‘Wildland Fire Service’ stalled pending further study

The U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled plans for the formation of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service in September, with the goal of having the Service operational by the end of January. The formation of the new Service followed an executive order issued by President Donald Trump demanding the Service’s establishment.

Those efforts may never come to fruition after both Democratic and Republican lawmakers blocked that order and opted to maintain the current wildland firefighting structure in their new funding bills. The bill package continues funding allocations for wildland firefighting services to the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of the Interior.