Bowling Green Fire Department

Bowling Green first organized fire protection around 1820 and bought its first hand-pulled, hand-operated engine in 1831, relying on volunteer companies for most of the 19th century. The city fielded its first fully paid department on September 1, 1898, under Chief James A. Wilkerson, and gradually motorized and expanded through the 20th century as the city grew, adding stations in 1955, 1970, 1980, 1999, 2009, and most recently 2021.

Today BGFD operates 8 fire stations and an administrative building, organized into Administration, Suppression, Prevention/Inspection, Training, Maintenance, and Human Resources divisions. The department earned an ISO Class 1/1X Public Protection Classification effective September 2020 -- a rating held by only 411 departments nationally and 9 in Kentucky -- and has been internationally accredited through the Commission on Fire Accreditation International since 2008, with reaccreditation in 2014, 2018, and 2023.

Beyond structural firefighting, the department fields technical rescue teams covering rope, confined space, trench, structural collapse, swift water, and vehicle/machinery extrication, plus a hazardous materials response capability, an Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) unit based at the airport station, a fire investigations unit with an accelerant-detection canine, and an Honor Guard.

BGFD hires both entry-level and lateral firefighters. Entry-level recruitment runs on defined application windows (e.g., May 10-July 12, 2026), while lateral firefighter hiring is ongoing based on vacancies. New hires attend a 16-week fire academy taught by department instructors alongside the Kentucky Fire Commission, and the department holds recruitment open houses at its Public Safety Training Center ahead of each hiring cycle.