Forest mismanagement and red tape are the key factors contributing to increased fire severity in forests, according to President Trump, who said the United States must take the lead from Europe and “clean its floor.” Trump made the statements during an Oval Office briefing with wildfire response leaders – including Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture, and Doug Burgum, the Secretary of the Interior – as officials kickstart preparations for months of above-normal wildfire conditions in US forests:
“I’ve been meeting with heads of other countries, and they are forest countries — they call themselves forest … Austria and others … they say, ‘We’re a forest nation. We live in a forest,’ and they don’t have forest fires. And in one case, he said, ‘You know, our trees are much more flammable than California. But we don’t have forest fires because we clean the floor.'”
Preisdent Trump addressing the challenges around managing wildfire across more than 112 million acres of Natinoal Forest.
It comes weeks after Secretary Rollins said that a “leaner” US Forest Service was bracing for a significant fire season: “The need for firefighters and fire support personnel is clear,” Rollins told the briefing. “America has the world’s largest and most well-respected wildland firefighting force. Secretary Burgam and I have directed our firefighting organisations to take necessary actions to ensure we are operationally ready.”
And that includes technology – specifically satellite, infrared and drone surveillance: “There’s a technology where we can pick out a fire when it just barely begins, and it costs us nothing to put it out versus when it scales up and becomes these massive fires that endanger communities, lives and our firefighters,” Bergman said.
Officials said the federal government has reached 96% of its hiring capacity for wildland firefighters – a figure higher than under the Biden administration: “The workforce is expected to include 17,000 wildland firefighters this year, with an additional 13,000 personnel available from tribal, state, and local agencies at peak capacity,” officials said.
More states’ rights and a single command for firefighting
The briefing comes as the administration looks to ‘arm up’ firefighters and unify federal leadership under the Department of the Interior. Currently, five federal agencies — including the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs — operate independently. However, that could change with Trump pushing for a single command for “strategy, pay equity and strategic consistency”.
And then there is FEMA – the Federal Emergency Management Agency – with Trump doubling down on his intention to reduce the federal government’s role by shifting responsibility to the states, a move to phase out the agency to streamline disaster response and save taxpayer dollars. “FEMA has not been a very successful experiment,” Trump said. “We want governors to be empowered. If they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be governor.” While FEMA will continue to assist during catastrophic events, the administration emphasised a push for local and regional mutual aid agreements, allowing states to respond faster and more independently.
