High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF, or CAL FIRE) is the State of California`s agency responsible for fire protection in State Responsibility Areas of California as well as 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. 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.