Latest news with #DixieFire
Business Insider
07-07-2025
- Climate
- Business Insider
From the LA fires to the Texas floods, consumer drones keep getting in the way of rescue operations
Search and rescue operations continue in central Texas, where catastrophic flooding on Friday has killed more than 80 people. Dozens are still missing. During a Sunday press conference, after the usual updates, officials made what has become a familiar request during recent natural disasters: Don't fly your personal drones over the disaster area. "We know that people want to volunteer, but what we are starting to see is personal drones flying," Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice told reporters. "These personal drones flying is a danger to aircraft, which then risks further operations." The Kerrville Police Department echoed Rice's remarks on Sunday. "Media-operated drones are interfering with official search and rescue drones. There is a no-fly zone in Kerr County for private drones," the department said on its Facebook page. "We need cooperation in this matter. Let our first responders do their job." During a press conference hosted by Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday, Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer of the Texas National Guard said the department had launched an MQ-9 Reaper drone to perform assessment operations. "It's truly an eye in the sky for our search and rescue people," Suelzer said. Though drones are now commonly used in military and law enforcement operations, they are also popular among civilians, mostly for photography and shooting video but also for those looking to help search after disasters. During several recent disasters, however, officials have said those civilian drone operators have hindered rescue operations. The Dixie fire In 2021, the Dixie fire spread across Northern California. The flames ripped through communities, displacing residents and burning nearly a million acres of land. That July, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said an unauthorized drone had impeded emergency operations. "Yesterday, aircraft assigned to the #DixieFire were forced to land due to an unauthorized drone flying over the fire traffic area," the agency said on its official Facebook page. "Drones restrict firefighters' ability to protect lives, property, and natural resources. Remember, if you fly, we can't!" Hurricane Helene Hurricane Helene battered the southeastern US in late 2024. After making landfall in Florida, it traveled up the coast through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Heavy rainfall, strong winds, and flooding demolished homes and submerged vehicles. Amid the search and rescue efforts, the US Department of Transportation shared an X post asking consumer drone operators to stay clear. At the time, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a temporary flight restriction in certain areas. "Do not fly your drone near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene," the agency said. "Interfering with emergency response operations impacts search and rescue operations on the ground." The FAADroneZone, the agency's site for drone services, said in a separate X post that "interfering with emergency response efforts may result in fines or criminal prosecution." At the time, some online observers thought volunteer drone operators were being barred from assisting in relief efforts, which sparked a backlash. The DOT later clarified that the FAA didn't ban consumer drones from providing assistance and relief. "These restrictions occur at the request of local authorities or law enforcement. FAA does not put these into place without requests," a spokesperson told Fox News. The agency added that "anyone looking to use a drone or other aircraft to assist in Hurricane Helene disaster relief and recovery efforts should coordinate with first responders and law enforcement on scene to ensure they do not disrupt life-saving operations." Los Angeles wildfires In January, a series of wildfires erupted across the Los Angeles region, causing widespread damage and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate their homes. In addition to emergency firefighting efforts on the ground, officials deployed two Super Scoopers, which are amphibious aircraft that collect water to drop on wildfires. An unauthorized civilian drone struck one Super Scooper, forcing it out of service. "We would like to remind everyone that flying a drone in the midst of firefighting efforts is a federal crime and punishable by up to 12 months in prison or a fine of up to $75,000," a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson said at the time. The incident prompted an investigation by the FAA, which said in a statement that "flying a drone near a wildfire is dangerous and can cost lives." The Department of Justice said the drone operator agreed to plead guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an uncrewed aircraft. The plea agreement included the drone operator paying full restitution to the Government of Quebec, which supplied the aircraft, and completing 150 hours of community service.
