A new fire paradigm is emerging.

This last summer, I had the privilege of being the first person to see my friend, Lord (yes, like a medieval lord), after he completed his wildland firefighting training. The look in his eyes as he slumped into the passenger seat was one that only somebody who had also spent 16 hours per day lugging gear through the woods could replicate. Yet, somewhere behind the glaze of exhaustion, I saw true pride within him—a fire, you could say—in a way that I hadn’t seen before over our years of friendship. Now, on the other side of his first roll, I can see why.

EUGENE - Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) today announced its support and endorsement of Representative Maxine Dexter’s (D-OR) Wildland Firefighter Health and Safety Act of 2026, legislation that would establish a comprehensive Federal Wildland Firefighter Health and Wellbeing Program to address the serious occupational health and safety risks faced by federal wildland firefighters.

EUGENE - Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) released statements from wildland firefighters who currently serve on engine crews who oppose the Trump Administration's proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule ("Roadless Rule"). The Administration claims that roadless area protections impede wildfire suppression and that building new logging roads will help prevent wildfires by improving firefighter safety and efficiency. Engine crew members refute this claim, offering several reasons from their personal and professional experience why typical Forest Service logging roads present hazardous conditions for transporting and staging firefighting crews. The firefighters argue that aviation-supported handcrews are better suited to manage fires in rugged roadless terrain, and the absence of human communities or critical infrastructure in roadless wildlands provide more opportunities to safely manage fire in order to restore landscape wildfire resilience.