Fire and the Emergent Worship of Artificial Intelligence.
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.
Whither the Incident Management Teams
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.
Hollowed Out
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.