Posted on 06/24/2025 5:16:08 AM PDT by george76
National Multi-Agency Coordination Group (NMAC), composed of wildland fire representatives from each wildland fire agency based at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, raised the national wildland fire preparedness level one step higher to Preparedness Level 3.
“Peak fire season is here, and President Trump has created the most prepared and coordinated wildland firefighting force in the world. We are taking this fire season seriously, and our federal wildland firefighters are prepared to respond. Right now, there are several active fires burning across the country, and the U.S. Forest Service is actively responding. We are in an enhanced state of readiness,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. “Fire response is not just about tackling active fires, but properly managing forests to prevent devastating fires from starting and destroying communities. At USDA we have declared a national forest emergency so we can clear out dangerous fuel and protect our forests for the future. No matter what this fire season brings, I am confident the Forest Service stands ready to respond with strength, speed, and effectiveness. Please keep our brave frontline first responders in your prayers this summer as they work to protect our homes and save lives.”
Secretary Rollins has made it a top priority for the Department to ensure the entire agency is geared to respond to what is already an above normal summer fire season. We are providing the resources needed to ensure the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has the strongest and most prepared wildland firefighting force in the world.
As of June 1, the Forest Service has hired 96% of its 11,300-firefighter hiring target, with full staffing anticipated by mid-July. This is ahead of where the agency has been in previous years. The USFS is operationally ready for the fire season ahead.
Preparedness levels are dictated by fuel and weather conditions, fire activity, and fire suppression resource availability throughout the country. The five preparedness levels range from the lowest (1) to the highest (5). Each one includes specific management actions and involves increasing levels of interagency resource commitments. As preparedness levels rise, so does the need for incident management teams and suppression resources, which include wildland fire crews, engines, support personnel, helicopters, airtankers and other aircraft, and specialized heavy equipment, such as bulldozers.
I have mixed feelings about this. Firefighting has become a cash cow for the USFS, which doesn’t DO nearly as much as should be done to deal with the catastrophic fuel load in coniferous forests. The quality of those forests sucks so bad that in many cases we’d be best off starting over. But how those decisions get made, particularly regarding prescribed fire and what is done thereafter, sucks even worse.
Don’t know what I’d recommend, but it would vary considerably from place to place, with special regard to the people involved and the cost of mitigations to protect assets at risk.
Task Force Rattlesnake is composed of “hotshot” Type I hand crews trained to carry out the most dangerous frontline wildfire duties..
Type I handcrews put out wildfires where they stand, but they count on the support of Type II handcrews working behind them to prevent the fires from spreading further.
Team Blaze maintained a force of Type II handcrews, and when it was disbanded in early 2024, the California National Guard was left with no Type II handcrews on standby..
Gavin Newsom Shut Down a Volunteer Wildfire Response Force, Leaving LA Firefighters Shorthanded ..
Hey California, now would be a good time for some limited control burns.
Per plan. Then they frustrate rebuilding so that the property is sold for a song to "the right people."
Are these Type II firefighters the prison crews?
Nero in Rome did similar arson when wanted expand his palace ? = like in Maui, Pacific Palisades and ...
For once, why not just let it burn until it all burns out.
FIRST ITEM:
ALLOW THE LOGGERS TO THIN OUT ALL OUR FORESTS-—IMMEDIATELY
THEY ARE CLOSE TO LOSING ALL THAT USABLE LUMBER DUE TO BARK BEETLE & OTHER PROBLEMS.
Allow? Most of the timber in National Forests isn't worth the trucking cost to a mill, much less the higher cost of thinning as opposed to clearcutting.
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