Since 2005, an increasing number of collaborative initiatives had been undertaken between Richland Fire and Emergency Services (RFES) and neighboring agencies, without a corresponding administrative structure. Various local factors suggested that the option of an administrative collaboration rather than full organizational merger or consolidation be seriously considered. The problem identified for this project was that RFES's administration was operating in a series of highly collaborative processes between local fire agencies without an administrative structure to support the initiatives. The purpose of the research was to develop a collaborative administration model that could be used to facilitate the use of regional fire executive specialization, alleviate administrative redundancies and streamline regional collaborative process leadership.Action research methods were employed to answer the following research questions: (a) What administrative functions are appropriate to move to a regional model; (b) What state, local and agency limitations exist; (c) What interagency collaboration models exist and what do they contribute to developing a regional model; (d) What can partnership models offer to the development of a regional administration model; and (e) What human issues will need to be addressed? Focus groups and individual interviews were conducted with key stakeholders and topic experts. Research indicated that this type of administration model is not widely used in the Washington fire service. The research resulted in the development of a stand-alone regional collaborative administration model to address the organizational problem, but with the recommendation to carefully evaluate the benefits of implementing the model versus considering full organizational consolidation.