Trump said cuts wouldn’t affect public safety. Then he fired hundreds of workers who help fight wildfires.
The White House and DOGE have sought to eliminate thousands of jobs from the Forest Service. The wildland firefighting force is one of many targets within the agency.
Why California and the West could face a ‘big fire season’ later this year
Hot and dry conditions in the region could accelerate yet another wildfire season, with high risks of concerning conflagrations even for areas that had rain and snow this winter.
Here’s where Americans are increasingly at risk for wildfires
Storm debris, population growth and dry conditions are all contributing to a vicious fire season in the South.
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.
Fire satellite launches into orbit to help early detection of wildfires
The new technology is not only about suppression, but mitigation, says Kate Dargan Marquis.
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.
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.”
What old trees can teach us about modern wildfires
A recent study underscores how humanity’s success in extinguishing fires has allowed dead wood and other flammable material to pile up in ecosystems, putting communities at greater risk of catastrophic fires as the planet warms.
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.
Wildfires rage across the Carolinas; South Carolina governor issues state of emergency
Dozens of wildfires raged across North and South Carolina on Sunday, prompting officials to issue evacuation orders and open emergency shelters as both states and much of the Eastern Seaboard contended with dry conditions and gusty winds.
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.
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.
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
‘You are not alone’: U.S. Forest Service chief’s blunt goodbye message to workers
Forest Service Chief Randy Moore wrote the email after thousands of agency employees were fired amid President Donald Trump’s effort to downsize the government.
California tribe enters first-of-its-kind agreement with the state to practice cultural burns
For the Karuk Tribe, Cal Fire will no longer hold regulatory or oversight authority over the burns and will instead act as a partner and consultant. The previous arrangement, tribal leaders say, essentially amounted to one nation telling another nation what to do on its land — a violation of sovereignty. Now, collaboration can happen through a proper government-to-government relationship.
“When it comes to that ability to get out there and do frequent burning to basically survive as an indigenous community,” said Bill Tripp, director for the Karuk Tribe Natural Resource Department, “one: you don’t have major wildfire threats because everything around you is burned regularly. Two: Most of the plants and animals that we depend on in the ecosystem are actually fire-dependent species.”
Mass firings hamstring federal land agencies and wildfire response
From dispatchers to radio operators, trail crews to scientists, fired employees worked a range of important jobs needed to plan prescribed burns, organize suppression efforts and protect landscapes and communities against the growing threats of catastrophic fire.
“People living in fire-prone areas need to be aware,” the dispatcher said. “There might not be people to come help you anymore – you are going to be more on your own than you’ve ever been.”
Forest Service layoffs and frozen funds increase the risk from wildfires
Despite being in office for less than a month, the Trump administration has already made the United States more exposed to catastrophic wildfires in ways that will be difficult to reverse, current and former federal employees say.
The way L.A. thinks about fires is all wrong, two experts say. They explain how to do better.
Frustrated by the continual ineffectiveness of firefighting efforts over the decades, both advocate for a more sophisticated understanding of fire and the ecosystems that foster urban and wildland blazes. Fire is so often viewed as a crisis and emergency that it is divorced from many factors that contribute to its destructive nature — factors that, if addressed, could mitigate the destruction.
Trump funding freeze halts wildfire prevention work
The Trump administration has halted funding for federal programs to reduce wildfire risk in western U.S. states and has frozen hiring of seasonal firefighters as part of broad cuts to government spending, according to organizations impacted by the moves.
The Oregon-based non-profit Lomakatsi Restoration Project said its contracts with the federal agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to reduce hazardous fuels in Oregon, California and Idaho, have been frozen.
Oregon senators call for federal firefighters to be exempt from hiring freeze
Oregon U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have joined over a dozen other lawmakers, all Democrats, in calling on the administration to issue an exemption for thousands of seasonal firefighters so federal agencies can prepare for “what’s expected to be another devastating wildfire year.”
“The Administration must not sacrifice the safety of the American people for the benefit of implementing a political agenda,” their letter reads.