So now, assuming that One Fire Agency is not happening, what are the problems that it was intended to solve and how could they be fixed? I’m not sure that GAO is the right organization to figure that out. If I were Congress, I’d ask the FS and BLM to establish an interagency team with reps from the various industries, wildland firefighters, folks formerly known as militia, States, etc. to get comments from everyone on what the problems are. I’ve heard “Sheehy wants more contracts for his former company” and “there are contracting problems of all kinds.” I’ve also heard (not surprisingly) that firefighters want more pay and better food. I’ve heard “there used to be Managed Fire teams who were experts at MF, maybe we should go back to that.” In the interests of fostering that dialogue, I am encouraging knowledgeable folks to either comment or draft posts with your ideas for improvement so we can hear different voices, particularly those of people currently working in wildfire.
The first invited post on “what’s broke and other ways to fix besides One Fire Agency” is from Riva Duncan of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.
Our briefing paper lines out a lot of what we think the issues are:
- no real analysis on WHAT the fire organization should look like (where and how many) in order to respond to 21st century issues and the wildfire crisis. Not since NFMAS which used data from the 1990s.
- As budgets decline in other resource areas, the fire workforce has been expected, and mandated, to plug in the gaps in the other programs. I’m all for project work, but not at the expense of fire, rx fire, and training assignments. Firefighters have become the bandaid in the other programs, much like timber used to be. If fire keeps plugging the hole in the dike then Congress can ignore the imminent collapse of the dike. I sat in FLT meetings on three forests saying we should close rec sites, stop doing special uses, etc until budgets improve but Forest Supe’s didn’t want to take the heat.
- Inexperienced line officers who are more concerned with their career and political risks than the physical and mental risks firefighters take on (when I use “firefighters” it is inclusive of prevention, fuels, dispatch, FMOs, not just ops). Inexperienced line officers are now the norm, and they have no clue what real risk management and risk sharing looks like.
- People put into high level Fire positions (RO and WO) who have no actual career fire experience (we’re not counting one or two seasons on an engine or a crew). Hard to manage a program (and understand the people and the challenges and the joys) at a high level when you’ve never managed one at the field level. And substituting only military experience is not the same.
We believe a lot of problems could be solved, without a NWFS, if there was a Deputy Chief of Fire (fire not under Deputy Chief S&P) and the fire organization was stove-piped, and Fire Staff Officers, Regional Fire Directors, National Fire Direction have decision authority like line officers do. AND that only experienced career firefighters/managers held those positions.No doubt a lot of the people you’re working with won’t like hearing this above, but for those who have been retired for several years, they have no clue the kind of people they’re hiring into District Ranger and Forest Supe positions. It’s not the FS they remember.
Who you gonna stovepipe? Only 456ers? Don’t know if there is any way to figure this out but “How many red card holders are not in the 456 series?” Probably none of those in fire buying and dispatch teams are. Just from an old 456-3 lookout and later non 456 red card holder.
There has already been a recent comprehensive study look at many of the issues. Here is a link to the website.
https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/disaster-resource-center/wildland-fire/wildland-fire-mitigation-and-management-commission
Here is what the website says and an introduction:
“In December 2021, the Departments of Agriculture, the Interior and Homeland Security — through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — announced the formation Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. The commission is tasked with forming federal policy recommendations and strategies on ways to better prevent, manage, suppress and recover from wildfires, and provide recommendations for aerial firefighting equipment needs.
The call for nominations for the non-federal members was issued in March. More than 500 applications were received, and 36 non-federal members — 18 primary and 18 alternates — have been selected to serve on the commission. Along with 11 federal members, the commission will be co-chaired by Departments of Agriculture, the Interior and FEMA leadership.
As required in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the commission will represent federal agencies, state, local, and Tribal governments, as well as the private sector. Together, their recommendations will be submitted as part of required reports to Congress within a year of their first meeting.”
Yes, we had a Zoom about it with one of the Commission members when it came out. https://forestpolicypub.com/2023/09/25/wildland-fire-mitigation-and-management-commission-webinar-september-27/
Those ideas should certainly be on the list! The Commission seemed to be fairly light on wildland firefighters, though, so those frustrated with interagency incoherence probably have specific examples and potential fixes besides One Fire Agency.