SEATTLE (AP) 鈥� Trump administration funding cuts and a who help support wildland firefighting continues to make planning for the upcoming wildfire season a challenge, according to forest and fire officials in Washington state and Oregon.
The biggest issue they鈥檙e facing is a lack of communication from the federal government as the West faces 鈥渁 pretty significant wildland fire season," Washington State Forester George Geissler said Thursday during a press conference hosted by Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
鈥淭his is the time when we make certain that we have the aviation we need, when we have the personnel we need and that all of our systems check out and are ready to go when the alarm bell rings,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ithout knowing what our partners are doing or not having a clear understanding of what actions are being taken, we struggle with missing the third leg of the stool that we have.鈥�
The was cut in February during Elon Musk's push to and at least 1,000 were let go. A court order to rehire fired workers, along with a public back to their jobs, but Murray and fire officials say it wasn't enough. Plus, the lost of experienced, trained workers set the process back.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hearing that don鈥檛 worry, we are going to hire frontline people," Murray said. 鈥淵ou just let a whole bunch of frontline people go.鈥�
A spokesperson with the Department of Interior, which oversees National Parks and other public lands, said 鈥渇unding is not in jeopardy.鈥� They're supporting firefighting efforts by increasing pay for federal and tribal wildland firefighters across the U.S.
The administration has refused to release the exact number of fired and rehired workers, but numbers are coming in from individual forests, she said.
鈥淚鈥檝e heard of at least 35 people at Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, 46 at Okanagan-Wenatchee, 21 at Colville, 15 at Gifford-Pinchot, and more at the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Olympic National Forest and Methow Valley,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ere鈥檚 the thing, nearly every single Forest Service employee supports fire operations in some capacity.鈥�
Fire Chief Leonard Johnson, with the McLane Black Fire Department in Washington state, said they may line up aviation support and heavy equipment, but it takes trained firefighters to put the fires out.
鈥淲e have a high reliance on that workforce out there,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ot only at the local level, at the state level, but at the federal level to make our wildfire season successful to deal with those large fires. People are the critical component in all of this.鈥�
Merkley said Trump's budget proposal cuts forest and watershed management programs that improve forest conditions, eliminates a collaborative forest landscape restoration program and slashes 2,000 National Forest positions, on top of the thousands who left through early retirement, buyouts and layoffs.
Most of those workers may not have the title 鈥渇irefighter鈥� but they all hold Red Cards - which shows they have special training to provide essential frontline support to firefighting crews, Murray said.
鈥淚n fact, around three quarters of forest service workers are trained in wild land firefighting," she said. "They provide crucial surge capacity when a crisis strikes.鈥�
Trail maintenance crews ensure the paths are clear for firefighting personnel and equipment, Murray said. Biologists conduct testing to make decisions about prescribed burns and fuel reduction planning.
鈥淲e are here today to pull the fire alarm, and we鈥檙e gonna set off some sirens,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to keep focused on this, and we are gonna keep pushing back. There is just too much at stake to do anything less.鈥�
Martha Bellisle, The Associated Press
