Sue Husari: A Life in Fire, Leadership, and Care — Women’s History Month Spotlight
In a field long defined by grit, endurance, and tradition, Sue Husari has spent nearly five decades helping shape what wildland fire can be, both on the fireline and within the culture surrounding it.
Sue’s career began in 1975, when she took a summer job in fire while in college. What started as a practical decision quickly became a calling. She stayed for the people, for the purpose, and for the deep connection to land that fire work demands.
Firefighter Safety Means More Than Surviving the Flames
When people think about firefighter safety, they usually imagine the obvious dangers such as flames, falling trees, aircraft accidents, or thick smoke. But many of the most serious threats to wildland firefighters are far less visible. Firefighters already face enormous physical and mental stress from long seasons, low wages, time away from family, and exposure to traumatic scenes. On top of that, research is revealing a disturbing truth: the gear they wear and the food they eat on the job may also be exposing them to toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other serious illnesses.
How to Avoid Colonial Environmental Language in Your Public Comments
This white paper provides recommendations around Tribal sovereignty and environmental justice that we hope will be useful to organizations and individuals as they comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP) amendment. We hope that these suggestions reach a diversity of organizations and individuals with divergent visions of federal land management.
Women’s History Month Spotlight: Wildland Firefighter Jess Hamner
For U.S. Forest Service squad boss Jess Hamner, wildfire isn’t just a job, it’s a way of connecting to the land and the people around her. Now in her fifth season on a Type 2IA hand crew in Utah, Jess says what she loves most about fire is the chance to travel to places few people ever see, build deep relationships with her crew, and feel rooted in the landscapes she helps protect. “When you live with 23 people on a truck for a summer,” she says, “that’s family.”
Firefighter Safety is the #1 Priority: Safety Risks Include Physical and Mental Health Hazards
The majority of wildland firefighters are a super exploited seasonal labor force with abysmal wages and horrible working conditions. The job has inherent dangers from numerous environmental and occupational safety risks and health hazards. Crews suffer often in silence from chronic social and environmental stresses that impact their mental health.
Operational Ecology and the Future of the Wildland Firefighter
by M. Beasley
“This is not about choosing between suppression and stewardship. It is about recognizing that both are part of the profession. The most capable firefighters in our system have always understood this.
They know that suppression alone cannot solve the wildfire problem. And they know that fire applied thoughtfully can reduce risk in ways that no mechanical treatment or technology can fully replicate.”
The Ranger Road Fire: A Warning Shot in a Hollowed-Out System
by M. Beasley
Let’s start with what this fire was not.
The Ranger Road Fire was not driven by federal timber harvest levels.
It was not burning in overstocked national forests.
It was not the result of environmental regulation.
NASA classified it as a “fast fire” These are wind-driven grassland fire behavior under extreme drought and low fuel moisture. Fine dead fuel moisture was reported at 5%. Seventy-four percent of Oklahoma is in moderate to extreme drought. Winds exceeded 60 mph.
Hold the Line: Healing Through Connection at FUSEE’s Wildland Firefighter Retreats
by E. Benington
Once again, I had the opportunity to go to the annual wildland firefighter retreat this year at Great Vow Zen Monastery in Oregon.
Once again, my heart was broken over and over again to hear the stories of immense pain from fellow wildland firefighters.
Once again, my heart is breaking at the atrocities being committed to our environment and the genocides being committed across the world.
For the past two years, FUSEE has been involved in facilitating mindfulness retreats specifically for wildland firefighters. These are multi-day retreats offered on a sliding scale, currently being held in Washington, Oregon and California.
Ringing in the New Year at FUSEE's firefighter mindfulness retreat at Tassajara
I come from an older generation of wildland firefighters who had to uphold a can-do attitude for every suppression assignment no matter how dumb, dangerous, destructive, or delusional it was. We had to suck it up and dutifully carry out whatever we were told to do no matter the physical, mental, or emotional toll from those orders. Of course, in the glorious days of my youth I believed I was indestructible, even immortal. Yes, there were some years that it took months to recover my sense of smell and taste after suffering from hideously smoky incidents, but I didn't smoke tobacco and believed that my lungs would recover eventually. Now I feel the diminished lung capacity from all the smoking forests I inhaled. The chronic pain afflicting my knees, ankles, and back are not just the inevitable markers of aging but can also be traced to specific injuries suffered on the firelines. But these ailments I can admit to my friends. After all, they're the sacrifices made by "heroes," right?
