Fatal Colorado wildfire thrusts Trump strategy into the spotlight
“The conditions are ripe for extreme wildfires,” said Tim Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, in an interview before the firefighters were killed in Colorado. FUSEE represents wildland firefighters and promotes an ecological approach to fire management. “We really need a holistic fire management service that knows when and where to fight fires. … That's not where this agency is at, or seems to be headed, at the moment.”
“The conditions are ripe for extreme wildfires,” said Tim Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, in an interview before the firefighters were killed in Colorado. FUSEE represents wildland firefighters and promotes an ecological approach to fire management. “We really need a holistic fire management service that knows when and where to fight fires. … That's not where this agency is at, or seems to be headed, at the moment.”
As blazes rage out West, federal firefighters describe a mounting strain
Zeke Lunder, a 30-year wildfire expert who specializes in mapping and wildfire science, said the loss of senior, qualified leadership can have a tangible effect on crews when they are in the field, because fire — when, where and how it burns — is often cyclical.
“History tells you the potential, the possibility of a fire. When you forget those stories we repeat those mistakes,” Lunder said. “The right question isn’t are your positions fully staffed. It’s how many people do you have who have been working over 20 years?”
Zeke Lunder, a 30-year wildfire expert who specializes in mapping and wildfire science, said the loss of senior, qualified leadership can have a tangible effect on crews when they are in the field, because fire — when, where and how it burns — is often cyclical.
“History tells you the potential, the possibility of a fire. When you forget those stories we repeat those mistakes,” Lunder said. “The right question isn’t are your positions fully staffed. It’s how many people do you have who have been working over 20 years?”
Out of control wildfires rip through Colorado after firefighters die tackling blaze
The consolidation of thousands of personnel into the fire service has sown confusion among some firefighters about who their bosses are and what their responsibilities should be, according to former government officials.
The administration's focus on "full suppression" of new fires marks a sharp reversal from a decades-long trend toward embracing flames as a tool - to burn off old vegetation and growth that acts like fuel and lessen the risk of catastrophic blazes being stoked by a warming planet.
Federal officials have not released details on the circumstances preceding the weekend deaths, including the firefighters' objective at the site where they were overrun.
The consolidation of thousands of personnel into the fire service has sown confusion among some firefighters about who their bosses are and what their responsibilities should be, according to former government officials.
The administration's focus on "full suppression" of new fires marks a sharp reversal from a decades-long trend toward embracing flames as a tool - to burn off old vegetation and growth that acts like fuel and lessen the risk of catastrophic blazes being stoked by a warming planet.
Federal officials have not released details on the circumstances preceding the weekend deaths, including the firefighters' objective at the site where they were overrun.
The tools firefighters use to protect themselves in the worst of conditions
News of three casualties in the Snyder Fire west of Grand Junction drove home that sentiment earlier this week. Three wildland firefighters who to traveled to Colorado died fighting the blaze.
So today on In The NoCo, we’re looking at the story from a different angle. We want to hear about how wildland firefighters protect themselves in the worst of circumstances.
Timothy Ingalsbee is a former wildland firefighter based in Oregon. He’s now executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology.
He talked with Erin O’Toole about the tools and techniques firefighters use to give themselves a fighting chance in a deadly scenario.
News of three casualties in the Snyder Fire west of Grand Junction drove home that sentiment earlier this week. Three wildland firefighters who to traveled to Colorado died fighting the blaze.
So today on In The NoCo, we’re looking at the story from a different angle. We want to hear about how wildland firefighters protect themselves in the worst of circumstances.
Timothy Ingalsbee is a former wildland firefighter based in Oregon. He’s now executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology.
He talked with Erin O’Toole about the tools and techniques firefighters use to give themselves a fighting chance in a deadly scenario.
Stretched resources and low morale as firefighters face an already blazing wildfire season
Wildfire season is just beginning in the West, but firefighting resources are already strained following a windstorm last week that sent flames racing through Great Basin states mired in drought.