Business Insider
06-07-2025
- General
- Business Insider
From the Texas floods to the LA fires, consumer drones keep getting in the way of rescue operations
Search and rescue operations continue in central Texas, where catastrophic flooding has killed at least 69 people. Dozens are still missing. During a Sunday press conference, after the usual updates, officials made what has become a familiar request during recent natural disasters: Don't fly your personal drones over the disaster area. "We know that people want to volunteer, but what we are starting to see is personal drones flying," Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice told reporters. "These personal drones flying is a danger to aircraft, which then risks further operations." The Kerrville Police Department echoed Rice's remarks on Sunday. "Media-operated drones are interfering with official search and rescue drones. There is a no-fly zone in Kerr County for private drones," the department said on its Facebook page. "We need cooperation in this matter. Let our first responders do their job." During a press conference hosted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday, Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer of the Texas National Guard said the department had launched an MQ-9 Reaper — a remotely-piloted aircraft — to perform assessment operations. "It's truly an eye in the sky for our search and rescue people," Suelzer said. Although drones are now commonly used in military and law enforcement operations, they are also popular among civilians, mostly for photography and shooting video, but also for those looking to help search after disasters. During several recent disasters, however, officials say those civilian drone operators have hindered rescue operations. The Dixie Fire In 2021, the Dixie Fire spread across northern California. The flames ripped through communities, displacing residents and burning nearly a million acres of land. That July, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said an unauthorized drone had impeded emergency operations. "Yesterday, aircraft assigned to the #DixieFire were forced to land due to an unauthorized drone flying over the fire traffic area," the agency said on its official Facebook page. "Drones restrict firefighters' ability to protect lives, property, and natural resources. Remember, if you fly, we can't!" Hurricane Helene Hurricane Helene battered the southeast United States in late 2024. After making landfall in Florida, it traveled up the coast through Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Heavy rainfall, strong winds, and flooding demolished homes and submerged vehicles. Amid the search and rescue efforts, the US Department of Transportation shared an X post asking consumer drone operators to stay clear. At the time, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a temporary flight restriction in certain areas. "Do not fly your drone near or around rescue and recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene," the agency said. "Interfering with emergency response operations impacts search and rescue operations on the ground." The FAADroneZone, the agency's site for drone services, said in a separate X post that "interfering with emergency response efforts may result in fines or criminal prosecution." At the time, some online users thought volunteer drone operators were being banned from assisting in relief efforts, which sparked a backlash. The DOT later clarified that the FAA didn't ban consumer drones from providing assistance and relief. "These restrictions occur at the request of local authorities or law enforcement. FAA does not put these into place without requests," a spokesperson told Fox News. The agency added that "anyone looking to use a drone or other aircraft to assist in Hurricane Helene disaster relief and recovery efforts should coordinate with first responders and law enforcement on scene to ensure they do not disrupt life-saving operations." Los Angeles wildfires In January, a series of wildfires erupted across the Los Angeles region, causing widespread damage and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate their homes. In addition to emergency firefighting efforts on the ground, officials deployed two Super Scoopers, which are amphibious aircraft that collect water to drop it on wildfires. However, an unauthorized civilian drone struck one Super Scooper, forcing it out of service. "We would like to remind everyone that flying a drone in the midst of firefighting efforts is a federal crime and punishable by up to 12 months in prison or a fine of up to $75,000," a LA Fire Department spokesperson said at the time. The incident prompted an investigation by the FAA, which said in a statement that "flying a drone near a wildfire is dangerous and can cost lives." The Department of Justice said the drone operator agreed to plead guilty to one count of unsafe operation of an uncrewed aircraft. The plea agreement included the drone operator paying full restitution to the Government of Quebec, which supplied the aircraft, and completing 150 hours of community service.
