SPOKANE, Wash. — Protecting your home from wildfires could be more difficult because of Trump administration cuts to the U.S. Forest Service.
Over 500 Forest Service employees in Washington and Oregon have already left the agency, raising concerns about wildfire response capabilities as fire seasons continue to grow longer each year.
“It takes trained firefighters to put fires out,” said Leonard Johnson, Fire Chief of the McClane Black Fire Department.
The U.S. Forest Service provides dozens of incident management teams for Northwest wildfires. However, federal budget cuts could limit the agency’s ability to put trained firefighters on the ground this summer.
“Not having the employees there, the incident managers, the people on the ground that can provide the critical information. Whether it’s biologists who can help define what people need to do, or weather forecasters who need to be able to let people know where the winds are,” Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) said.
According to Sen. Murray’s office, about 75% of Forest Service workers are at least trained to fight wildfires. Because so many of those workers have been let go recently, resources could be stretched thin quickly.
Steve Ellis, Chair of the National Association of Forest Service Retirees, criticized the administration’s approach to the cuts.
“The staffing cuts that were imposed by the Department of Government of Efficiency, from our standpoint, did not resemble an attempt to improve efficiencies because they did not maintain essential services focused on the needs,” Ellis said.
The Trump administration’s cuts have eliminated over 7,000 Forest Service jobs nationwide. Senator Murray’s office says it hasn’t been able to get accurate numbers from the Trump administration about how many local jobs have been cut.
Washington State Forester George Geissler highlighted specific staffing shortages that could hamper wildfire response.
“We are very short on some of the dispatchers, and these are individuals that are coordinating the response. Both on the ground and in the air,” Geissler said.
Local fire districts in Spokane say they work with the Department of Natural Resources on wildfires more often than the Forest Service. They don’t expect Forest Service cuts to put a strain on local fire departments during wildfires, but cuts to DNR’s funding could be catastrophic.
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