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The Guardian
a day ago
- General
- The Guardian
US faces alarming shortage of firefighters during peak wildfire season, data reveals
More than a quarter of firefighting positions at the United States Forest Service (USFS) remain vacant, according to internal data reviewed by the Guardian, creating staffing shortages as extreme conditions fuel dozens of blazes across the US. The data paints a dangerously different picture than the one offered by Tom Schultz, the chief of the USFS, who has repeatedly assured lawmakers and the public that the agency is fully prepared for the onslaught in fire activity expected through this year. It's already been busy. So far this year there have been more than 41,000 wildfires - an amount nearly 31% higher than the ten-year average. 'In terms of firefighting capacity we are there,' Schultz said during a Senate committee hearing on 10 July, claiming the USFS had hit 99% of hiring goals. He repeated the claim multiple times. But staffing reports produced on 17 July show more than 5,100 positions were unfilled, more than 26%. The problem was especially grim in the Pacific Northwest, a region facing extremely high fire risk this year, with a vacancy rate of 39%. The Intermountain region, the largest region with close to 34 million acres of forest lands that stretch across parts of Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho and California, has nearly 37%. The numbers also fail to capture the strain being felt in specific areas within these regions where ranks are severely thin. There are reports of USFS crews staffed with less than half of the positions once considered necessary to be fully operational. Six federal firefighters, who asked for anonymity because they are barred from speaking publicly, described how the staffing shortages have complicated crews' ability to suppress large fires and contribute to increased injuries and risks for firefighters on the ground. 'There is definitely a lot of tension in the system this season,' said a fire captain, describing how these issues have long plagued the agency. 'It's sort of like that medieval torture devise that stretched people – just one more crank.' Many of the positions left unfilled are in middle management and leadership, leaving critical gaps in experience and tactical planning. 'The agency saying it is 'fully staffed' is dangerous,' a squad leader familiar with the data said. 'Maxing out 19-year-olds with no qualifications isn't the best strategy.' Vacancies at higher levels create limitations on who can be deployed in the field. 'We can't send [a crew] without supervision because it is unsafe – if they don't have a qualified supervisor that engine is parked' said Bobbie Scopa, a retired firefighter who dedicated 45 years to the service. The empty positions also add to fatigue for firefighters who are already working in extreme weather and spending weeks at a time on fire lines with little opportunity for rest and recovery. Without back-up, those at higher levels are less able to take badly-needed time off. If they get sick or injured, there's no one to take over. 'Folks are having to fill in and fill holes,' Scopa said, 'and they are going out without all the positions they need for a team.' The agency did not respond to requests for comment about the issues or questions about Schultz's claims of full staffing. But one firefighter speculated the agency may be using hiring numbers that only show whether an offer was accepted, and not if that hiring created a vacancy in another area. 'If people that are already permanent take a different job it still counts as a hiring action,' he said. 'But if the place they leave doesn't get backfilled, it just means they moved someone, not that they added someone.' Another firefighter said the agency might be exploiting the difference between 'minimum' staffing requirements and what was traditionally considered 'fully staffed'. 'You can technically play a football game with 11 people on the team,' he said. 'It would be considered negligent, maybe even abusive to the players, but they signed up to play and it's technically allowed.' The Forest Service has struggled to recruit and retain qualified firefighters in recent years, as escalating job hazards paired with low pay pushed scores of people out of the service. The exodus has exacerbated the exhaustion felt by those who remained, creating a viscous cycle at a time when the climate crisis is fueling a new era of catastrophic fire. The USFS lost nearly half of its permanent employees between 2021 and 2024 alone, leaving the agency scrambling to fill positions with less experienced recruits. The loss in experience took a toll on the workforce, several firefighters said, and the agency was left struggling to keep pace. The issue has come into sharper focus as the Trump administration continues to slash budgets and cut support staff positions, creating a new layer of challenges and plummeting morale. Firefighters and forest experts expressed deep concerns that the drastic cuts and resignation incentives offered earlier this year, which culled thousands