During the 2025 legislative session, the Minnesota State Legislature authorized the State Fire Marshal (SFM) division to conduct a comprehensive statewide assessment of how firefighting services are provided in Minnesota and to develop recommendations for any proposed changes.

The assessment will evaluate the current delivery of fire and life safety services across the state and identify opportunities to strengthen preparedness, effectiveness and sustainability. To support this effort, SFM received one-time funding from the Fire Safety Account to hire a consultant to assist with the assessment.   

As part of the process, SFM will conduct both in-person and virtual stakeholder listening sessions. These sessions will include participation from the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association (MSFCA), the Minnesota State Fire Department Association (MSFDA), the Minnesota Professional Firefighter Association, the League of Minnesota Cities, the Minnesota Association of Townships and other statewide and regional associations. 

Fire departments across Minnesota are strongly encouraged to attend a listening session and participate in surveys that will help gather this critical information. This assessment is an important step in ensuring that fire departments are prepared, communities are supported and Minnesotans are safer from fire.

The final assessment report, including recommendations for changes, will be submitted to the Minnesota Legislature by Dec. 31, 2026.

The assessment will include, at a minimum, the following areas of review:

• Review and analysis of incidents, incident types, response metrics, geographic distribution, life, safety, and property damage impacts and trend projections, benchmarked against national standards and best practices, including those of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA).
• Analysis of the number of fire departments and types of staffing compared to other states, including staff response by time of day and day of the week.
• Analysis of the available data sets to determine what data is incomplete, inaccurate or missing to make informed decisions in the future.
• Analysis of the effective response force of firefighters across the state, identifying any trends and patterns impacting the delivery of fire and life safety services.
• Analysis of the training, certification, and licensing of Minnesota firefighters, including initial and annual training, officers, inspectors, investigators and specialty disciplines such as technical rescue and hazardous materials.
• Analysis of the recruitment and retention of fire department staff including volunteer, paid-on-call, part-time, contract and full-time firefighters.
• Evaluation of fire department equipment, including personal protective equipment, apparatus equipment, communications equipment and infrastructure, all benchmarked against national standards and best practices, including NFPA.
• Evaluation of funding for firefighting services in Minnesota and how it compares to other states.