Adding pressure, the Trump administration has told firefighting agencies to pursue a “full suppression” strategy, meaning agencies are expected to try to snuff out every wildfire by default rather than allow some to burn when communities aren’t at risk.
Wildfire season is just beginning in the West, but firefighting resources are already strained following a windstorm last week that sent flames racing through Great Basin states mired in drought.
Adding pressure, the Trump administration has told firefighting agencies to pursue a “full suppression” strategy, meaning agencies are expected to try to snuff out every wildfire by default rather than allow some to burn when communities aren’t at risk.
Trump administration seeks to stomp out all fires quickly, reviving policy that has been discredited
“The question is, why were they attacking that fire in the first place?” asked Timothy Ingalsbee, a former federal firefighter and cofounder of the advocacy group Firefighters United For Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “What was actually at risk? If it was a bunch of shrubs on remote mountaintops, what was the real risk that justified putting those firefighters at risk?”
“The question is, why were they attacking that fire in the first place?” asked Timothy Ingalsbee, a former federal firefighter and cofounder of the advocacy group Firefighters United For Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “What was actually at risk? If it was a bunch of shrubs on remote mountaintops, what was the real risk that justified putting those firefighters at risk?”
After a challenging 2025, LGBTQ wildland firefighters push for a more inclusive workplace
Kyle Trefny, a wildland firefighter and co-founder of the FireGeneration Collaborative, said the challenges faced by queer firefighters like himself are also at play.
“If the fire workforce is anti-queer, it will be unattractive to many young people,” he said, pointing to data showing that more than one-fifth of Gen Z folks now consider themselves LGBTQ. “We grew up much more able to be ourselves than the generations before us.”
Kyle Trefny, a wildland firefighter and co-founder of the FireGeneration Collaborative, said the challenges faced by queer firefighters like himself are also at play.
“If the fire workforce is anti-queer, it will be unattractive to many young people,” he said, pointing to data showing that more than one-fifth of Gen Z folks now consider themselves LGBTQ. “We grew up much more able to be ourselves than the generations before us.
Three Wildland Firefighters Killed in Colorado Blaze
“Climate change is producing these fast fires that just can overwhelm conventional suppression strategies and tactics,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, an education and advocacy group. He said he didn’t know enough about the details of the Snyder Fire to comment on the conditions there, “but that’s a general statement that spans the continent.”
“Climate change is producing these fast fires that just can overwhelm conventional suppression strategies and tactics,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, an education and advocacy group. He said he didn’t know enough about the details of the Snyder Fire to comment on the conditions there, “but that’s a general statement that spans the continent.”
Fireworks, heat and drought put this July 4th at high risk for wildfires
Fireworks, from bottle rockets to Roman candles, start a lot of fires in the U.S. every year – 32,000 of them in 2023 alone. And each year there is a clear spike in human-caused fires on July 4.
The return of good fire: The Maidu reclaim an ancient tool to heal and protect land from wildfires
In Berry Creek, a 60-acre property burned to ash in the 2020 North Complex Fire has becoming something else: a place of restoration, healing and renewed purpose for local Maidu tribes.
In Berry Creek, a 60-acre property burned to ash in the 2020 North Complex Fire has becoming something else: a place of restoration, healing and renewed purpose for local Maidu tribes.
Senate Republicans propose rescinding ‘roadless rule’ — by tacking it onto federal wildfire bill
A brief moment of bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate turned political on Wednesday, when Republican lawmakers introduced a new provision to a wildfire bill.
That bill, called the Wildfire Prevention Act, would mandate increasing prescribed fires and forest thinning in federal forests.
It had support of both Democrats and Republicans when it was first introduced before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year. That common ground evaporated after Senate Republicans attached a repeal of what’s known as the “the roadless rule” to the bill.
A brief moment of bipartisanship in the U.S. Senate turned political on Wednesday, when Republican lawmakers introduced a new provision to a wildfire bill.