Hamilton Spectator
23-06-2025
- Climate
- Hamilton Spectator
They say Muskoka won't burn. But climate has changed the calculus
They say Muskoka won't burn. The complex computer models that analyze fuel load in the forest and project wind, temperature and humidity say it is impossible. But over the past few years, forest fires have started to do things no one thought were possible. In 2018, the town of Paradise, Calif. , was engulfed in flames after a wildfire jumped a 500-metre-wide canyon that models had considered an unbreachable firebreak. To witness how Ontario's Fire Rangers prepare to tackle wildfires, the Star headed to West Nipissing, near Temagami, as a prescribed burn at Sinton Creek was carried out. The same state's Dixie Fire in 2021 sent flying embers 16 kilometres ahead of the main blaze, starting new fires farther away than any model considered feasible. The Jasper, Alta., wildfire last summer advanced eight kilometres in only four hours, fuelled by 100 km/h winds called 'unimaginable' by Parks Canada, 'driving the flames beyond any possible predictions.' A forest fire risk map for the Muskoka Region, where red shows higher risk and yellow lower risk areas. A 2009 analysis found the region — broken up by roads, cottages and Ontario's signature lakes — was a relatively low risk for wildfires. In 2009, the Western University-based Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction asked a researcher to push the wildfire model as far as it would go to see what conditions would be needed for Muskoka to go up in flames. The response: it can't happen. Muskoka has too many big lakes, which cut up the forest and prevent a fire from growing too big, while the winds aren't strong enough to carry embers across them. 'He couldn't do it. No matter how absurdly hard he pushed the model, it just wouldn't go,' said Glenn McGillivray, managing director of the institute and a professor of emergency disaster management at York University. But having seen wildfires repeatedly do things they weren't supposed to be able to do, McGillivray isn't so sure anymore. 'In all those cases, the models didn't allow it. But it happened,' he said. Fifteen years ago, it was an accepted truth that Southern Ontario was safe from forest fires. We're now not so sure. Supercharged by climate change , wildfires are getting bigger, hotter and harder to put out . The number and size of forest fires are breaking records virtually every year, making historical data increasingly irrelevant. In 2023 , more than 15 million hectares of forest burned across Canada — an area larger than the Maritime provinces — more than double the previous record and six times more than an average season. Nearly a quarter of a million people were forced to flee their homes for safety. Wildfire season is starting earlier and ending later, if it even ends at all. Reports of fire s burning through the winter — once considered an impossibility — are becoming more frequent, especially in B.C. where they can smoulder in the ground, under the snow, and emerge when warmer, drier weather returns. 'It's insane what's happening,' said Sudbury Fire Ranger Crew Leader James Paluch. 'We were fighting fires in November last year — big ones. That never happens. Out west, fires are kicking up that have been dormant for two years.' This spring, the wildfire season has been fierce — and it's only just begun. More than 1,900 wildfires have broken out, burning an area larger than 3.5 million hectares. States of emergency have already been declared in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where more than 40,000 people have been evacuated from their homes as flames encroach. Two people were killed in May while attempting to flee a wildfire in Lac du Bonnet, near Winnipeg. Speaking earlier this month, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew laid out the stakes for Canadians: 'As a nation, we're going to have to contend with future fire seasons being more and more like this, which means scaling up our firefighting capability.' Ontario, for the time being, has escaped relatively unscathed. The destruction wrought by wildfires has been concentrated in the West. But Ontario's vast boreal forest has all the characteristics needed to produce a monster wildfire, one that could sweep out of the forest and into a community this summer. Videos of the iconic yellow-and-red Canadian waterbombers have coursed through social media as With previously inconceivable fires now happening every year, it's important to understand just how many more places are at risk, said John Vaillant, the author of ' Fire Weather ,' a Pulitzer Prize finalist book that looked at the way climate change has fundamentally changed the characteristics of wildfires. 'We have to believe that Toronto can burn like L.A. We have to wrap our minds around that possibility,' he said. 'It's scary. It's sad. It totally undermines our sense of confidence in the future. And that's what climate change is really challenging us with. We really have to revise all that and it's really painful and difficult.' Ontario fire rangers carry out a prescribed burn a typical Ontario forest in West Nipissing. Officially, the populated areas of Ontario are low risk for forest fires. Most fires that break out each summer are concentrated in the remote northwest of the province. But close calls, where fires were held back at the doorstep of population centres like Timmins , aren't uncommon, and the risk of a fire breaking through into a city or town — or even cottage country — is widely ignored by folks in the south. 'The idea of Muskoka disappearing in a conflagration … you just don't want to go there,' said Vaillant. 'You could totally lose the whole thing. All you would need is a heat dome and a wind and a fire. But all that is totally possible. These are not unlikely events.' The Muskoka Lakes Fire Department has not seen any wildfires escape containment, but is acutely aware of the risk, said local Fire Prevention Officer Douglas Holland. 'We've had a few fires get into the bush, but we've been able to stop them there,' he told the Star. 'We're lucky. Because we have such a mix of trees, a lot of our fires haven't gotten up into the canopy. They've stayed on the ground.' 'But that's not to say this isn't going to change in the future.' The Muskoka fire department is conscious of the fact that climate change brings the risk of bigger wildfires and has placed an emphasis on communicating FireSmart practices to residents. This involves everything from clearing bush around homes to installing metal roofs to prevent house fires escaping into the bush and bush fires igniting homes. And so far, this has worked. But the researcher who deemed Muskoka safe back in 2009 now says climate has changed his calculus. 'If you get a good solid, dry summer like we've had, you dry everything out and then you get a little bit of dry lightning into that area. Then all bets are off,' said John Braun, a professor of statistics at the University of British Columbia, who has published more than a dozen peer-reviewed papers on forest fires. Braun has disowned the model he used, saying it had fundamental flaws in how it calculates fuel load in the forest and the potential weather patterns it envisions. 'After 15 years, I would have to say I don't think (the model) is trustworthy,' he said. The problem not only with the old model but even newer, updated ones, he explained, is that they're based on historical weather data, which is becoming increasingly obsolete. Longer periods of drought, higher temperatures and more precipitation coming all at once during big storms produce conditions in the forest that no longer resemble the past. 'What that means is you don't include the unthinkable in your possibilities. And frankly, some of these fires that we've seen in the recent past and including the California fires and things you see in Europe and Australia, these really, I think, are classified as unthinkable,' he said. 'These models are actually incapable of capturing the events that actually are possible but that just haven't happened yet.' This story is Part 3 in The Coming Firestorm, a three-part series on the growing risk of wildfires fuelled by human-induced climate change. In Part 1: The next big wildfires are coming — but Ontario doesn't have nearly enough firefighters . In Part 2: A Star reporter learns to be an Ontario fire ranger — the province's front line against the next uncontrollable blaze.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Rebuilding made easier: Butte County releases free ADU and small home plans
( — Years after devastating wildfires tore through Butte County, many families are still struggling to rebuild. However, a new initiative launched by the county aims to make that process easier and more affordable. Butte County has introduced a set of free, pre-approved building plans for small homes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The plans are part of a broader effort to support wildfire survivors and address the region's ongoing affordable housing crisis. 'We have had numerous wildfires here. We've had layered disasters for years,' said Paula Daneluk, the county's Director of Development Services. It's been nearly six years since the Camp Fire destroyed the town of Paradise, four years since the North Complex Fire and three years since the Dixie Fire. Combined, the fires destroyed more than 23,000 structures across the county, leaving a long and difficult path to recovery. 'Affordable housing is an issue not just in Butte County, but across the state,' Daneluk said. According to the 2024 Affordable Housing Needs Report, more than 8,000 low-income renter households in Butte County lack access to affordable housing. Repeated wildfires have only made the crisis worse by driving up housing costs and reducing supply. 'Obviously, we do not have enough affordable housing, and the goal is that we have a house for everybody who needs one,' Daneluk said. To help meet that goal, the county made three free building plans available for small homes and ADUs, which are secondary units that can be built on the same lot as an existing single-family home. 'These plans were designed specifically to be affordable,' said Daneluk. 'They are an opportunity for us to get sticks out of the ground and have units built.' The plans meet all applicable building codes, accessibility requirements, and zoning standards. They were created with input from local designers and are built to allow the use of locally sourced materials. 'When we worked with the designer, that was the direction that was given. That the buildings themselves had to be designed in such a way that all the materials could be locally sourced here in Butte County,' Daneluk said. By offering these plans at no cost, the county estimates residents could save thousands of dollars in architectural and design fees, and potentially months in permitting and planning. 'People don't have to go out and hire an architect and spend all that money,' Daneluk said. 'These are free, ready-to-go-off-the-shelf building plans.' After years of destruction, county officials hope the initiative offers residents a practical path forward. Additional resources for wildfire recovery and rebuilding are available through the Butte County Department of Development Services. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fired US Forest Service and National Park Service workers say cuts will be felt on fire lines