from the agency's ranks, have left crews dangerously unprepared. Roughly 4,800 USFS workers signed on to a program offering paid administrative leave through September if they opted to resign or retire, pushed by the Trump administration as a way to rapidly shrink the federal government. While firefighters were exempt from the programs , they left significant gaps in a workforce that supports wildfire mitigation and suppression. That figure also includes 1,400 people with so-called 'red cards' who trained to join operations on the fire line if needed. The Department of Agriculture, which oversees the forest service, has tried to address the loss of employees with fire qualifications by calling for those with red cards who took early resignation or retiring offers to voluntarily return for the season and take on fire assignments until their contracts end. But when Senators questioned Schultz about the problem, he said the agency did not yet have numbers on if staffers decided to return. 'We depend on those people to help run the large fires,' Scopa said. 'Teams are not fully functional right now because we have lost so many people.' Firefighters have already been experiencing the effects of a reduced workforce firsthand. There have been reports of crews being left without power for weeks due to cut maintenance workers, paychecks being late or halved because administrative roles were left empty, or firefighters having to mow lawns or do plumbing work in addition to their other duties. 'I am hearing from firefighters who aren't getting meals because they are having problems with the contracts for the caterers because we laid off people who worked in contracting,' Scopa said. 'There was no efficiency in this – they just slashed it with an ax.' And more cuts could be coming. Schultz told lawmakers that the Trump administration's plans to eliminate multiple programs in the agency along with 'significant funding reductions in programs that remain', with greater responsibility shifted to states, private landowners, and tribes to fund emergency preparedness, management, and response. The administration is also proposing to consolidate federal firefighters into a new agency, housed under the Department of Interior – an idea that many federal firefighters support – but there are concerns that the process is being rushed and prioritized over managing emergency response during an intense summer. 'You all have trotted out another new reorganization in the middle of a very dangerous fire season,' said Ron Wyden, the Oregon senator, to Schultz during the committee meeting, warning that the lack of emergency preparation this year could cost lives. 'These infernos are not your grandfather's fires – they are bigger and they are hotter,' he said. 'We need to address this critical preparedness gap.' In Oregon, where region-wide staffing gaps are among the most acute, the governor declared a state of emergency last week to preposition resources for the threats expected from wildfire. Several blazes have already torn through the state this year, including the Cram fire, which had sprawled across more than 95,000 acres by Monday, making it the largest in the nation. Firefighters were battling 83 large blazes nationwide on 21 July, roughly two-weeks after the country's fire managers moved the country's response to 'Preparation Level 4,' the second-highest designation meant to show that resources are already heavily committed. Despite his assurances to Congress that the USFS was ready for the intense fire activity, Schultz shifted tone in an internal memo sent to agency leadership last week, shared with the Guardian. 'As expected, the 2025 fire year is proving to be extremely challenging,' he wrote. Forecasts issued from the Climate Prediction Center and Predictive Services indicate the season is far from slowing. Higher than normal temperatures are predicted for much of the US through September, along with drier than normal conditions, creating high risks for big burns. 'We have reached a critical point in our national response efforts and we must make every resource available,' Schultz added. 'At times like this we know the demand for resources outpaces their availability.'
E&E News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Trump admin to ink deals with states for forest management
The Forest Service has launched an ambitious goal of handing states more responsibility for federal land, agency Chief Tom Schultz said Wednesday. Speaking to a national forest policy conference in Washington, Schultz outlined the Trump administration's vision of a Forest Service with a narrower public mission that relies more heavily on state governments to keep the 193-million-acre system healthy and less at risk of out-of-control wildfires. 'I see a different role for the states, maybe, going forward,' Schultz said, pointing to the administration's recent 20-year agreement with Montana to allow the state to manage 200,000 acres of national forest for timber, wildfire and other priorities. Advertisement Gone are the days, Schultz said, when states with limited budgets were viewed as subservient to the federal government.
