America is losing its war against wildfire
Prescribed fire offers what the agency has become less tolerant of losing: control. But Tim Ingalsbee, executive director of advocacy group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE), said a war on wildfire is unwinnable. “We’re just throwing good money after bad in these reactive, siege-like suppression spectacles, versus proactive preparation and treatments within communities.”
Prescribed fire offers what the agency has become less tolerant of losing: control. But Tim Ingalsbee, executive director of advocacy group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE), said a war on wildfire is unwinnable. “We’re just throwing good money after bad in these reactive, siege-like suppression spectacles, versus proactive preparation and treatments within communities.”
Trump’s USDA Moves to Eliminate Crucial Roadless Rule Protections From National Forests
FUSEE, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology- an organization of active, former or retired wildland firefighters are also speaking out against the repeal. They say in a statement that more roads and human access will mean more human-caused wildfire starts. And that logging roads in backcountry areas are dangerous for attempting to stop wildfire. FUSEE argues this is best done by aviation-based tactics and other means fully allowed by the existing rule.
A current member of an active Wildfire module Molly Maguire stated, “Wildland fires are necessary and incredibly significant ecological processes. Roadless areas lack much infrastructure or human structures, so they offer opportunities to safely, economically, and ecologically manage fire across large areas without threatening human assets,”
FUSEE, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology- an organization of active, former or retired wildland firefighters are also speaking out against the repeal. They say in a statement that more roads and human access will mean more human-caused wildfire starts. And that logging roads in backcountry areas are dangerous for attempting to stop wildfire. FUSEE argues this is best done by aviation-based tactics and other means fully allowed by the existing rule.
A current member of an active Wildfire module Molly Maguire stated, “Wildland fires are necessary and incredibly significant ecological processes. Roadless areas lack much infrastructure or human structures, so they offer opportunities to safely, economically, and ecologically manage fire across large areas without threatening human assets,”
Repeal of U.S. Roadless Rule could threaten drinking water for 25 million people
“Constructing new logging roads into roadless areas will increase human-caused wildfire ignitions by careless recreationists, criminal arsonists, or simple accidents,” Carson States, a ten-season firefighter and engine boss from Oregon, said in a statement from FUSEE, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology.
The proposed rule concedes that “greater public access can increase human-caused ignition potential in some locations,” while arguing new roads could still help crews protect communities.
“Constructing new logging roads into roadless areas will increase human-caused wildfire ignitions by careless recreationists, criminal arsonists, or simple accidents,” Carson States, a ten-season firefighter and engine boss from Oregon, said in a statement from FUSEE, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology.
The proposed rule concedes that “greater public access can increase human-caused ignition potential in some locations,” while arguing new roads could still help crews protect communities.
Incarcerated people among thousands of firefighters battling Oregon’s aggressive fire season
On a misty spring day in Oregon’s Tillamook State Forest, a group of incarcerated men wearing yellow collared shirts and hard hats gathered around an instructor warning them about the dangers of an over-pressurized firefighting hose.
If left for too long, he said, a hose could overheat and explode, leaving those nearby with third-degree burns.
Such were the risks that these men were willing to take to avoid sleeping in a prison cell.
On a misty spring day in Oregon’s Tillamook State Forest, a group of incarcerated men wearing yellow collared shirts and hard hats gathered around an instructor warning them about the dangers of an over-pressurized firefighting hose.
If left for too long, he said, a hose could overheat and explode, leaving those nearby with third-degree burns.
Such were the risks that these men were willing to take to avoid sleeping in a prison cell.
The US Forest Service Moves to Cancel Its “Best Idea”: the Roadless Rule
Crude, single-use, mid-slope logging roads, the kind that would likely be constructed, are not useful to firefighters, who typically steer fires from ridgelines and along rivers, cautioned Ingalsbee. “Expanding the road network means expanding the opportunities for human-caused wildfires, either from accidents, carelessness or criminality,” he added. “Rescinding the rule to build new roads in some of the steepest, ruggedest remote wildlands left is about aiding firefighters' safety and efficiency, it's just bunk.”
