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Controlled burns reduce wildfire risk, but they require trained staff and funding − this could be a rough year

Some of the Forest Service staff who were fired or put in limbo by the Trump administration are those who do research or collect and communicate critical data about forests and fire risk. Other fired staff provided support so crews could clear flammable debris and carry out fuel treatments such as prescribed burns, thinning forests and building fire breaks.

Losing people in these roles is like firing all primary care doctors and leaving only EMTs. Both are clearly needed. As many people know from emergency room bills, preventing emergencies is less costly than dealing with the damage later.

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The state’s controversial wildfire map may go. But the risk to communities won’t.

No matter where you live in Lane County, don’t discount your wildfire risk, said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the Eugene-based Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology.

“Once it enters the city, what begins is house to house ignition, kind of like a chain nuclear reaction,” Ingalsbee said. “So that’s why even in the center of Eugene, we’re still vulnerable.”

With much of Eugene and Springfield categorized as low hazard in the wildfire map, he worries the map has given people a  “false sense of security” at a time when city resources are already stretched thin.

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To save our trees, we must burn down our forests

The best way to save the oak, and the countless critters that rely on it, is to return fire to our landscape. This might seem counterintuitive when wildfires, particularly in the West, spin more out of control each season. But for the sake of nature, we need more fire rather than less. Actually, if the goal is to reduce the danger of wildfires, we also need more fire rather than less.

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Draft Trump order could endanger firefighters by changing needed aircraft requirements, Washington state officials warn

“This EO has the potential to shift responsibility for fires to private entities more interested in their corporate bottom line than the lives of the people wildfire impacts…” Rodruck said. “…The last thing we should do is make wildland fire fighting less safe, but that’s exactly what this order, as it is written currently, will do.”

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Trump considering plan to change how the country fights wildfires

Some firefighters say the attempt to put out all wildfires is both unrealistic and counterproductive. Fire is a natural part of the landscape, they say, and allowing lower-intensity burns in certain areas clears vegetation and prevents more catastrophic fires that rage through years of built-up fuel.

“Fire exclusion is the problem,” said Joe Stutler, who has 57 years of firefighting experience and serves as a commander for federal incident management teams. “We need more fire. We don’t need less fire on the landscape.”

Stutler also said it is unrealistic to think that firefighters could respond within 30 minutes to wildfires that often break out in remote wilderness areas. Such an expectation could lead to firefighters taking more dangerous risks, he said.

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The REAL Story of the LA Fires | Full Documentary

It is WILD how often cities used to burn down. So when fires ripped through LA at the beginning of 2025, we wondered: are urban firestorms BACK? In 1871, nearly a third of Chicago burned down. In 1889, 25 blocks of Seattle went up in flames. Modern buildings and firefighting solved the problem. So, how is this happening again? And why is it getting worse? To find out, we went to LA while the fires were still burning. Our crew was on the ground from day one. We interviewed top fire officials and leading scientists. And, we learned exactly what went wrong in LA - and the ONE THING that could stop these UNSTOPPABLE fires.

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Letter-to-the-Editor: Support Tribal inclusion in the Northwest Forest Plan

The inclusion of tribal co-stewardship and Indigenous knowledge represents a profound change that goes beyond undoing past wrongs to Indigenous peoples—it will help restore species, habitats and landscape diversity. But these benefits are under threat. The Trump administration now threatens to subvert the progressive prospects of the Northwest Forest amendment by its effort to banish the words “diversity” and “inclusion.” That is why it is essential that forest conservationists and social justice advocates speak up in favor of tribal co-stewardship. This once-in-a-generation opportunity should not be squandered.

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Trump job cuts could leave Oregon forests more vulnerable in 2025

After Oregon’s record wildfire season in 2024, local communities and government officials are concerned that ongoing personnel purges at federal land management agencies could leave the region shorthanded for pre-season fire mitigation projects and unprepared to combat deadly conflagrations when they break out later this year.

Ingalsbee said firefighters are already struggling with longer and more extreme fire seasons due to climate change, and that they would be called on to pick up the slack if other staff take a big hit.

“Crews are getting banged up, beat on and burned out,” he said. “It will just add more burden.”

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Northwest Forest Plan advisers told their committee will be disbanded

Federal officials are preparing to disband an advisory committee tasked with guiding policies for millions of acres of national forests in the Pacific Northwest, according to two committee members.

Tribal leaders, environmental advocates, timber representatives and local government officials were among the 21 members of the Northwest Forest Plan federal advisory committee. They’ve been meeting in person over dayslong meetings since summer 2023, hashing out how to tackle wildfires, pests and diseases across nearly 25 million acres of national forests in Oregon, Washington and Northern California.

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Thousands flee after Japan's biggest wildfire in decades

TOKYO: Thousands of people have been evacuated from parts of northern Japan as the country's largest wildfire in three decades raged unabated on Sunday (Mar 2) after killing at least one person, officials said.

Around 2,000 people fled areas around the northern Japan city of Ofunato to stay with friends or relatives, while more than 1,200 were evacuated to shelters, according to officials.

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495 outdoor organizations sign letter to Congress demanding action on firings

A group of 495 outdoor-related organizations have signed a letter being sent to Congress urging an immediate reversal of the federal government's seemingly arbitrary firing of public lands workers. Groups to sign on include conservation organizations, local tourism boards, friends of national parks, tribal organizations, and even outdoor marketing firms, among others. The letter is a reaction to the chaotic firings of park rangers, researchers, and general staff among federally run public lands agencies. 

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The Firefighting Fire Sale: After U.S. Forest Service layoffs, will for-profit contractors protect you from wildfires?

For-profit operators don’t have an obligation to stage equipment in risky areas or dispatch support to other locations — private businesses can simply decline a contract if the job isn’t profitable. The free market might not make saving your home an attractive proposition. 

Reducing federal land management — whether that’s selling off public lands or turning control over to states — fragments oversight and reduces resources. Unlike the Forest Service, which has coordinated interagency support, many states lack the funding, staff, or infrastructure to handle large-scale fires

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