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Ferguson Management Company History
Since 1981,
Ferguson Management Company has grown to become one of the largest
private fire contractors in the United States. FMC traditionally
trains and educates firefighters, and boasts over 400 firefighters
available to fight fire anywhere in the nation. FMC also provides
full service fuels management work and emergency services response,
such as the shuttle recovery effort in Texas.
Bruce and Barbara
Ferguson founded Ferguson Management in 1981. FMC originally performed
reforestation and general forestry work from its headquarters in
Falls City, Oregon. In 1988, the Company moved to Albany, Oregon,
where it remains today.
Over the next
23 years, the little company grew and expanded its reach from private
land general forestry to a state and national level of wildland
firefighting.
In 1988, FMC
added firefighting to their services when it was selected as one
of the first companies to participate in a new private sector wildland
firefighting contract. FMC gained valuable experience fighting wildfires
in state forests and on other state-protected land within Oregon.
The company’s
reach expanded to the federal sector in 1994 when the federal government
partnered with Oregon and Washington to establish the Region Six
interagency wildland firefighting contract known as the Interagency
Contract. This contract allowed private crews to fight fire on federal
and state-owned lands within the Pacific Northwest.
1997 brought
more change and more opportunity for FMC. Demand for private resources
for wildland firefighting grew as federal and state agencies downsized
and the number and severity of forest fires increased. At that point,
FMC shifted its focus from reforestation and general forestry to
wildland firefighting and fuels manipulation.
In August 2000,
severe wildland fires and dwindling agency firefighting resources
spurred the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), under the Clinton
Administration, to establish a national contract to allow hiring
of private wildland firefighting contract companies. NIFC selected
50 crews and 80 engines to participate in the national contract,
all of which could be dispatched anywhere in the country. Ferguson
Management was awarded 11 of the 50 national crew contracts and
eight of the 80 national engine contracts.
Today, FMC corporate
headquarters are in Albany, Oregon. They also have national dispatch
offices in Pendleton, Oregon, Idaho Falls, Idaho, They also have 6 regional dispatch locations
in Oregon and Washington.
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