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FUSEE's E.D. held meetings with staff from a dozen different key Congressional offices, where we shared our ideas for growing and sustaining the wildland fire workforce. Beyond a boost in pay and benefits--which are absolutely necessary, but insufficient over the long-term--we need to change the culture and mission of federal fire management. We need to get off the treadmill of reactive wildfire suppression, and get on track with proactive fire management. The current culture of firefighting is alienating to women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ individuals, and this is one of the reasons agencies are failing to recruit from younger diverse generations. As well, federal agencies are failing to retain older experienced employees who want to work with fire rather than endlessly fight against it. Unless and until we alter the mission to promote ecological fire management rather than the misguided "war on wildfire," the federal fire workforce will continue its downward spiral as firefighters "vote with their feet" to opt out of the warfare workforce. FUSEE will be back in D.C. in 2025 to work with the next Congress and new Administration with bold ideas for expanding and sustaining the wildland fire workforce. Your support enables us to bring the voice of wildland firefighters and fire practitioners to the marbled halls of the nation’s capitol speaking truth to power.
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