‘We’re near a breaking point:’ firefighters say US government is failing them amid intense wildfire season — SkimNews
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- Fourteen firefighters have died on duty this year, including four from Colorado's Knowles fire—the deadliest entrapment in 13 years, with another crew member severely burned.
- Twelve entrapments had occurred by mid-August, the highest number in 20 years according to the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center.
- USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued directives this year prioritizing 'direct attack' and a return to 'fast and full suppression' over softer containment approaches.
- Five Democratic senators—Michael Bennet, Alex Padilla, Ron Wyden, Adam Schiff, and John Hickenlooper—told Interior and USDA that teams have 'worked more fires than is safe' and the agencies' combined $6bn suppression budget is depleting weeks before peak risk subsides.
- USFS Chief Tom Schultz told a congressional subcommittee in July the workforce is 'stronger than at any point in recent years' and 'fully staffed and equipped to respond aggressively'—directly contradicting the anonymous firefighters who described being 'near a breaking point.'
- By mid-September, roughly 54,400 blazes had scorched 8.4 million acres—149% of the 10-year average—with the US at Preparedness Level 5 for 48 consecutive days, nearly double the annual average.
Why it matters: With 14 on-duty deaths and entrapments hitting a 20-year high, the Trump administration's aggressive suppression mandates directly contradict USFS Chief Schultz's July assurance that crews are 'fully staffed.' A $6bn suppression budget depleting weeks before peak risk ends leaves western communities exposed, and the gap between official narrative and frontline reality carries both immediate safety costs and political fallout for an administration pushing the opposite approach.
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