The Can-Am Police-Fire Games started as the Northwest Police-Fire Games in 1977 when officials from two state police and fire games (Washington and Oregon) and a police-fire sports group from Western Canada formed an organization that organized and conducted a multi-sport event for police officers and fire fighters on an annual basis. This continued until 1996.

Through aggressive marketing and tremendous interest from the law enforcement and fire fighting industry, the event grew so large that cities large enough to host the event were limited in the northwestern U. S. and Western Canada. The group reorganized, renamed itself the Can-Am Police-Fire Games to better represent our athletes demographically.

To better reflect the broadened scope and nature of our eligible competitors the Can-Am Police-Fire Games Federation expanded its mission statement beyond that of police and fire services and included emergency responders and protective services. This demonstrates our commitment to including such agencies as Emergency Medical service providers; Homeland Security; Border Patrol, and Corrections officers to name a few.

Host city selections are made through a bid process up to five years in advance of a 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 are 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.