As Wildfires Rage, Trump Gutted Our Wildfire Response

Washington, D.C.  — As the largest wildfire of 2025 approaches megafire status, new reporting from Reuters shows how Trump’s reckless cuts have weakened our wildfire response. Trump’s gutting of the U.S. Forest Service has led to severe understaffing, diverting resources and leaving wildland firefighters without critical support on the frontlines. According to the National Interagency Fire Center, there have been more wildfires in 2025 than over the same time period in any year of the past decade. The climate crisis is making extreme fire seasons worse.  

Climate Power Senior Advisor for Climate Urgency Sarah Galvez issued the following statement: “While wildland firefighters in Oregon are battling the largest fire of the year, the Trump  Administration is recklessly slashing the support they need on the frontlines. Trump’s cuts have left wildland firefighters without food or fuel, and forced critical staff to cover administrative gaps. These wildfires are becoming more frequent and more destructive, and Trump is putting lives at risk by gutting our ability to respond.” 

Reuters: As US wildfires rage, Trump staff cuts force firefighters to clean toilets, critics say

The U.S. Forest Service faced criticism from current and former employees who say federal workforce reductions under the Trump administration have left fire teams understaffed, as the country grapples with decade-high U.S. wildfire numbers this year.

The agency, which oversees the nation’s largest wildland firefighting force, rejected those claims, saying it has sufficient resources.

However, more than a dozen active and retired U.S. Forest Service employees told Reuters that the agency is struggling to fill critical roles after approximately 5,000 employees – roughly 15% of its workforce – quit in the past five months.

Accounts from firefighters in Oregon and New Mexico, as well as a fire chief recruiting support staff in the Pacific Northwest, said the vacancies have led to personnel held back from supporting frontline firefighting because of administrative duties.

The crew leader on an Oregon blaze said her team went hungry for several days, ran short of medical supplies and had to scrounge for chainsaw fuel after support staff quit the agency during two rounds of “fork in the road” buyouts.

“I had guys who were going to bed hungry after working 16 hours,” said the crew leader on the Alder Springs Fire, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job. …

The Trump administration pledged not to cut firefighting positions and other public safety jobs in firings, voluntary resignations and early retirements meant to raise efficiency at the USFS which manages 193 million acres of land (78 million hectares), roughly about the size of Texas.

USFS employees that Reuters interviewed for this story said the loss of thousands of foresters, biologists, trail builders and campground managers was having a knock-on effect on firefighters.

Not only are firefighters having to cover empty positions at ranger stations but they also have lost hundreds of peers who each year switched from regular jobs to take on firefighting support roles during the fire season, which typically runs from spring to fall, these people said.

USFS Chief Tom Schultz on Wednesday told agency managers to make all of these fire-qualified, so-called “red-carded” staff available for what he called an “extremely challenging” fire year, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

Year to date, wildland firefighters have been called to nearly 41,000 blazes, by far the highest number in federal data going back to at least 2015. …

The Forest Service says it does not have enough wildland firefighters for the country’s “wildfire crisis” and relies on red-carded staff to “boost wildland firefighting capacity.”

Yet, not everyone close to the Forest Service sees problems.

Steve Ellis, chairman of the National Association of Forest Service Retirees, said his checks with fire staff in Oregon turned up no reports of firefighters going hungry or other support issues.

But Riva Duncan, a fire duty officer on a New Mexico blaze, said even firefighters were being used to plug gaps left by job losses, exacerbating longstanding shortages of personnel to operate fire engines.

“They’re answering phones at the front desk, or cleaning toilets at campgrounds or mowing the lawn at administrative sites,” said Duncan, a retired USFS fire chief who reenlists during fire season and helps run Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, a federal firefighter advocacy group.

The fire staff officer in the Pacific Northwest said support staff had been told by managers they had to meet the Trump administration’s increased timber sales and oil and gas production targets, with fewer employees, before helping firefighters.

“They can claim we get all the support we need, but in reality, it isn’t even close,” said the fire chief, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation.