The city of Providence, R.I., and the Providence Fire Department have previously been seriously impacted by hurricanes that occurred in 1938 and 1954, in which the downtown business district had been left under many feet of water. In 1966, the city received the completed Fox Point Hurricane Barrier, from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which was designed to protect the area behind it from a storm tidal surge. The problem that prompted this research is the country's leading forecaster has predicted an increase of hurricanes in 1998 and the years to come. Also compounding the problem is the Providence Fire Department has no written procedure for hurricanes and storms that its members can follow. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the current status of the Providence Fire Department as it stands today, and what impact a hurricane would cause.Both the historical and evaluative methods were utilized. Of which the following research questions were posed: 1. How has the Providence Fire Department been impacted by hurricanes or other significant weather related events? 2. Are there any nationally recognized standards or recommendations for fire departments to follow in preparing for hurricanes? 3. Does the Providence Fire Department comply with these nationally recognized standards or recommendations? 4. What have fire departments in the greater Providence area done to be prepared for a hurricane? To complete this research a literature review, personal interviews, a survey of area fire departments, and queries of the computer database were conducted. Thunderstorms were utilized because there were no previous computer records in the City of Providence that dealt with the impact of a hurricane on the Providence Fire Department.Results were found that there is a general increase in responses during thunderstorms in the Providence area. The results also showed that there are recommendations for fire departments to follow in which written procedure for storms or hurricanes. Also, area fire departments are generally decimated during thunderstorms and most likely would be unable to provide mutual aid to the city should it need assistance. Recommendations are made that the Providence Fire Department draft written procedure for storms and hurricanes. That the city should also set guidelines for dispatch center to curtail responses when the wind speeds reach a certain sustained speed. Further, the city should consider entering into a long range mutual aid agreement with communities far removed from Providence, so that personnel and equipment could be provided on a relatively quick notice, after a major storm impact.Additional research is recommended to verify the results of this study, and to investigate a need for additional standard operating procedures for other types of storms that impact the fire department.