That bill, called the Wildfire Prevention Act, would mandate increasing prescribed fires and forest thinning in federal forests.
It had support of both Democrats and Republicans when it was first introduced before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year. That common ground evaporated after Senate Republicans attached a repeal of what’s known as the “the roadless rule” to the bill.
Trump is taking aim at forest and wildfire research just as the West is poised to burn
If Congress were to approve President Trump's proposed budget for the agency, the U.S. Forest Service would be a skeleton of its former self, just as climate change is accelerating the frequency and severity of wildfires in the U.S. The agency already lost thousands of staff last year to layoffs, buyouts and early retirement due to President Trump's DOGE team.
Westerners working at research universities are nervous, as are people in small towns that depend on the USFS for everything from jobs to fighting fires to forecasting smoke.
If Congress were to approve President Trump's proposed budget for the agency, the U.S. Forest Service would be a skeleton of its former self, just as climate change is accelerating the frequency and severity of wildfires in the U.S. The agency already lost thousands of staff last year to layoffs, buyouts and early retirement due to President Trump's DOGE team.
Westerners working at research universities are nervous, as are people in small towns that depend on the USFS for everything from jobs to fighting fires to forecasting smoke.
Mike Lee ignites controversy after adding roadless rule repeal to a wildfire bill
Utah Sen. Mike Lee and fellow Republicans added a repeal of the controversial roadless rule to a previously bipartisan wildfire bill on Wednesday.
The amended Wildfire Prevention Act passed out of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on an 11-9 vote split along party lines and now heads to the full Senate. The act would nullify the 2001 roadless rule, which prevents logging and roadbuilding on nearly 59 million acres of national forest land, including roughly 4 million acres in Utah.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee and fellow Republicans added a repeal of the controversial roadless rule to a previously bipartisan wildfire bill on Wednesday.
The amended Wildfire Prevention Act passed out of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on an 11-9 vote split along party lines and now heads to the full Senate. The act would nullify the 2001 roadless rule, which prevents logging and roadbuilding on nearly 59 million acres of national forest land, including roughly 4 million acres in Utah.
Planned forest fires have wider benefits than previously thought
Setting intentional forest fires and letting other low-severity ones burn can significantly lower the chances of extreme blazes torching those same areas in the future, according to a new study released Thursday, while reducing toxic smoke over time.
Those controlled blazes, known as prescribed burns, can offer fire protection for more than a decade, the researchers found in a paper published in the journal Science. The findings are the latest in a robust body of research showing how managed fires can reduce the chances of megafires.
Setting intentional forest fires and letting other low-severity ones burn can significantly lower the chances of extreme blazes torching those same areas in the future, according to a new study released Thursday, while reducing toxic smoke over time.
Those controlled blazes, known as prescribed burns, can offer fire protection for more than a decade, the researchers found in a paper published in the journal Science. The findings are the latest in a robust body of research showing how managed fires can reduce the chances of megafires.
The winter’s snow drought is now a full-blown water crisis
Trump has long pushed for increased logging as a fire management tool, and this season will put that theory to the test. Experts warn that industrial-scale logging can’t significantly reduce wildfire threats.
“The type of drought we’re seeing this year across the West is a glimpse into the future,” Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, told Bloomberg Law. “Thinning and logging forests—that’s not going to control wildfires.”
Trump has long pushed for increased logging as a fire management tool, and this season will put that theory to the test. Experts warn that industrial-scale logging can’t significantly reduce wildfire threats.
“The type of drought we’re seeing this year across the West is a glimpse into the future,” Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, told Bloomberg Law. “Thinning and logging forests—that’s not going to control wildfires.”
A U.S. senator pushed to cut firefighting aircraft inspections the same month his former company failed one
A little over a year ago, Sen. Tim Sheehy floated an audacious proposal to reshape the way the federal government fights wildfires. It called for expanding the use of private planes and helicopters to quickly attack blazes while also eliminating the U.S. Forest Service’s rigorous airworthiness inspections for those aircraft.
