Trump moves to merge wildland firefighting into single force, despite ex-officials warning of chaos

BILLINGS Mont AP President Donald Trump last Thursday ordered administration personnel to consolidate wildland firefighting into a single venture despite warnings from former federal authorities that it could be costly and increase the exposure of catastrophic blazes The order aims to centralize firefighting efforts now split among five agencies and two Cabinet departments Trump s proposed budget for next year calls for the creation of a new Federal Wildland Fire Operation under the U S Interior Department That would mean shifting thousands of personnel from the U S Department of Agriculture s Forest Operation where greater part federal firefighters now work with fire season already underway The administration has not disclosed how much the change could cost or save Related Minnesota has major wildfires Here s how they compare historically Trump in Thursday s order cited the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in January as highlighting a need for a quicker response to wildfires Wildfires threaten every region yet a great number of local regime entities continue to disregard commonsense preventive measures the order declared The Trump administration in its first months temporarily cut off money for wildfire prevention work and reduced the ranks of federal executive firefighters through layoffs and retirement The order makes no mention of conditions change which Trump has downplayed even as warming temperatures help stoke bigger and more destructive wildfires that churn out massive amounts of harmful trash More than wildfires across the U S burned almost million acres million hectares last year Related Walz calls in national guard to help with firefighting Organizations representing firefighters and former Forest System agents say it would be costly to restructure firefighting efforts and cause major disruptions in the midst of fire season They also say it could put more focus on trying to extinguish fires a futile endeavor when blazes get too big instead of preventing them That could set the stage for more severe fires as forests get overgrown A group that includes several former Forest Amenity chiefs mentioned in a contemporary letter to lawmakers that consolidation of firefighting work could certainly increase the likelihood of more large catastrophic fires putting more communities firefighters and tools at hazard Another destructive fire season is expected this year driven by above-normal temperatures for majority of the country according to federal administrators Related Environmentalists worst fears met and surpassed in Trump s first days The left-leaning advocacy group Center for Western Priorities noted Trump s proposal was madness given that wildfire season is underway If President Trump was serious about improving the nation s wildland firefighting capabilities he would stop hollowing out the agencies tasked with fighting wildfires announced Aaron Weiss the group s deputy director A prior proposal to merge the Forest Function and Interior to improve firefighting was determined to have considerable drawbacks by the Congressional Research Function in a document But the idea more just now got bipartisan help California Democratic Sen Alex Padilla and Montana Republican Sen Tim Sheehy are sponsoring regulation similar to Trump s plan Sheehy who was elected last year founded an aerial firefighting company that relies heavily on federal contracts Related Three years on Minnesota s situation change initiative spurring projects across the state Trump also on Thursday signed into law another bill from Sheehy that would reauthorize the sale of U S military aircraft and parts for wildfire work Sheehy reported in a comment that fighting wildfires more expeditiously and aggressively is America First common sense In a separate action aimed at wildfires the Trump administration last month rolled back environmental safeguards around future logging projects on more than half U S national forests The crisis designation covers square miles square kilometers of terrain primarily in the West but also in the South around the Great Lakes and in New England The bulk of those forests are considered to have high wildfire jeopardy and a great number of are in decline because of insects and condition The post Trump moves to merge wildland firefighting into single force despite ex-officials warning of chaos appeared first on MinnPost