Miami Herald
23-06-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
‘Extremely rare' bird spotted in Wisconsin is a ‘complete mystery,' birders say
An 'extremely rare' Kelp Gull has been spotted in an unusual place — Milwaukee, Wisconsin, officials confirm. How it got to a northern state is a 'complete mystery,' according to a June 13 news release from the Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas II. Some sightings in the northern hemisphere have occurred since the 1980s, according to the National Audubon Society, but Kelp Gulls have typically stayed in the southern parts of the United States if they go north. Experts told WISN the bird is most often found in South America, New Zealand and Australia. 'During the 1990s, a few Kelp Gulls wandered elsewhere in North America, including Texas, Maryland, and Indiana, and there have been scattered records since then,' the National Audubon Society said on their website. The bird is recognized by its black back and wings and 'greenish-yellow' legs, according to eBird. The Kelp Gull has nested among Herring Gulls on a rooftop and paired with a mate, birder Tom Schultz said in the news release. One chick was seen in the nest. The sighting has attracted bird watchers to Milwaukee, but there is only one location to spot the Kelp Gull, officials said. 'There is only one safe viewing location to see this gull, and that is from UNDER the Hoan Bridge. The building is at 1414 S. Lincoln Memorial Drive, and called Port Milwaukee Cargo Terminal 2 on Google maps,' officials said. It may not always be seen at the nest, however, birders said. It takes turns nesting with its Herring Gull mate. As excited viewers flock to the area, Schultz warns that crowds can disrupt the busy area. 'We are very concerned about traffic congestion in this viewing location, as this is a business district, and too many birders and parked cars could cause problems,' Schultz said. 'It is even possible that the warehouse owners could become annoyed enough that they might seek to eliminate this rooftop nesting colony. Best behavior and carpooling are strongly encouraged!'
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘The stakes are life and death': The US is not prepared for wildfire season after sweeping DOGE cuts, report says
As summer temperatures begin to rise and another dangerous wildfire season looms, a new report warns the U.S. is underprepared due to sweeping budget and staffing cuts under the Trump administration. Federal agencies are grappling with reduced workforces, diminished resources, and weakened emergency infrastructure just as extreme summer heat and drought are taking hold of many states out West. Experts and current firefighters say the situation is dire. 'If this turns out to be a major fire year, it's going to be a s*** show,' Dr. Hugh Safford, a fire ecologist and former U.S. Forest Service (USFS) official, told The Guardian. Safford spent more than two decades working for the service before retiring in 2021. Five federal firefighters echoed the same concern to the outlet, speaking anonymously due to restrictions, all answering 'no' when asked if their agencies were ready. Already, wildfires have destroyed homes in Oregon, and more than 8.5 million acres have burned across Canada. Climate forecasters predict above-average fire potential this year across California, Montana, Texas, and much of the Pacific Northwest. But despite these warnings, there have been major staffing cuts. USFS Chief Tom Schultz told a Senate committee the agency is 'well-positioned,' citing the hiring of 11,000 firefighters—900 fewer than last year—and 37 incident management teams, down from 42, The Guardian reported. But lawmakers and fire experts disagree. 'The reality is on the ground, we have lost workers whose jobs are absolutely essential,' Senator Patty Murray said in response, citing a loss of 7,500 USFS employees, including maintenance staff, administrators, and qualified on-call firefighters. 'The stakes are life and death here – and this raises serious alarms about this agency being ready for this critical fire season,' she added. Cutbacks have strained fire operations. Some crews lack access to supplies, paychecks have been delayed or halved, and workers are filling roles far beyond their scope—mowing lawns, managing campsites, or doing their own plumbing. 'Those agencies were already understaffed,' Lenya N. Quinn-Davidson, director of the University of California's Fire Network, said. 'Now they are skeletal.' The Trump administration has pushed an early retirement program that 4,800 USFS workers have joined, including 1,400 with critical 'red card' fire qualifications. Schultz admitted there was no strategic analysis of who left or what skills were lost. Now, the Department of Agriculture is scrambling to re-enlist those workers for the fire season. 'I don't expect many to return,' said one fire planner. 'The loss of experience is immense.' Another complication came when an executive order was issued last week, giving agencies 90 days to consolidate all federal firefighters under a new Department of the Interior agency. Firefighters have concerns that the rushed implementation could create more chaos during peak fire season. 'It seems like a joke if you can't even pay my guys or get them insurance,' an USFS squad leader said. 'I like the idea of a firefighter-led agency. But I don't have faith in these people putting it together.' Grants that support wildfire mitigation on local, state, tribal, and private lands were halved this year and are set to be eliminated next year. Nearly $100 million intended to support rural and volunteer fire departments was withheld, The Guardian reported. 'The administration's budget for Forest Service research is $0—for the world's most important forest research organization,' Safford said. The administration also rolled back climate science initiatives and scaled down weather forecasting capacity. NOAA and National Weather Service layoffs have hampered early warning systems in fire-prone areas. So states are stepping in to compensate. California issued $72 million in fire mitigation grants last month. Colorado allocated $7 million this spring. 'Forest fires aren't going to take four years off just because of who's in the White House,' Governor Jared Polis told Politico. Schultz acknowledged a shift is underway to push more responsibility onto states and local governments. That shift, Quinn-Davidson said, underscores the importance of empowering communities to lead on fire prevention. 'The more we can empower people at the local level, the more resilient we'll be in the face of disaster,' Quinn-Davidson said. But with the season already underway, many fear the consequences of federal disinvestment may soon be felt. As one firefighter put it: 'I'm not seeing our interests being represented. That could be catastrophic.'
