Dry Lightning Wildland Firefighters LLC

Dry Lightning Wildland Firefighters LLC, a self-certified small disadvantaged business based in Edgemont, South Dakota, operates as a prime contractor providing wildland fire suppression equipment, water handling services, and trained emergency response personnel to federal agencies under Total Small Business set-asides and full-and-open procurements. The limited liability company competes exclusively as a prime, with all fifteen recent awards (100% of portfolio) initiated as prime contracts or indefinite-delivery vehicles; there is no subcontract activity in the source data.

Dry Lightning's customer base centers entirely on federal wildfire and emergency response agencies. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service accounts for 100% of awards across two distinct lines of business: the Rocky Mountain Region (7 awards, $494 thousand combined potential value) issues direct delivery orders for region-specific incident response, while the National Interagency Fire Center (6 awards, $1.5 million combined potential value) holds the corporation's largest IDIQs. The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region represents a single purchase order ($28 thousand) and the Department of Agriculture Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region one delivery order ($52 thousand). The National Interagency Fire Center dominates both the potential-value ranking ($1.5 million across six awards) and anchors the firm's contract vehicle portfolio.

Dry Lightning holds five active indefinite-delivery contracts, all set-aside for Total Small Business and awarded under the USDA Forest Service Virtual Incident Procurement (VIPR) system. Three IDIQs carry firm fixed-price water handling scope: a $500 thousand IDC covering East Zone Regions 1, 2, 4, and 9 through May 2030 (awarded February 2026), a $250 thousand IDC for the same East Zone scope through May 2030 (awarded May 2025), and two $250 thousand multiple-award IDCs awarded by the National Interagency Fire Center on July 19, 2026, for potable and gray water truck and handwashing station equipment covering Regions 1, 2, and 4 through July 2029. A predecessor $250 thousand East Zone water-handling IDC ran through May 2025. Task orders under these vehicles ($244 thousand combined across six orders under the largest vehicle) support fire suppression, all-hazard incidents, and prescribed burn operations. Representative delivery orders include a $64 thousand order from Forest Service Region 2 in August 2025 for fire suppression services at Glenwood Springs, Colorado, a $56 thousand order from Region 2 in May 2026 at Chadron, Nebraska, and a $28 thousand June 2025 purchase order from Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region for firefighting equipment at Boise.

The vendor's award trajectory shows recent acceleration — one award in 2020 and 2022, followed by four in 2025 and seven in 2026 — driven by NIFC IDC awards and Region 2 tactical task orders. Of the $2.1 million combined potential value across all awards, $370 thousand has been obligated (17% realization rate), reflecting the staged drawdown typical of VIPR-based indefinite contracts and short-duration tactical responses. The corporation operates under primary NAICS 541710 (Support Activities for Forestry) and PSC Natural Resources/Conservation—Forest-Range Fire Suppression/Presuppression, with capability framing limited to water handling, equipment provision, and trained personnel deployment for wildfire and emergency incident response across designated Forest Service and Department of Interior zones.