Crude, single-use, mid-slope logging roads, the kind that would likely be constructed, are not useful to firefighters, who typically steer fires from ridgelines and along rivers, cautioned Ingalsbee. “Expanding the road network means expanding the opportunities for human-caused wildfires, either from accidents, carelessness or criminality,” he added. “Rescinding the rule to build new roads in some of the steepest, ruggedest remote wildlands left is about aiding firefighters' safety and efficiency, it's just bunk.”
USDA Advances Plan to Revoke Roadless Rule, Favoring Logging and Mining
Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology releases statements asserting that specialized crews like smokejumpers can effectively manage fires in these areas, and the lack of development within roadless wildlands provides for safer fire management. The administration’s focus on expanding timber production echoes a call to former President Trump to increase logging in these areas.
Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology releases statements asserting that specialized crews like smokejumpers can effectively manage fires in these areas, and the lack of development within roadless wildlands provides for safer fire management. The administration’s focus on expanding timber production echoes a call to former President Trump to increase logging in these areas.
Trump’s Move to Rescind Roadless Rule Rewards Logging and Mining Interests
Last week, the Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology released statements from experts who argue that smokejumpers, heli-rappelers, and helitack crews can manage fires in roadless areas and that the absence of communities or infrastructure in roadless wildlands actually provides more opportunities to safely manage fire, especially when it can be beneficial to the forest.
Last week, the Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology released statements from experts who argue that smokejumpers, heli-rappelers, and helitack crews can manage fires in roadless areas and that the absence of communities or infrastructure in roadless wildlands actually provides more opportunities to safely manage fire, especially when it can be beneficial to the forest.
Extreme heat is taking a toll on firefighters as wildfires stretch crews to the limit
When a wildfire threatens a community, most people don’t think to ask whether the firefighters coming to help slept enough the night before, recovered from the previous day’s shift or have enough energy left for another day on the fire line. They simply expect firefighters to show up.
But that workforce is increasingly being stretched to its limits.
When a wildfire threatens a community, most people don’t think to ask whether the firefighters coming to help slept enough the night before, recovered from the previous day’s shift or have enough energy left for another day on the fire line. They simply expect firefighters to show up.
But that workforce is increasingly being stretched to its limits.
After firefighting deaths, advocates alarmed by ‘deepening wildfire crisis,’ agencies’ strategies
Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, wants to know to what extent that suppression policy informed the five-member Rifle helitack crew’s assignment battling the Gore and Knowles fires in southwest Colorado.
Ingalsbee, an ecologist and former firefighter, said the full-suppression approach reverses a longtime, science-backed strategy of allowing fires to burn in some further-removed areas to keep forests healthy, which also prevents crews from taking unnecessary risks.
“I’m pretty anxious about tragedies yet to happen, because we still have the same policy, blindly attacking all fires, instead of strategically, wisely managing and prioritizing fires,” Ingalsbee said.
Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, wants to know to what extent that suppression policy informed the five-member Rifle helitack crew’s assignment battling the Gore and Knowles fires in southwest Colorado.
Ingalsbee, an ecologist and former firefighter, said the full-suppression approach reverses a longtime, science-backed strategy of allowing fires to burn in some further-removed areas to keep forests healthy, which also prevents crews from taking unnecessary risks.
“I’m pretty anxious about tragedies yet to happen, because we still have the same policy, blindly attacking all fires, instead of strategically, wisely managing and prioritizing fires,” Ingalsbee said.
Move to Rescind Roadless Rule Rewards Logging and Mining Interests
Last week, the Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology released statements from experts who argue that smokejumpers, heli-rappelers, and helitack crews can manage fires in roadless areas and that the absence of communities or infrastructure in roadless wildlands actually provides more opportunities to safely manage fire, especially when it can be beneficial to the forest.
Last week, the Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology released statements from experts who argue that smokejumpers, heli-rappelers, and helitack crews can manage fires in roadless areas and that the absence of communities or infrastructure in roadless wildlands actually provides more opportunities to safely manage fire, especially when it can be beneficial to the forest.