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal support for wildfire prevention wanes as risk in Colorado grows
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz, center, visits the Mizpah Campground on the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forests on April 16. (USDA Forest Service photo by Preston Keres/Public domain) Wildfire experts say the best way for Colorado to reduce the destructive power of wildfires is to prepare a proactive response supported by the federal government. But it's uncertain whether federal resources will continue to support fire mitigation and resilience projects, and organizations that work on those projects are no longer sure whom to talk to at federal agencies they've previously worked with. In a fire-prone state that's entering the warm months, this has reduced momentum on fire prevention efforts some experts say are essential to protecting Colorado communities. The Trump administration has upended federal agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management with staff reductions and reorganizations. And the federal hiring freeze Trump implemented on inauguration day has meant many open positions are left unfilled. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Rebecca Samulski, executive director of Fire Adapted Colorado, a nonprofit that supports wildfire resilience professionals around the state, said the energy around proactive mitigation has 'kind of stalled right now,' as organizations determine how to stay afloat without the guarantee of federal support. With all of the moving pieces, prevention experts have again become reactive while trying to 'stay sane.' 'I just think it's really important that the federal government continue to have a role in the proactive wildfire resilience work,' Samulski said. 'We know that it's a lot more cost effective to do the work up front with communities than to wait and to respond to disasters or recover from them.' Matt McCombs, Colorado State Forest Service director, said that in what is expected to be an average wildfire season — which 'is a really bad year in Colorado' — work to improve resiliency and protect communities and watersheds is essential to safeguarding Colorado's billion dollar recreation and outdoor economy. The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control's 2025 Wildfire Preparedness Plan warned that Colorado may have 'slightly above-average wildland fire activity' this year, as well as the potential for delayed response times and fewer firefighting resources because of concerns around federal funding. That can jeopardize communities, natural resources and infrastructure in Colorado. The wildfire season is longer and more intense in Colorado and the West due to the effects of climate change, as well as prolonged drought and a buildup of dry fuels. The three largest wildfires in state history all occurred in 2020, and the most state's most destructive fire — the 2021 Marshall Fire — leveled entire subdivisions during winter in an urban area once thought relatively safe from wildfires. Vail Fire Chief Mark Novak said there are three tenets to the nationally recognized 'cohesive wildfire management strategy': resilient landscapes, fire adaptive communities, and a safe and effective response. In Vail — where the town is 4.5 square miles surrounded by hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. Forest Service land — collaboration with the federal government is essential to successfully reduce the threat forests can pose in the event of a fire. 'In a community like ours where we're surrounded by the forests, there's a lot we can do to protect our community by creating that fire-adapted community and by having a good response, but ultimately we have to have all three pieces of the cohesive strategy and we need to have resilient landscapes,' Novak said. 'If that pipeline of the work that needs to be done slows down, it makes us more vulnerable, so that's very concerning.' Fire Adapted Colorado and the Colorado Forest Collaboratives Network wrote to Colorado's members of Congress in April asking them to intervene because of how funding freezes and executive orders are 'severely hampering' wildfire preparedness. That includes the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The state's Fire Prevention and Control was in the process of applying for the resilient communities grant under FEMA to support education and training for local jurisdictions as it looks to roll out its newly developed wildfire resiliency code. Christopher Brunette, chief of the division's fire and life safety section, said the division is looking for other ways to provide that training without federal funding. At the end of April, Colorado's entire Democratic delegation in Congress, as well as Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd of Grand Junction, wrote to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and asked her to reinstate Forest Service staff who were trained to respond to wildfire incidents outside of their primary work duties. 'The Forest Service is now entering peak fire season in a compromised position, placing an even greater fire danger on communities across Colorado,' the lawmakers said in their letter. U.S. House Assistant Minority Leader Joe Neguse of Lafayette and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, both Democrats, also sponsored legislation that would reinstate all staff at the Forest Service and the National Park Service who were 'wrongfully terminated' by the Trump administration. Novak said he's heard estimates that 25% of the Forest Service's resource positions in Colorado, such as those who conduct environmental analysis on projects and verify field work is being done properly, are open and likely won't be filled. 