Galls acquisition expands fire PPE services in US

by Americas - Featured NewsFeatured NewsPPE

Galls announces purchase of Phoenix Safety Outfitters

Galls has reported the acquisition of Phoenix Safety Outfitters, a supplier of fire PPE and related services based in Springfield, Ohio.

The company said the move is intended to strengthen its product range and service capacity for the US fire services sector.

According to Galls, the agreement will see Phoenix Safety Outfitters operate as an independent division within the wider business.

Galls stated that the integration will allow it to bring its eQuip customer portal and service model to the fire PPE market.

The firm added that the acquisition aligns with its goal of enhancing operational scale, product availability, and specialist support.

Statements from Galls leadership

Mike Fadden, CEO of Galls, said: “At Galls, we believe in standing behind the people who stand on the front lines.

“Serving firefighters, fire departments, and all first responders isn’t just part of our business – it’s part of our purpose.

“We have been planning a major move to bring the industry-leading Galls service model and our eQuip customer portal to the fire services market.

“Acquiring a great company like Phoenix and leveraging the expertise of Dennis and Steve to align Phoenix’s offerings with Galls existing products and services is exactly where I think Galls needs to be.”

Phoenix Safety Outfitters background

Galls stated that Phoenix Safety Outfitters was founded in 1992 and has been operated since 2007 by Dennis Grogan and Steve Harting.

The company operates from a 40,000 square foot headquarters and distribution centre in Springfield, Ohio.

It also runs a dedicated SCBA service centre in Saginaw, Michigan.

According to Galls, the firm uses a fleet of 11 mobile service vans to serve customers across seven states.

Its services include PPE rental, cleaning, repair, alterations, and modifications.

Reaction from Phoenix Safety Outfitters

Dennis Grogan said: “Steve Harting and I are very excited! Mike Fadden and Galls see the Phoenix vision and have embraced our disruptive go-to-market strategy.

“Mike is keeping the company intact as an independent division to maintain focus on the fire service industry.

“This is incredibly positive for our customers, the Phoenix team, and our future.”

Service and product integration

Galls said that Phoenix Safety Outfitters will expand its capabilities by offering a broader range of turnout gear, fire equipment, uniforms, and custom department solutions.

The company noted that existing Phoenix Safety Outfitters customers will gain access to its procurement systems and wider inventory.

It added that the deal will also strengthen PPE maintenance and SCBA servicing capacity.

Galls said this approach is intended to ensure firefighters can respond safely and effectively.

Relevance for fire and safety professionals

This acquisition links a national uniform and equipment supplier with a specialist fire PPE provider.

It expands procurement options for US fire departments seeking integrated supply and maintenance services.

It also consolidates resources for PPE servicing, potentially affecting procurement strategies in multiple states.

For professionals in fire safety procurement, the development may influence vendor selection, supply timelines, and access to customised PPE solutions.

Galls acquisition expands fire PPE services in US: Summary

Galls has announced the acquisition of Phoenix Safety Outfitters.

Phoenix Safety Outfitters is based in Springfield, Ohio.

The company provides fire PPE, uniforms, and services to first responders.

Galls said Phoenix will operate as an independent division.

Phoenix was founded in 1992 and has been operated by Dennis Grogan and Steve Harting since 2007.

The firm operates a headquarters in Ohio and an SCBA service centre in Michigan.

It also has 11 mobile service vans covering seven states.

Phoenix provides PPE rental, cleaning, repair, alterations, and modifications.

Galls said the acquisition will expand its operational scale and product range.

The company stated that the move will bring its eQuip customer portal to the fire PPE market.

California’s new firefighter training centre puts pressure on federal staffing crisis

by Americas - Featured NewsFeatured NewsTraining

California expands training infrastructure with new firefighter centre

The LA Times has reported that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has opened a new firefighter training centre in Merced County.

The Atwater Training Center welcomed its first 40 students on Monday, marking the latest step in a multi-year expansion of Cal Fire’s training programme.

The facility joins three existing training centres and is designed to help prepare new entry-level firefighters and company officers.

According to Cal Fire, the Atwater site has capacity for 300 students per year and is located on the grounds of a former Air Force base.

The department expects to train approximately 1,600 firefighters across its four centres in 2025.

Growing workforce capacity to meet operational needs

The expansion comes as Cal Fire continues to grow its workforce to match the demands of increased fire risk and response.

