"The Trump administration pushed out thousands of veteran U.S. Forest Service staff. An ‘extraordinary’ fire season is testing those who are left."
"At the start of what is becoming an intense wildfire season this year, federal officials warned of a 15 percent decrease in available “hotshot” teams, the elite squads that fight complex blazes in the most rugged areas.
In Washington State, officials had to call in the National Guard and 250 active-duty U.S. Army soldiers to help extinguish embers because they didn’t have enough firefighters.
And as fire raged in central Utah this month, one team called for help but waited for days. By the time more hands arrived last week, two firefighters working under contract with the U.S. Forest Service had been killed in a helicopter crash and the flames had spread significantly.
“Nobody has all they need,” said Joe Stutler, a veteran fire incident commander who recently retired as the Deschutes County forester in Oregon and spent 35 years in the Forest Service. “This is an extraordinary year.”"