'People have left them or there're seasonal positions that won't be filled, so we're very concerned about being able to actually implement projects, even projects that already have approval,' Novak said. We know that it's a lot more cost effective to do the work up front with communities than to wait and to respond to disasters or recover from them. – Rebecca Samulski, executive director of Fire Adapted Colorado A statement from the U.S. Forest Service said that wildland firefighting positions are considered public safety positions, which are therefore exempt from the federal hiring freeze under an April order from Rollins. The forest service 'remains operationally ready to support wildfire response efforts' with state and local partners, the statement said. About 5,000 'non-fire' Forest Service staff have left their positions or are in the process of doing so across the country, the statement said, but it did not provide more information on those positions or what they did. While many of the 'primary fire' positions have been exempt from reduction in force efforts, Novak said many 'secondary fire' positions, like biologists who could help as a resource adviser in the event of a fire, have left their roles. 'So if we look at fire suppression as a system, we know that system has less capability than it did just last year,' Novak said. Vail Fire hires seasonal foresters to help with projects during the warmer months, and Novak said it just hired someone who left a full-time forest service position for a six-month seasonal position. 'I don't want to speak to their motivations, but I think it's pretty telling when people are leaving full-time positions to take seasonal positions,' Novak said. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Interior, which oversees the BLM, cited a 'joint fire memo' signed by Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to ensure wildland firefighting in the U.S. is 'highly coordinated and focused on fighting wildfires quickly and effectively.' That order allows an exemption from the federal hiring freeze for certain positions. 'The Department is working to hire key positions that will continue to protect public and tribal lands, infrastructure, and communities from the impacts of wildfires through hazardous fuels management, wildfire preparedness, and close collaboration with interagency partners,' the spokesperson said in a statement. McCombs said Trump's budget proposes a wholesale elimination of an arm of the U.S. Forest Service that provides support on non-federal lands and is a core component of the state forest service's funding. He said Colorado State Forest Service is proud of how it uses the resources it receives from the federal government, which it and other state forestry services have done for decades. In the 2024 fiscal year, running through the end of June 2024, the CSFS spent about $11.1 million from federal grants, which is just under 36% of the state forest service's budget. Samulski said many wildfire prevention organizations do their work with the support of federal funding, with several becoming reliant on those federal funds to continue operating. Some groups have reduced their work or shut down entirely because of the fear that they will lose funding, or because there aren't projects being funded right now, she said. Many long-standing grant programs shifted to receive funding from the Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden administration, even though they were previously funded from other sources, and were frozen by the Trump administration, Samulski said. While some grant programs have been unfrozen, others haven't, and the uncertainty has led some groups to search for other revenue sources. 'Many of the organizations are trying to figure out how to pivot and be less reliant on federal funding, and I've already had to pause … projects on the ground or cancel projects because they don't know if they'll get the reimbursement,' Samulski said. Those projects include removal of hazardous fuels on the ground or vegetation surrounding state, federal or private lands near communities, homes or watersheds, Samulski said. She said organizations focused on wildfire prevention have been growing in recent years as they realized they need to be more proactive. 'No amount of firefighting is actually going to change the outcomes that are happening on the ground that much,' Samulski said. 'We need to do more in advance of the fires, and so there's kind of been this recognition and a shift in terms of trying to build up that capacity.' On top of its primary responsibilities of overseeing state and private forestry projects in Colorado, the CSFS has agreements with the federal Forest Service and the BLM under the Good Neighbor Authority, a concept McCombs said started in Colorado. The Good Neighbor Authority allows federal agencies to establish agreements with state agencies to conduct forest management activities such as fuels reduction, forest health improvement and habitat improvement on federal lands. The CSFS has about 25 active projects under the Good Neighbor Authority, with 15 full-time employees staffed through funding from the GNA. The state forest service has completed over 15,000 acres of forest treatment through the GNA on federal, state and private land. 'I don't think there's a national forest in the state where we are not under agreement to do some work to support and build capacity for the (U.S. Forest Service) so they can accelerate the critical forest health wildfire mitigation work that needs to be done,' McCombs said. 'Our people know each other, they trust each other. Sometimes it's not easy for federal and state entities to work well together. We do this really well in Colorado.' As agencies potentially affected by financial cuts at the federal level wait to see the final outcomes, McCombs said CSFS leaders remain in consistent communication with their USFS counterparts to determine how state foresters can best help and continue working together. 'That's a really positive thing that even amidst all of this rapid and in some instances, unwanted or unwelcome change, we're still striving to try to stay in communication and keep moving things forward, because the wildfire is not going to wait,' McCombs said. 'We've got to keep driving forward under whatever context we're operating in.' Coalitions and Collaboratives, a Colorado-based nonprofit that advocates for resilient ecosystems, also works under a cooperative agreement with the Forest Service to help with wildfire resilience and mitigation. Jonathan Bruno, CEO of COCO, said the group helps local programs working on resilience and mitigation efforts ensure they have long-term sustainability. The nonprofit also distributes grants funded by the Forest Service. After the Trump administration took over, Bruno said all of his organization's grant agreements with the Forest Service were put under review and frozen. He said about 90% of the funding his organization works with comes from the federal government. 'That delay thankfully was short-lived, thanks to the courts, but I'm scared because it feels as though maybe those court rulings may not hold up,' Bruno said. 'How do you budget if you don't know that you're going to even have a dollar?' The challenge is that the internal people that I've worked with for years and the people that I've trusted, they don't know either. There's a lot of uncertainty in the system, which makes everyone really nervous and uncomfortable. – Jonathan Bruno, CEO of Coalitions and Collaboratives Bruno said his organization is 'being really cautious' about entering into any new agreements since he's unsure they will get all the funding they have been promised. While COCO already selected recipients for their spring grant cycle this year, they haven't executed any contracts yet. Under the five-year agreements COCO historically enters with the Forest Service, Bruno said it makes adjustments every year depending on actual funding needs and developments in its projects. As he is planning adjustments to those agreements with his federal partners this year, both parties are unsure what to expect. 'The challenge is that the internal people that I've worked with for years and the people that I've trusted, they don't know either,' Bruno said. 'There's a lot of uncertainty in the system, which makes everyone really nervous and uncomfortable.' Bruno said the mitigation work of many people in the Forest Service is already thankless, and they do it simply because they care about protecting their communities. He's had to pivot from working with those local, on-the-ground Forest Service staff to working with the higher-ups now making the decisions. 'It's never what we wanted, because those that have the most to lose and gain are those people in a community, not the politicians,' Bruno said. 'We need to make sure that those that are in these powerful, decision-making positions have the information they need to make well-defined, well-reasoned sort of judgments on who's going to live and who's going to die.' Historically, Vail Fire has collaborated with the Forest Service to get federal approval for fuels reduction projects, and the two entities split the costs for the review process as well as the actual fuels management once projects are approved. Recently, it's become unclear whether funding previously guaranteed to projects with Vail will come through. 'Pretty much every kind of landscape-level project we've done has been on Forest Service land,' Novak said. The process can take years and can cost millions. One project Vail Fire is currently working on with the Forest Service took about three and a half years to plan and get approval, Novak said, and Vail paid about $300,000 throughout that process with the understanding that the Forest Service would pay for the actual treatment. They've received 'some direct funding,' but not nearly all of the funding needed to fully implement the $3 to $5 million project, he said. While apprehension around federal fire mitigation, prevention and suppression capabilities continues, local government firefighters will still be there to protect their communities, Novak said. For about 80% of all fires, the initial response comes solely or partially from local firefighters and responders — though prevention should be prioritized, he said. McCombs said he views the success of the Forest Service and the BLM's work in Colorado as Colorado's success, and less funding and staff for those agencies is 'an explicit translation to less work.' 'The alternative is uncharacteristic wildfires that have damaging, just wildly disruptive impacts and long-term impacts to things that are really important to Coloradans,' McCombs said. 'We're communicating through our partners and engaging with those that have a vested interest to make sure that folks are aware of some of the trade-offs that exist when funding is reduced and when staffing in particular is reduced.' 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