According to California Department of Finance data, the number of authorised fire protection positions at Cal Fire has nearly doubled since 2017.

In the same period, Cal Fire’s annual budget has risen from $2 billion to $4.2 billion, with 90 percent of funding allocated to fire protection.

A Cal Fire spokesperson said that, as of July 2025, the department employs 12,223 people, including seasonal firefighters.

This figure exceeds 2024’s peak staffing level of 11,754 and is expected to increase further during the fire season.

Cal Fire is currently recruiting for a range of roles, including entry-level firefighters, heavy equipment operators and battalion chiefs.

Curriculum includes live fire training and leadership skills

Nicole Gissell, Cal Fire assistant chief and curriculum lead, said the training programme is designed to prepare recruits for field command responsibilities from day one.

Gissell said: “Students could graduate from our academy and, their next day, arrive on scene and have to command the fire.”

She added: “Our training programme is probably one of the best in the fire service.

“Our training programme has been growing in the last five years to meet the demands of the department and to train all 12,000 employees.”

The Atwater centre delivers a 10-week training programme covering core firefighting techniques, fire science, equipment handling and leadership.

Students also complete practical exercises including a week of live fire response and training in fire towers and off-road driving.

Federal shortages contrast with state investment

The new facility opened as federal agencies continue to report high vacancy rates across their firefighting units.

According to a July 2025 investigation by ProPublica, over 4,500 positions in the US Forest Service remain unfilled.

This figure represents around 27 percent of federal wildland firefighting roles.

Governor Gavin Newsom has called for greater national support for wildfire preparedness, including in a proposed executive order sent to the federal government earlier this year.

The LA Times reported that Newsom’s proposal challenged federal authorities to match the state’s level of investment in training and workforce readiness.

Historic development of Cal Fire’s training programme

Cal Fire’s original training centre opened in Ione, California in 1967 with 32 students and remained the sole facility for 50 years.

A second centre was established in Riverside in 2017, followed by a third in Redding in 2023.

The opening of the Atwater Training Center in 2025 brings the total number of Cal Fire training centres to four.

Each centre is supported by cadres of instructors delivering standardised training across the state.

The Atwater facility will house two of the department’s seven instructor teams.

California firefighter training centre opens amid national staffing shortage: Summary

The LA Times has reported that Cal Fire opened a new training centre in Atwater, Merced County.

The facility welcomed its first 40 students on Monday.

It is the fourth training centre operated by Cal Fire.

The site has capacity for 300 students annually.

Cal Fire expects to train 1,600 firefighters across all centres in 2025.

The training programme lasts 10 weeks and includes live fire exercises.

Nicole Gissell, assistant chief, said graduates must be ready to lead incidents.

Cal Fire currently employs 12,223 personnel.

The number of authorised positions has doubled since 2017.

The department’s budget has also doubled since 2017.

Federal firefighting roles remain 27 percent vacant, according to ProPublica.

Governor Gavin Newsom has urged federal investment in wildfire preparedness.

US wildland firefighting proposal: Federal restructure raises concerns

by Breaking NewsWildland Fire

US plan to merge fire agencies raises staffing and strategy concerns

AP News has reported that the Trump administration has proposed consolidating wildland firefighting efforts currently spread across five agencies and two Cabinet departments into a single Federal Wildland Fire Service under the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The restructuring would move thousands of personnel, including the majority of federal firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service, into the new agency during an active fire season.

According to AP News, former federal officials and firefighter groups have warned that the plan could increase wildfire risks, lead to service disruption, and shift focus away from prevention strategies such as controlled burns.

Interior Secretary says restructuring would streamline decision-making

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the House Appropriations Committee that the proposed change would reduce bureaucracy and improve front-line deployment.

Burgum said: “We want more firefighters on the front lines and less people trying to make manual decisions on how to allocate resources and personnel.”

“We’ve got duplicative and ineffective structures that could be improved.”

The administration is already preparing to coordinate operations between the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture before the legislation is passed.

The restructuring proposal has received some bipartisan support, including from Senator Tim Sheehy (Republican – Montana) and Senator Alex Padilla (Democrat – California).

Former officials warn of increased risk and reduced prevention

According to a letter to lawmakers from the National Association of Forest Service Retirees, the proposed consolidation may raise the risk of large-scale wildfires and weaken preventative fire management practices.

