How a ‘good fire’ in the Grand Canyon exploded into a raging inferno
Timothy Ingalsbee, another former Forest Service firefighter and the executive director of the nonprofit Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, said the federal firefighting workforce has been shrinking for years due to an inability to recruit new employees for the remote, grueling work.
But losing so many experienced people this year created a huge and sudden “brain drain,” he said.
Wildfire disasters are increasingly in the news, yet less land is burning globally – here’s why
With intense, destructive fires often in the news, it can seem like more land is burning. And in parts of the world, including western North America, it is.
Globally, however, our team of fire researchers also found that the total area burned actually declined by 26% over those two decades.
Private land used for logging is more prone to severe fire than public lands. A new study shows why
And while public lands are less likely to experience severe fire than timber lands — with a 57% probability of experiencing high-severity fire, compared to timber lands’ 66% — government forest managers aren’t necessarily doing a perfect job either, experts say.
While timber companies’ approaches tend to be too “hands-on” — bulldozing over the natural ecosystem (sometimes literally) — the U.S. Forest Service still tends to be too “hands-off,” experts argue: National Forests are still lagging behind on much-needed prescribed burning and mechanical thinning work (or “forest raking” as the president likes to call it).
Wildfire fighters, unmasked in toxic smoke, are getting sick and dying
The U.S. Forest Service has fought decades of efforts to better protect its crews — sending them into smoke without masks or warnings about the risks.
Between flames and the sky are America’s aerial firefighters
After decades as a wildland firefighter, Timothy Ingalsbee co-founded the nonprofit FUSEE, short for “Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology,” in 2004. Based in Eugene, Oregon, the organization is at the forefront of a shift in how wildfire is fought.
“We need to tell the whole story about fire — not just the sensationalist war-reporting stuff of acres burned, homes destroyed, firefighters killed,” Ingalsbee said. “We want to provide reporters with a wider context of policy, history, ecology and fire management.”
To Ingalsbee, the real issue is not that fire happens, but how we respond to it.
Trump's efforts to reshape the U.S. Forest Service face pushback
"I'm very suspicious of these reorganization proposals." Rich Fairbanks is a retired wildland firefighter in Oregon. Trump's executive order does come as the Administration is trying to consolidate and downsize USDA and its Forest Service while closing most of its regional offices in the west. Fairbanks isn't buying that Trump wants to reform federal wildfire response especially since he's pushing changes in the middle of summer wildfire season. "This Administration wants to create chaos and to break federal agencies. I'm sorry, that's the only explanation that makes sense!"
Top Democrat on oversight committee demands Trump administration account for wildland firefighter vacancies
The request follows ProPublica reporting that DOGE cuts and voluntary resignations left thousands of vacant jobs at the Forest Service, severely hampering its ability to fight wildfires.
Fighting wildfires is hellish work. It’s even worse under Trump
Trump administration’s climate denial is now colliding with its quest to shrink and incapacitate the federal workforce. Federal firefighters—spread across government land management agencies—are on the front lines of both crises, facing dire staffing shortages and bureaucratic chaos on top of shockingly meager pay, benefits, and protections.
Study: Prescribed burns substantially reduce wildfire severity, smoke
Prescribed burns are widely recognized as an effective wildfire mitigation tool. Now, using satellite imagery, land management records and fire emissions data, a team of researchers has put hard numbers to those impacts. During the 2020 season, fires that burned over recent prescribed fire areas were 16 percent less intense and emitted 220 fewer pounds of smoke per acre.
Fire historian: Dragon Bravo Fire is changing as its burns, posing huge problems for crews
The Dragon Bravo Fire at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, sparked by lightning on July 4, has decreased significantly in containment over the past few days — down to just 4% — as the blaze pushes north with extreme fire behavior.
Stephen Pyne, author of "Pyrocene Park: A journey into the Fire History of Yosemite National Park," joined The Show to talk more about what fire crews are facing.
Unified wildfire service plan stalls after Congress demands answers
“Wildfire management is more than extinguishing fires,” the letter stated. “The critical linkage between fire suppression and forest management, including fuels reduction and prescribed fire, must be maintained. Severing forest management and forest managers from fire suppression will make firefighting less safe and put communities at greater risk.”