When unemployed marine biologist Lanny Flaherty poked his head into the ranger's station at the Wallowa Whitman National Forest in the Pacific Northwest and asked to be a volunteer, he said it put him on a 13-year career path with the U.S. Forest Service that included stints as a botanist, a wildfire resource adviser and a range ecologist. When he wasn't researching the effects of vegetation on fire behavior or identifying fungi on national forest land, the 40-year-old Flaherty said he was a "red-card" carrying certified firefighter, helping battle some of the biggest wildland fires in the nation. In 2016, he helped fight the Great Smoky Mountain wildfires, the largest arson blazes in Tennessee history, and in 2021, he helped extinguish the Dixie Fire that swept through five Northern California counties, scorching nearly a million acres and destroying more than 1,300 structures. 'I'm so proud of everything I've done," Flaherty told ABC News. "Stumbling into the Forest Service was the first time in my life where I was like, 'Oh, this fits. I'm running with it. This is me.'" But while on assignment last week with a U.S. Forest Service fire engine crew in Louisiana restoring federal land and structures at the Kisatchie National Forest that had been devastated by hurricanes, Flaherty said his job came to an abrupt end. As a probationary range ecologist, he was among several thousand probationary workers terminated from the U.S. Forest Service in the Trump administration's sweeping reduction in the federal workforce being overseen by billionaire Elon Musk and the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). "It's absolutely heartbreaking to end up under the bus on what's obviously a politically motivated illegal termination," said Flaherty, whose two-year probationary period wasn't scheduled to end until November of this year. "I mean, I've got 13 years' worth of qualifications and I was cast aside as a probationary employee, despite having proven myself time and time again in a multitude of different positions." The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service, announced that 2,000 USFS "probationary, non-firefighting employees" were being let go. At least 1,000 probationary employees of the National Park Service, which is under the U.S. Interior Department, were also terminated, including those who worked as secondary firefighters. "To be clear, none of these individuals were operational firefighters," USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement. Rollins, according to the USDA statement, "fully supports the President's directive to improve government, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA's many services to the American people." MORE: Here are all the agencies federal workers are being fired from "We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the American people's hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar spent goes to serve people, not the bureaucracy," the USDA statement reads. While hosting a roundtable in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday with U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighters, Rollins praised their response to the devastating January wildfires in Los Angeles County that decimated the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Following the meeting, the USDA released a statement, saying, Rollins is "committed to ensuring that the United States has the strongest and most prepared wildland firefighting force in the world to save lives and protect our beautiful homeland." But the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) told ABC News that the USFS cuts will severely weaken the agency's ability to respond to wildfires. Steve Gutierrez, NFFE's national business representative, said that based on data the union requested from the USFS, the number of fired probationary non-fire personnel is about 3,400. Flaherty said that in the past five years, 40% to 50% of his job was fighting wildfires as part of what the Forest Services refers to as "militias" comprised of trained secondary firefighters. "When a fire breaks out, we're out there like everybody else getting into the fray," Flaherty said. Gutierrez, a former USFS firefighter, told ABC News that the cuts affect about 10% of the U.S. Forest Service's total workforce. He said many of the terminated employees held dual jobs, like Flaherty, including working as firefighters responding to all-hands-on-deck blazes throughout the country. 'When I say 'non-fire personnel,' we can't totally think that they don't ever touch fire, that they're not important," Gutierrez said. "They're all part of this logistical machine that helps support fire. They're either ecologists, they're mechanics, they're pilots, they're water systems operators, they're grants and agreements folks, they're land management, minerals and geologists to help recovery efforts from the aftereffect of fire." He added, "They support all of what happens before fire, during a fire and after a fire." Gutierrez said some of the federal employees who got fired had just helped battle the Los Angeles fires just weeks ago. 'They just fought this fire in LA, one of LA's most devastating wildfires that we've ever had and now they're terminated because they have 'poor performance,'" Gutierrez said. "It's just crazy to me that you can be so utterly disrespectful and ultimately it's a slap in the face to these brave men and women who have risked their lives for the American public." MORE: Fired federal workers decry 'arbitrary,' 'haphazard' terminations Making matters worse, Gutierrez said, is an imposed hiring freeze, which has stalled the annual task of "fuels management," which means clearing federal lands of fire hazards like dead trees and overgrown brush. "If we're not able to get that process moving immediately, fires are not going to just be, like, small. These fires are going to get exponentially bigger. Communities are going to burn and people are going to die, and that's what's going to happen," Gutierrez said. "It's not going to be just a California problem. It's going to be a United States problem. I mean, there are several