How Your Investment Helps
The DC Fire & EMS Foundation raises funds to support first responder wellness and recognition, training and leadership development, innovation, facilities and equipment. It also educates the community about the Department's life-saving mission.
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93% of the Department's budget funds operations, leaving only 1% of the non-personnel budget for training and less than 2% for non-capital equipment and facilities maintenance. The Foundation supplements the Department's needs that are not included in its municipal budget.
Firefighters and EMS personnel are at increased risk for cardiac conditions, infectious disease, cancer, mental illness, and substance abuse. The daily and cumulative stress and sacrifice of their jobs takes its toll.
The DC Fire & EMS Foundation supports the safety and well being of DC Fire & EMS employees and their families through an emergency fund for those in health crises. It supports the Department's peer support team, provides wellness programming, and sponsors the Department's Annual Awards Ceremony and Dinner.
Strong leadership has been key to the Department’s recent progress. Through its work with the Department’s Women’s Advisory Council (WAC), the Foundation co-sponsored the Heroes Haven wellness and leadership event for female firefighters, as well as the annual Camp Spark!, a two-day summer camp for girls aged 12 to 17 years old who are interested in becoming firefighters and EMS providers.
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In 2025, the Foundation funded an executive coach to work with the Fire Chief and his executive
leadership team to facilitate teamwork, individual growth, and a solid leadership bench
for the future of the agency.
The Foundation funds research to further its vision to empower the Department to
continue to be a national leader in each of its disciplines. We have funded EMS internships in the Office of the Medical Director for two summers. In 2025, in partnership with Children's National Hospital and the Doris Duke Foundation, the interns conducted research on racial equity in the treatment of pain, STEMI (heart attack) care and coordination with hospitals, buprenorphine induction for opioid overdose patients, and mental health treatment.
Every spring, the Foundation’s Executive Director, Amy Mauro, testifies about the
Department’s proposed budget. Underfunding of the Department in the past risked the
public’s and firefighters’ safety, and we advocate to ensure we never return to those days.
The Foundation also works on projects that educate the community on the Department's life-saving mission, its history, and its members' sacrifice, Examples of this work include the Foundation's grant-funded website ​​ https://www.dcfireemshistory.org/
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The Memorial Helmet Project, and
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Equipment & Facilities
Most DC Fire & EMS personnel work 24 hour shifts out of fire houses that serve as their workplace and home. Their facility needs are unique compared to other DC agencies.
The Department's Training Academy campus is outdated for the Department's current operations and is in need of significant modernization and repair.
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The DC Fire & EMS Foundation advocates for providing personnel with state of the art equipment and facilities so that they can provide the best service commensurate with the high priority Departmental mission of saving lives.