The idea stood to benefit Sheehy, a Montana Republican, personally. Before running for Congress, he founded and ran an aerial firefighting company called Bridger Aerospace, which is known for its scoopers, aircraft built to retrieve water from lakes or oceans and drop it onto fires. Since 2021, the Forest Service has paid Bridger more than $235 million for use of its scoopers, according to public records.
A little over a year ago, Sen. Tim Sheehy floated an audacious proposal to reshape the way the federal government fights wildfires. It called for expanding the use of private planes and helicopters to quickly attack blazes while also eliminating the U.S. Forest Service’s rigorous airworthiness inspections for those aircraft.
The idea stood to benefit Sheehy, a Montana Republican, personally. Before running for Congress, he founded and ran an aerial firefighting company called Bridger Aerospace, which is known for its scoopers, aircraft built to retrieve water from lakes or oceans and drop it onto fires. Since 2021, the Forest Service has paid Bridger more than $235 million for use of its scoopers, according to public records.
US drought tests Trump strategy of logging to fight wildfire
Forest thinning can reduce wildfire intensity, severity, and spread even in extreme drought, but only if it’s done based on unique local conditions and is followed up with intentionally-set prescribed fire, said Tony Cheng, director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University.
“Logging on its own, without prescribed fire, can intensify fires if a lot of logging debris is left on site,” he said. “The most effective land treatment to limit the unwanted impacts of wildfire is, ironically, fire – prescribed fire or managed wildland fire.”
Forest thinning can reduce wildfire intensity, severity, and spread even in extreme drought, but only if it’s done based on unique local conditions and is followed up with intentionally-set prescribed fire, said Tony Cheng, director of the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University.
“Logging on its own, without prescribed fire, can intensify fires if a lot of logging debris is left on site,” he said. “The most effective land treatment to limit the unwanted impacts of wildfire is, ironically, fire – prescribed fire or managed wildland fire.”
Trump repeals rules governing off-roading on public lands
“I think this is going to be the year,” warned Timothy Ingalsbee, co-founder and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “The conditions are just ripe for some really bad outcomes.”
“I think this is going to be the year,” warned Timothy Ingalsbee, co-founder and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology. “The conditions are just ripe for some really bad outcomes.”
Why Wildfire Experts Are So Worried About This Year’s Fire Season
Burgum’s previous efforts to centralize power at Interior drew complaints about the organizational chaos that followed: Some 5,000 staff were moved from the department’s component agencies to his office in May 2025, and almost 1,800 quit, retired or were pushed out afterward. That’s sparked concern about how smooth his overhaul of the department’s firefighting efforts will be.
“The bottom line is it’s disorganization,” said Ingalsbee.
Burgum’s previous efforts to centralize power at Interior drew complaints about the organizational chaos that followed: Some 5,000 staff were moved from the department’s component agencies to his office in May 2025, and almost 1,800 quit, retired or were pushed out afterward. That’s sparked concern about how smooth his overhaul of the department’s firefighting efforts will be.
“The bottom line is it’s disorganization,” said Ingalsbee.
Firefighter health is a top priority in the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service. What could that mean?
The Mountain West News Bureau’s wildfire reporter Murphy Woodhouse recently spoke at length with Chief Brian Fennessy, the inaugural head of the Department of Interior’s U.S. Wildland Fire Service.
A major theme of their conversation was firefighter health and well-being. Cancer and other long-term health risks are growing concerns in wildland fire, but so too are the high mental health tolls the work takes.
The Mountain West News Bureau’s wildfire reporter Murphy Woodhouse recently spoke at length with Chief Brian Fennessy, the inaugural head of the Department of Interior’s U.S. Wildland Fire Service.
A major theme of their conversation was firefighter health and well-being. Cancer and other long-term health risks are growing concerns in wildland fire, but so too are the high mental health tolls the work takes.