New Year Wildland Firefighter Retreat at Tassajara Zen Center
Wildland firefighters from across the country expressed profound gratitude for the rest refuge and renewal offered at the annual Tassajara Wildland Firefighter Retreat, 12/28/25-1/2/26.
The retreats began in 2020 when wildland firefighters who had helped defend Tassajara from encroaching fires, and who knew the ever-increasing stressors, risks and intensity of the firefighter’s work, approached SFZC to ask if Zen Center might be able to offer mindfulness and meditation tools and support for the firefighter community.
Building a Tender Box: A Renewal of Cultural Burning
Cultural burns are central to the restoration and protection of our shared land and waterscapes. The Native-led Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program (TEIP) rebuilds our relationships with each other, the land, and fire by amplifying Indigenous voices and traditional ecological knowledge in environmental education and stewardship.
A Powerful Week of Healing at the November Wellness Retreat
I am honored to share a glimpse into the profound experience that unfolded at our recent Firefighter Wellness Retreat at Wellspring Spa and Retreat in Ashford, Washington. This gathering brought together 21 wildland firefighters from across the West, from Washington to Alaska, Oregon to Colorado, including smokejumpers, hotshots, early-career firefighters, and others nearing retirement.
The “No Man’s Yellow” Fire Shirt Project
FUSEE had the pleasure of displaying non-toxic firefighter uniforms (“yellows”) at our 2025 Fall Fire Festival. Sasha White, the creator of “No Man’s Yellow,” uses silk noil fabric and natural dyes, focusing on a fit that works better for female bodies as opposed to standard issued Nomex that has been found to contain PFAS and caters to male bodies.
Fire Consolidation as Creative Destruction? Trump's Proposed U.S. Wildland Fire Service
Secretarial Orders from the DOI and USDA were released on September 15th announcing steps they will take to implement Trump's Executive Order #14308 that mandated consolidation of all federal fire management programs. Issued last June, Trump demanded that this radical restructuring of federal fire programs be accomplished within 90 days--essentially, during peak wildfire season in the west!
Samson’s Bet
Incendiary Imbeciles #9
Hazing can be a heuristic teaching method for beginning wildland firefighters. If inclusive and genteel, hazing helps shrink hubris, arrogance, and exaggerated self-confidence. New and unexpected dangers lurk on any wildfire. Best to keep that sense of humbleness handy. But sometimes that humility must be kicked into the head of the hazer.
Political Maneuvering in Federal Land Management: Analyzing the USDA's July 2025 Reorganization
Introduction
The USDA's July 25th memorandum ordering a comprehensive reorganization of the $203 billion agency raises serious questions about the true motivations behind this restructuring. While framed in terms of efficiency and customer service, the proposed changes appear to represent a strategic power shift that could undermine effective federal land management and scientific forestry practices.
Prescription for Safety
Prescription for Safety (P4S) is a community led group located in the Little Applegate in Southern Oregon, focused on implementing fuels treatments along critical evacuation routes in the area.
The Silence Before the Storm: How Budget Cuts and Denial Are Killing Americans
The death toll from the flooding in Kerr county has risen to 43, including 15 children, the sheriff Larry Leitha said at a briefing. As of 5.30pm on July 5th, he added, officials were still working to identify 12 of the recovered adults and five of the children.
Dalton Rice, the Kerrville city manager, said that 27 girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River, are still missing. Other people who were in the area but not at the camp could also be missing, Rice added.
Tragedy in Idaho: Firefighters Ambushed While Responding to Wildfire
A wildfire response in northern Idaho turned into a deadly ambush on Sunday, as firefighters arriving on scene were met with sniper fire from a concealed gunman. Two firefighters are confirmed dead, and a third remains in critical condition following what officials are calling a premeditated attack on public safety personnel.