A former U.S. Forest Service chief is raising fire policy concerns as an intense season that has claimed a number of firefighters’ lives starts to wind down.
In late June, a fast-moving blaze on the Colorado-Utah border ultimately took the lives of four firefighters. They perished in what’s called an entrapment, when firefighters are caught by flames. In August, Reuters reported on record entrapments this season.
Vicki Christiansen, who retired as Forest Service chief in 2021, pointed to aggressive agency mandates to quickly extinguish fires as a possible factor at play during this dangerous season.
“It comes down to risk,” she said during a virtual panel organized by the Wilderness Society, an advocacy group. “‘Assessing risk with the outcomes we're trying to achieve,’ right? And so this ‘aggressive suppression at all costs’ is, to me, a part of the leadership intent that truly needs to be revisited.”
“We're going backwards, not forwards, on how we manage risk,” she added.
There have been 18 fireline deaths so far this year, the 10-year annual average is 15.5. Contractors, federal firefighters, volunteer firefighters and other personnel were among those killed. Six died in entrapments and five died in helicopter crashes, according to the federal Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center.
In response to the criticisms, Christiansen’s former agency said that “aggressive initial attack remains the most effective way to prevent fires from escalating into long-duration, high-complexity incidents that heighten risk to responders.”
While acknowledging the “inherent risks” of wildland fire, the Forest Service said “our suppression posture never compromises field safety standards.”
“Every loss is a profound tragedy,” the statement continued. “The Forest Service is heartbroken by the fatalities suffered across the interagency fire community during this historic fire season.”
The agency said it is working to support families affected by fireline deaths and improve firefighter welfare, pay and support services.
This season was also the first for the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service, which was formed from all Department of Interior fire programs early this year. Congress is now studying whether to incorporate the Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Forest Service fire program, the federal government’s largest.
Christiansen agrees that the country faces a serious wildfire challenge, but “not because the federal agencies are inappropriately organized.”
Rather, she argued, the crisis is due to drought and the buildup of vegetation brought by decades of aggressive fire suppression — compounded by climate change. What’s needed is a “holistic approach” that goes beyond an agency push to extinguishing fires as quickly as possible.
“We already take a holistic approach to tackle today’s fire and forest health challenges, including aggressive response and an increase in proactive management,” the Forest Service responded, adding that it “has made active forest management a top priority and the [agency] is committed to reducing wildfire risk, improving forest health, and supporting communities through proactive forest and fire management.”
While Congress studies full consolidation, the Forest Service said it and its Department of Interior counterparts are “already collaborating to modernize technology, improve communications and detection, update training, and sharpen response protocols.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
