Spotfire!

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.

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 (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 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.

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.

I believe this is more than a policy debate. It is a spiritual conflict about the role of humanity in nature. One side envisions a world sanitized of risk and irregularity — a world governed by remote sensing, machine learning, and automated suppression. The other side honors fire as a regenerative life force. As an ecological fire practitioner and educator, I know which side I stand on.

“An increase in resonant planetary wave events, which favor persistent summer weather extremes, is evident since the mid-twentieth century, with an increase from roughly 1 to 3 events per summer on average.”

These aren’t just administrative losses. They are operational amputations. The DOGE cuts have gutted the experienced core of IMTs—particularly in critical roles like operations, logistics, planning, air attack, and finance. Some teams are now scrambling to replace long-standing members with temporary fill-ins, often from state and local agencies already overcommitted.

In the wake of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives, led by Elon Musk, significant staffing reductions have occurred across federal agencies responsible for wildfire management. Chaotic firings of probationary employees, and others, followed quickly by re-hirings, were experienced in all the Federal land management agencies. This, all the while official government inboxes filled with official Reduction in Force (RIF) messages alongside weird loyalty pledges and whimsical demands of a ketamine addict. These cuts have strained resources and fueled uncertainty over job security, raising concerns about the readiness and effectiveness of wildfire response teams.