After Grand Canyon fire, forest experts say managed burns still needed
Pyne said it’s unfortunate that managed fires only make news when they get out of control and destroy large tracts or someplace special to people. He pointed to two controlled burns near Payson and Pine, Arizona, that achieved their desired effects without fanfare earlier this year.
Pyne likewise welcomed an investigation. He just hopes it won’t lead to an “all-suppression” fire management regime.
The truth about the burning forest
This is a transcript and video of an investigative report that critiques the South Korea Forest Service’s proposal to use logging, road-based fuelbreaks, and planting conifers to address wildfire risks.
Note: there are numerous errors in translation from Korean to English
Resources for Oregon firefighters have restrained early-season wildfires but may not last long.
Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, called the state’s long-standing emphasis on aggressive initial attack a “paradox.”
“Of course, they are successful with initial attack early in the season, those are the same conditions where it would be ideal to manage the fire to reduce the fuel when wildfires burn in peak wildfire season, where they won’t be successful with an initial attack. And that’s the paradox,” Ingalsbee said. “When we are successful with initial attack, it’s probably when we shouldn’t be so aggressive in putting fires out and when we’re not successful with initial attack, it’s during pretty severe fire weather and we wish we had let fires reduce fuel loads earlier in the year.”
He advocates letting fires burn in unpopulated areas, allowing for natural fuel reduction and preserving resources for when lives and property are at risk. Shifting from an “attack” to a “monitoring” mindset, he said, is safer for firefighters and better for ecosystems.
Firefighter In British Columbia Attacked By Grizzly Bear On Wildfire.
Within just seconds, the grizzly bear charged the crew lead, swiping at his legs with her claws. Even though the bear made contact with the firefighter's legs, he was able to remain standing long enough for him to take two swings with his paws before the bear knocked him to the ground.
All this happened within seconds. Watch the video here.
Vlogger captures amazing scene.
We Are Living in the Age of Fire. And It’s Only Going To Get Worse
“Fire is always where people are,” Flannigan continues. “It goes with us wherever we go. But the genie is out of the bottle. Fire is now uncontrollable, and we're going to see more and more fire and more and more catastrophic fire.”
Flannigan thinks we are living in the pyrocene, the age of fire, an idea from Arizona environmental historian Stephen J. Pyne. By burning so much coal and oil, we have changed the climate and can no longer control the processes.
2 Firefighters Killed in Idaho Sniper Ambush
Law enforcement officers exchanged fire with the gunman while the wildfire burned. Officials later found the body of a male suspect on the mountain with a firearm nearby, Sheriff Robert Norris of Kootenai County said at a news conference on Sunday night. The authorities said they believed the suspect had acted alone, but they did not release any information about his identity or motives.
“This was a total ambush,” Sheriff Norris said. “These firefighters did not have a chance.”
Suspect identified in firefighter ambush that left 2 dead and 1 injured in Idaho
Authorities have confirmed the identity of the suspect in the firefighter ambush as 20-year-old Wess Roley, according to a law enforcement official.
Investigators believe the suspect intentionally set a brush fire on Canfield Mountain on Sunday before opening fire on responding firefighters, killing two and injuring a third.
CNN Live Updates
Santa Fe National Forest to manage lightning-caused 176-acre Laguna Wildfire in Coyote Ranger District
“We manage fire-adapted landscapes, and the Laguna Wildfire is an opportunity to create a resilient ecosystem that reduces the future risk of catastrophic severe wildfire to communities,” stated Anthony Madrid, SFNF Deputy Forest Supervisor.
‘Like taking Smokey Bear away from the Forest Service’: Trump Administration proposes consolidating wildland firefighting into single agency
“Wildfire management is more than extinguishing fires,” National Association of Forest Service Retirees Chair Steve Ellis wrote in the letter. “The critical linkage between fire suppression and forest management, including fuels reduction and prescribed fire, must be maintained. Severing forest management and forest managers from fire suppression will make firefighting less safe and put communities at greater risk.”