Steve Ellis, the group’s chair and a former wildfire incident commander, said: “You will not suppress your way to success in dealing with catastrophic fires.”

“It’s going to create greater risk and it’s going to be particularly chaotic if you implement it going into fire season.”

Timothy Ingalsbee of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology described the plan as disruptive to existing land management practices.

Ingalsbee said: “Cleaving the Forest Service’s firefighting duties from its role as a land manager would be like separating cojoined twins — it would basically kill the agency.”

Budget cuts, rehires and environmental rollbacks affect workforce

The National Association of Forest Service Retirees and Democratic lawmakers reported that early actions by the administration led to the loss of more than 1,600 firefighters in the Forest Service and hundreds more in Interior agencies.

The Forest Service had about 9,450 wildland firefighters as of 3 May, with a target of 11,300 by mid-July, while Interior employed around 6,700 across four agencies.

State officials in Oregon and Washington raised concerns about reduced federal support ahead of the 2025 fire season.

AP News reported that the Forest Service workforce was cut in February 2025 during wider federal spending reductions.

A court order later required some workers to be rehired following public criticism, though the administration has not disclosed exact numbers.

In April 2025, the Trump administration removed environmental protections for future logging projects across over 176,000 square miles of national forests, including areas classified as high wildfire risk.

U.S. wildland firefighting proposal: Summary

The Trump administration has proposed merging federal wildland firefighting responsibilities into a single agency.

This new Federal Wildland Fire Service would operate under the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The plan involves moving thousands of staff from the U.S. Forest Service and other departments.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stated that the aim is to improve efficiency and frontline staffing.

The proposal has received support from Senators Tim Sheehy and Alex Padilla.

Organisations including the National Association of Forest Service Retirees oppose the restructure.

Critics argue it will increase wildfire risks and reduce preventative land management.

Over 1,600 firefighters have been lost from the Forest Service since 2021.

The Forest Service aims to increase its workforce to 11,300 by July 2025.

Interior currently employs approximately 6,700 wildland firefighters.

State officials report that federal staffing reductions are affecting wildfire planning.

The administration has not specified the financial impact of the restructuring.

A 2008 Congressional Research Service report raised concerns about similar plans.

Environmental safeguards were rolled back in April 2025 on logging across national forests.

More than 1 million acres have burned in the U.S. in 2025 so far.

COVID-19 adds disruptions as California prepares for intense fire season

by ActiveAmericas - Events

California and states in the US south-west are bracing for an intense fire season complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. With 2020 on track to be one of the hottest and driest years on record, the National Interagency Fire Centre is warning of a higher potential for fires across much of America’s west and south-west.

A historically dry winter – not a single drop of rain fell on San Francisco and Sacramento in February – followed by a hot spring has dried out fire-fueling vegetation, priming the region for an unusually early start to the fire season.

California saw fires popping up early in springtime, with bigger, faster wildfires picking up in recent weeks amid hot and dry conditions that could persist for months. Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to multiple blazes across Arizona, with the fifth-largest fire in the state’s history burning northeast of Phoenix. A number of smaller fires in California over the past two weeks also prompted evacuations.

“Unfortunately we’re already seeing a bit of a preview of what’s to come,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that some sort of historical, catastrophic blaze is assured,” Swain said. “It just means that the risk is a lot higher this year than it would normally be, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we get lucky and there are relatively few ignitions.”

The response to these blazes has been understandably complicated due to the coronavirus pandemic. Officials are asking the public to leave their homes to seek safety – the opposite of what public health guidelines have dictated in the past four months.

To mitigate the risk of coronavirus spreading, the Red Cross has arranged for more, smaller evacuation shelters, with staff on site to check temperatures and screen for Covid-19. But eradicating the risk entirely is impossible, since the virus spreads most efficiently in crowded, indoor spaces, and can be stealthily passed by people who show no symptoms.

The coronavirus also threatens to sideline wildland firefighters. They’re exposed to large amounts of smoke that could aggravate their lungs and cause complications if they were to contract the disease. And they normally station at crowded camps for days near major blazes, where they may have few opportunities to wash their hands.

California’s fire agency CalFire is going to recommend that crews space out sleeping areas, and arrange for firefighters to eat and receive instructions in smaller groups, said Robert Foxworthy, a spokesman for CalFire.

“We have a lot of ideas about what we can do to mitigate risks,” he said. “But this is still kind of uncharted territory. Everybody is learning as we go.”