California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE)
Established	1905
Staffing	Career
Strength	3,800 permanent 1,400 seasonal 4,300 inmates 8,200 volunteers[1]
Stations	228 owned/operated 575 operated
Engines	336 owned/operated 759 operated
Trucks	38
Rescues	215
Bulldozers	58
Airplanes	23 airtankers 13 tactical planes
Helicopters	11 helicopters
EMS Units	63 paramedic units
EMS Level	ALS
Fire chief	Ruben Grijalva

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) or CAL FIRE is the State of California's agency responsible for the administration of the state's private and public forests. It is often referred to as The California Department of Forestry, which was the name of the department before the 1990s. In the 1970s and before, it was known as the California Division of Forestry. They also provide firefighting capability to prevent and extinguish wildfires in the state's forests. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is also the largest full service all risk fire department in the Western United States and operates more fire stations year round than do the New York (FDNY), Los Angeles (LAFD), and Chicago (CFD) fire departments combined.

CDF is a department of the California Resources Agency, a state cabinet-level department that also comprises the California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Fish and Game, and the California Department of Water Resources. The Department or Forestry works with employees of California Conservation Corps for firefighting and vegetation management. CDF uses inmate labor of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to assist with fire suppression and logistics. Programs to control wood boring insects and diseases of trees are under forestry programs managed by CDF. The vehicle fleet is managed from an office in Davis, California.^[2] The Department's Director is Ruben Grijalva, who previously served as State Fire Marshal and as Fire Chief of the City of Palo Alto.^[3]

CDF operations can be viewed as fitting into two categories: Schedule A and Schedule "B". Schedule B is defined as Resources Agency/CDF-funded, it is the Wildland side of CAL FIRE (CDF). Schedule "A" activities include county fire departments run by CDF under contracts with county governments. From north to south, Butte, Tuolumne, Merced, San Luis Obispo, and Riverside counties are examples of county fire departments operated by CDF under contract. Another commonly-heard CDF term is SRA which refers to State Responsibility Area: lands or area for which CDF has the primary responsibility to manage the public safety during a fire incident.

Starting on January 24, 2007, CDF has changed its "informal" name to CAL FIRE. The purpose is to bring CDF's name in line with other state agencies such as Cal Trans and Cal Boating

Firefighters employed by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection are represented by CDF Firefighters^[4], which represents 4,000 members within CDF Firefighters and is also associated with the California Professional Firefighters (CPF)^[5] and the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF)^[6].