5. The Hotshot Wakeup called this a Moses Moment, as in Chief Schultz says “let my people go.”
Here’s THW’s summary:
As the Nation remains at a National Preparedness Level 5, resources continue to be in short supply. With that, Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz has sent the “Moses Letter” out to Deputy Chiefs, Regional Foresters, and Station Directors. This is an all-hands-on-deck letter, asking for everyone to “let my people go.”
In the letter, the Chief asks to make “all qualified, red-carded personnel available for fire assignments.” Also, for an influx of support staff, including contracting officers, land mobile radio and IT specialists, HR professionals, safety managers, and finance personnel.
In addition to those positions, the Chief asks for a surge of resource advisors, Burned Area Emergency Response team members, public information officers, and all other qualified or trainee overhead positions.
The Chief also addresses fatigue and risk management as we enter the busy month of August.
6. The European Wildfires and Climate
Check out Roger Pielke, Jrs.’ piece here. Roger cites this 2025 modeling study. Lamet et al. ‘s findings probably won’t surprise anyone here.
Adapting to the escalating risk of wildfires necessitates a comprehensive approach that addresses the three fundamental components of risk: danger (also referred as hazard), exposure, and vulnerability. Mitigating the hazard involves decreasing the likelihood and potential severity of wildfire events. This can be achieved through public education campaigns that promote fire-safe behaviours among residents, tourists, and professionals. Fuel management practices, such as prescribed burning and mechanical thinning, have proven effective in reducing wildfire severity. Exposure can be curtailed by regulating the expansion of human settlements and infrastructure into fire-prone areas, particularly the wildland–urban interface (WUI). The WUI, where human development meets undeveloped wildland, has been identified as a zone of heightened wildfire risk. Efforts to limit development in these areas can reduce the number of structures and lives at risk. However, it is important to recognise that even without further expansion, existing exposure within the WUI remains substantial. Moreover, many peri-urban areas—often overlapping with the WUI—provide essential affordable housing, underscoring the need to balance wildfire risk reduction with broader social and economic considerations. Finally, reducing vulnerability entails enhancing the resilience of communities and systems to withstand and recover from wildfire events.
3. Durango Airbase Story from the Colorado Sun
Great story and many photos for those of us less familiar with air operations. Photo above is from this story.
Lemmon recently provided air attack on small fires south of Durango.
He described what is referred to as an air attack stack. At the bottom of the stack, helicopters fly at 1,500 feet altitude, while airtankers sit at 2,500 feet. Air attack flies at 3,500 feet and keeps an eye on the entire aerial operation.
Air attack staff like Lemmon come from wildland firefighting backgrounds rather than aviation backgrounds, because air attack often strategizes with on-the-ground firefighters about next moves such as retardant drops.
“A good air attack is taking a lot of pressure off those firefighters on the ground,” Williams said. “He’s helping make decisions, recommendations to some sometimes very overwhelmed ground crew.”
On smaller fires, air attack can direct a tanker to drop retardant lines and quickly slow the initial spread of the fire, Lemmon said. On larger fires, air attack will consult with firefighters below to find the most strategic locations for drops.
While retardant helps stop flames from advancing across the landscape, water is useful in lighter fuel loads. For instance, planes recently scooped loads of water out of McPhee Reservoir to drop on the Ferris fire burning northwest of Dolores, Williams said.
I recommend checking out Zeke Lunder’s recent piece on the European fires: https://the-lookout.org/2026/07/29/its-not-just-climate-change-tinderbox-forests-burn-in-france/. He makes a compelling case about the wildfire issue in Bordeaux France being driven by dense plantations. It seems the fires in Bordeaux are burning in former peat wetlands converted to dense plantations of a pine species adapted to high severity fire. This is similar to the show he did last fall on the plantation mess in Chile being at the root of the fire problem there. The show also suggests that the issue in Spain is, in part, one where grazing once limited grassland fuels, and therefore fire spread, but the grazing is no longer being done.
Yes, thanks! Who knew about Maritime pine? Definite shout-out to Zeke!
https://vkr-holding.com/maritime-pine/
While I appreciate Zekes’s experience he has a habit of making strident judgment on properties he has only viewed from satellite imagery. Experience and GIS technology are useful tools, but they will never be a substitute for on the ground understanding of a forest or wildfire incident.
For sure, and Roger P.’s piece was about more than that part of France.
Did you see the google street view of the area? One can virtually drive all of the roads in the area and get a sense of what it looks like. Looks scary as hell to me from a wildfire risk perspective. Talk about pines in lines. I don’t think he’s out of line here. Do you have a non-strident judgement of Zeke’s piece to suggest he is incorrect or there is something he missed?