states, New Jersey, for example, they had a fire every year, every month for the past year. There was a fire in New York, right there in Manhattan. It's not going to stop. It's a national issue." Flaherty said that when he got a call in Louisiana from his forest supervisor relating that he was terminated effective immediately with no severance package, he was initially told he'd have to get his own transportation back to Oregon. "He offered no solution whatsoever, despite being fully aware of the fact that I would be stranded in Louisiana and unable to make travel arrangements short of purchasing myself a ticket. I was not in Louisiana on my own time, I was there on official travel and his plan was to, I guess, just wing it," Flaherty said. Flaherty said his union, the NFFE, intervened and got the USFS to cover his transportation by temporarily rescinding his termination until it got him back to Oregon. "It's just really sad that the top of the food chain doesn't understand the impacts of what they're doing when they swipe their pen," said Gutierrez, responding to Flaherty almost being stranded in Louisiana. "They don't understand the complexities of the entirety of the government." Flaherty said the "insult still rings true even though I am back home." 'To me, that just kind of sums up how callous and poorly thought out all of this is," Flaherty said. "I have deep, deep concerns for the amount of stress that everybody has been put through in every agency, and it just continues. It's harming people's physical and mental well-being, and it's criminal." Eric Anderson said that in June 2024 he landed a job as a biological science technician and lead fire effects monitor for the National Park Service, after working since 2021 as a seasonal employee. 'I spent two years, three years working as a temporary hire to keep my face seen, to improve my qualifications, to gain more experience. And now, I finally get into a position that I knew three years ago, OK, my predecessor, is probably going to be retiring. I think I can improve my qualifications and become useful to do that position. And I worked toward it, I applied, and I got the position." Like Flaherty, Anderson, 48, a married father of two high school-aged children, told ABC News that he was fired in what he called, "the Valentine's Day massacre." 'You finally get your dream job that you've been working toward for many years, and it just got pulled out from under you for politics," said Anderson, who was stationed at the Indiana Dunes National Park on the southern shore of Lake Michigan. He said he received his dismissal letter in his email inbox from an Interior Department administrator he had never met. "The Department determined that you have failed to demonstrate fitness or qualifications for continued employment because your subject matter knowledge, skills, and abilities do not meet the Department's current needs, and it is necessary and appropriate to terminate, during the probationary period, your appointment to the position of BioScience Tech (Fire Eff. Monitor)," reads the dismissal letter Anderson shared with ABC News. "This is a lie. This says I'm fired because of my performance and my inability to do the job and that I'm no longer needed. My performance evaluations are excellent, and I'm crucial to the program. I have qualifications that we need within our unit to function," Anderson said. "It's a bit maddening." MORE: IRS layoffs underway around the country as millions prepare to file taxes A former Peace Corps volunteer from 2000 to 2002 in Kenya, East Africa, Anderson said he used to work as a consultant in the private sector and took a huge pay cut when he joined the NPS as a seasonal employee. "My bosses worked really hard to justify that I should be kept on, noting that in my position description, yes, it says biological science technician, but if you just read down a few lines, you see the box checked that says wildland firefighter, which was supposed to be in the protected ones that weren't getting fired," Anderson said. In his job as a biological science technician, he said he would collect plant samples for analysis and prepped parklands in the winter months for the fire season, eliminating hazardous fuels by conducting prescribed or controlled burns. His work also included rehabilitating burned land. "When bulldozers come through trying to protect towns, someone has to put that back together. So, we worked very much on how do we keep this from washing down the mountain during the next atmospheric river," Anderson said. "By mid-August or so, we're pretty much done with our sampling at various parks around the Great Lakes that we go to, and then we are available to do wildland fire or help as collaterals for wildland fires," Anderson said. "A lot of the people that were let go in the last week were also collateral firefighters." In September, Anderson worked on the front lines of the Line Fire that burned more than 44,000 acres in and around the San Bernardino National Forest and threatened the community of Highland, California. In August 2023, Anderson said he helped battle the Happy Camp Complex Fire, which burned more than 21,000 acres in the Klamath National Forest in Northern California's Siskiyou County. He just returned in January from conducting prescribed fires in the Florida Everglades. 'Maybe, this is that Peace Corps volunteer in me that looks for mission-driven work. I know that's just my personality type. I need to be working somewhere that I feel it's important," Anderson said. "I very much want to go back and work for the place that I was just fired from. I live what I do. These are all very qualified, excellent people doing good work that needs to be done and they're just slashed without any real cause." Fired US Forest Service and National Park Service workers say cuts will be felt on fire lines originally appeared on