US proposes rescinding Roadless Rule protections for national forests
Aug. 25 is a National Day of Action to support U.S. national parks and public lands. One focus of the event is the U.S. government’s intention to rescind a rule that bans road construction and industrial logging across more than 23 million hectares (57 million acres) of national forest land.
…
“Constructing new logging roads into roadless areas will increase human-caused wildfire ignitions by careless recreationists, criminal arsonists, or simple accidents,” Carson States with Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology said in a statement.
Aug. 25 is a National Day of Action to support U.S. national parks and public lands. One focus of the event is the U.S. government’s intention to rescind a rule that bans road construction and industrial logging across more than 23 million hectares (57 million acres) of national forest land.
…
“Constructing new logging roads into roadless areas will increase human-caused wildfire ignitions by careless recreationists, criminal arsonists, or simple accidents,” Carson States with Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology said in a statement.
After firefighting deaths, advocates alarmed by ‘deepening wildfire crisis,’ agencies’ strategies
Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, wants to know to what extent that suppression policy informed the five-member Rifle helitack crew’s assignment battling the Gore and Knowles fires in southwest Colorado.
Ingalsbee, an ecologist and former firefighter, said the full-suppression approach reverses a longtime, science-backed strategy of allowing fires to burn in some further-removed areas to keep forests healthy, which also prevents crews from taking unnecessary risks.
“I’m pretty anxious about tragedies yet to happen, because we still have the same policy, blindly attacking all fires, instead of strategically, wisely managing and prioritizing fires,” Ingalsbee said.
Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the group Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, wants to know to what extent that suppression policy informed the five-member Rifle helitack crew’s assignment battling the Gore and Knowles fires in southwest Colorado.
Ingalsbee, an ecologist and former firefighter, said the full-suppression approach reverses a longtime, science-backed strategy of allowing fires to burn in some further-removed areas to keep forests healthy, which also prevents crews from taking unnecessary risks.
“I’m pretty anxious about tragedies yet to happen, because we still have the same policy, blindly attacking all fires, instead of strategically, wisely managing and prioritizing fires,” Ingalsbee said.
Firefighters doubt repeal of Roadless Rule will help with wildfires
Tim Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, believes the Trump administration’s real focus is timber, and the agriculture department’s messaging about wildfire reduction and firefighter access is deceptive.
“Not in our name,” Ingalsbee told Lookout Eugene-Springfield during the event.
“From the perspective of wildland firefighters, this (repeal of the roadless rule) is not going to make it safer, more efficient to go suppress wildfires. It’s going to be just the opposite. It’s going to increase their burdens, risk, and hazards. “
Tim Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, believes the Trump administration’s real focus is timber, and the agriculture department’s messaging about wildfire reduction and firefighter access is deceptive.
“Not in our name,” Ingalsbee told Lookout Eugene-Springfield during the event.
“From the perspective of wildland firefighters, this (repeal of the roadless rule) is not going to make it safer, more efficient to go suppress wildfires. It’s going to be just the opposite. It’s going to increase their burdens, risk, and hazards. “
Firefighting resources are ‘critically low’ in record fire year
This resource strain follows roughly 3,400 firings at the Forest Service under the Trump administration’s workforce cuts. Officials say frontline firefighters were spared, but the incident management teams coordinating the response were not. “These require the most seasoned and experienced managers. And we lost a lot of them last year,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, Executive Director for Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology. “We are just now seeing the impact of that.”
This resource strain follows roughly 3,400 firings at the Forest Service under the Trump administration’s workforce cuts. Officials say frontline firefighters were spared, but the incident management teams coordinating the response were not. “These require the most seasoned and experienced managers. And we lost a lot of them last year,” said Timothy Ingalsbee, Executive Director for Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology. “We are just now seeing the impact of that.”
Firefighters sound alarm as US faces critical staffing shortage: ‘We don’t have enough people’
The US has faced a critical shortage of firefighters at the US Forest Service (USFS) this summer as thousands of fires erupted across the country.
