fire truck
- Texas, 2024: Delivery driver discovers blaze at Irving fire station while crews were away on emergency call
- Washington, 2024: Mount Vernon fire station burns down, leaves volunteers with a lot of work
- North Carolina, 2025: N.C. fire truck destined for Calif. wildfires destroyed in fire station blaze
- Virginia, 2025 (EMS station): Fire damages Va. rescue squad’s station, ambulances
- Wyoming, 2025: Firetrucks, Other Equipment Burn Up In Blaze At Cheyenne Fire Station
