On Thursday, President Donald Trump made a significant move by ordering the unification of wildland firefighting efforts into a singular program, despite receiving warnings from former federal officials concerned about the potential costs and increased risk of severe wildfires.
This directive aims to centralize the current firefighting efforts, which are distributed across five different agencies and two Cabinet departments. Under this plan, a new Federal Wildland Fire Service would be established within the U.S. Interior Department according to Trump’s proposed budget for the next year.
This change would involve transferring thousands of personnel from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service—where most federal firefighters are currently assigned—despite the fire season being underway. The administration has yet to release details regarding the potential financial impact of this transition.
Trump’s order emphasized the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles earlier this year as evidence of the necessity for quicker wildfire response. “Wildfires threaten every region, yet many local government entities continue to disregard commonsense preventive measures,” the order asserted.
In the initial months of Trump’s administration, financial support for wildfire prevention was temporarily halted, and the federal firefighter workforce was diminished due to layoffs and retirements. Notably, the order does not address climate change, which Trump has previously minimized, even as increasing temperatures contribute to more intense and dangerous wildfires. Last year alone, over 65,000 wildfires swept through nearly 9 million acres across the U.S.
Firefighter organizations and former Forest Service officials have expressed concerns that restructuring firefighting efforts could lead to increased costs and significant disruptions during the current fire season. They also warn this might shift focus onto extinguishing fires, a challenging and sometimes impossible task for large blazes, at the expense of preventive measures. This could potentially lead to more severe fires as forests become overgrown.
A group including several past Forest Service chiefs recently communicated to lawmakers that consolidating firefighting responsibilities might “actually increase the likelihood of more large catastrophic fires, putting more communities, firefighters, and resources at risk.”
This year, a particularly destructive fire season is anticipated, driven by warmer-than-average temperatures across the majority of the country, according to federal officials.
The Center for Western Priorities, a left-leaning advocacy group, labeled Trump’s proposal as “madness,” especially given the commencement of the wildfire season. “If President Trump was serious about improving the nation’s wildland firefighting capabilities, he would stop hollowing out the agencies tasked with fighting wildfires,” commented Aaron Weiss, the group’s deputy director.
A similar proposal in the past, aiming to merge the Forest Service and Interior to enhance firefighting capabilities, was determined by the Congressional Research Service in 2008 to have notable drawbacks. However, more recent bipartisan support has emerged, with California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla and Montana Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy sponsoring legislation aligning with Trump’s plan. Sheehy, who entered office last year, had founded an aerial firefighting company that significantly utilizes federal contracts.
Moreover, Trump signed into law another bill proposed by Sheehy, which permits the reauthorization of selling U.S. military aircraft and components for wildfire operations. Sheehy mentioned in a statement that addressing wildfires “more quickly and aggressively is America First common sense.”
In another wildfire-related action, the Trump administration last month rescinded specific environmental protections for future logging projects encompassing over half of U.S. national forests.
The emergency designation extends over 176,000 square miles across the nation, primarily located in the West, with coverage also in the South, around the Great Lakes, and in New England. Much of this forested area faces high wildfire risks and suffers from deterioration due to insect infestations and disease.
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