Despite officials’ claims that the firefighting workforce was stronger than ever, the agency has failed to keep pace with escalating conditions and the catastrophic fires fueled by them, according to nine firefighters who spoke to the Guardian anonymously, because they are barred from disclosing the information to the public.
The US has faced a critical shortage of firefighters at the US Forest Service (USFS) this summer as thousands of fires erupted across the country.
Despite officials’ claims that the firefighting workforce was stronger than ever, the agency has failed to keep pace with escalating conditions and the catastrophic fires fueled by them, according to nine firefighters who spoke to the Guardian anonymously, because they are barred from disclosing the information to the public.
Firefighting resources are ‘critically low’ in record fire year
But fire experts said that the firings decimated the ranks of older, experienced officials whose knowledge is valuable against increasingly large, complex fires.
“These require the most seasoned and experienced managers. And we lost a lot of them last year” to the budget cuts, said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology and a former firefighter for federal agencies. “We are just now seeing the impact of that.”
But fire experts said that the firings decimated the ranks of older, experienced officials whose knowledge is valuable against increasingly large, complex fires.
“These require the most seasoned and experienced managers. And we lost a lot of them last year” to the budget cuts, said Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology and a former firefighter for federal agencies. “We are just now seeing the impact of that.”
Forest Service moves ahead with plan to end Roadless Rule, which would affect forest near Eugene
Eugene-based conservation groups — including Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology — held several public events advocating to keep the rule in place, also pushing for science-based approaches.
Eugene-based conservation groups — including Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands and Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology — held several public events advocating to keep the rule in place, also pushing for science-based approaches.
Roadless Rule Still Under Threat
Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology says the idea that logging equals less fire is misguided. “Commercial logging takes the largest portion of the largest tree and hauls it away, and those are the least flammable parts of a tree,” he says. “What’s left behind are the most flammable and smallest size material, the needles and the small limbs and the logs left behind. That’s the most flammable.”
He adds that fire is a natural phenomenon and the USDA does not need to send young firefighters to every single fire that crops up in the nation’s forests. “The assumption that the forest would disappear without human intervention by logging or firefighting is ridiculous.”
Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety Ethics and Ecology says the idea that logging equals less fire is misguided. “Commercial logging takes the largest portion of the largest tree and hauls it away, and those are the least flammable parts of a tree,” he says. “What’s left behind are the most flammable and smallest size material, the needles and the small limbs and the logs left behind. That’s the most flammable.”
He adds that fire is a natural phenomenon and the USDA does not need to send young firefighters to every single fire that crops up in the nation’s forests. “The assumption that the forest would disappear without human intervention by logging or firefighting is ridiculous.”
Federal Job Cuts Are Making Wildfires Harder to Fight. The Trump administration pushed out thousands of veteran U.S. Forest Service staff. An ‘extraordinary’ fire season is testing those who are left.
The nation’s wildfire-fighting corps is a mix of state, local and federal workers and private crews-for-hire who work together. As more than 100 wildfires burn in 15 states, state resources are strained. At the same time, the federal government has cut jobs at the U.S. Forest Service and is consolidating its firefighting capabilities. The result is confusion, supply problems and slower responses, according to former Forest Service officials and the union representing the agency’s workers.
Celebrate Warner and Learn
The Warner Creek campaign resembled a local social movement that was widely supported because it held the moral high ground righteously opposing the crimes of forest arson and lawless salvage logging. Over the course of five years there were many people engaged in countless collective actions, facing risks and making personal sacrifices, who were also crucial to its victory. As the first draft of history, journalism has understandably failed to cite those unheralded individuals who also deserve public acknowledgment of their civic heroism.
The Warner Creek campaign resembled a local social movement that was widely supported because it held the moral high ground righteously opposing the crimes of forest arson and lawless salvage logging. Over the course of five years there were many people engaged in countless collective actions, facing risks and making personal sacrifices, who were also crucial to its victory. As the first draft of history, journalism has understandably failed to cite those unheralded individuals who also deserve public acknowledgment of their civic heroism.