The Can-Am Police-Fire Games started as the Northwest Police-Fire Games in 1977. Officials from two state police and fire games (Washington and Oregon) and a police-fire sports group from Western Canada formed an organization. They organized and conducted a multi-sport event for police officers and firefighters on an annual basis, which continued until 1996.
Through aggressive marketing and tremendous interest from law enforcement and firefighters, the event grew in popularity, so much so that cities large enough to host the event were limited in the northwestern U. S. and Western Canada. The group reorganized and renamed itself the Can-Am Police-Fire Games to better represent the athletes demographically.
To better reflect the broadened scope and nature of eligible competitors, the Can-Am Police-Fire Games Federation expanded its mission statement to represent police, fire services, emergency responders and protective services. This demonstrates the commitment to include other age such agencies like the Emergency Medical Service Providers, Homeland Security, Border Patrol, and Corrections Officers; just to name a few.
Host city selections are made through a bid process up to five years in advance of planned Games. This allows a future host the opportunity to experience at least two Games events in order to prepare for their own. The size of the Games is only limited by a community’s efforts to market them with the help of the Can-Am Police-Fire Games Federation.
The Can-Am Police-Fire Games is a registered non-profit organization 501(c) 3 in the United States and is registered under the Canadian Society Act as a non-profit organization.