The Hotshot Wake Up

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If anyone knows how to navigate the political soup to pass wildfire legislation, it’s Matt Weiner, CEO and Founder of Megafire Action.

Megafire Action has worked on hazard pay for prescribed burns, the Fix Our Forests Act, and much of the wildfire legislation that recently passed in California. This includes home hardening grants, reducing litigation for prescribed burns, grants for communities in the wildland urban interface, and even a dedicated CAL FIRE unit to test and rapidly deploy emerging wildfire technology.

Before founding Megafire Action in 2022, Matt was the Executive Director of the CA Democratic Congressional Delegation (House of Representatives), Chief of Staff to State Senator Henry Stern (CA), and held various roles with the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

They are now focused on federal wildfire legislation, with many wondering what that will look like in the coming months. A great conversation.

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The Wildfire Technology Summit takes place next week in Salt Lake City, Utah, where wildfire leaders, operational subject matter experts, and technology companies will come together to discuss capabilities, systems, and requirements in the wildfire space.

It is not a traditional tech trade show, but a 4 day event to bring leaders from all across the wildfire and tech spaces to directly engage around real world operational needs, share ideas, and meaningful ways their technologies can be implemented into wildfire response, pre fire mitigation, post fire work, and more.

I welcome Chief Mark Niemeyer, CEO of the Western Fire Chiefs Association, who is helping to facilitate this summit. This is a 4 Phase process, with Phases 1 and 2 already completed. Phase 3 is this Summit, and Phase 4 will be for procurement. We will discuss the progress made so far, what’s next, and how to successfully provide tools for the operators on the ground to protect our landscapes, communities, and themselves.

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A few weeks ago, a letter went out to wildfire agency heads from the Alliance of Retired Forest Service Fire Leaders, advocating for the unification of our nation's wildland firefighters. That letter can be found here.

I reached out, and the Alliance Chair, Dan Kleinman, agreed to a conversation about the Alliance’s efforts. Dan has extensive wildfire leadership experience, rivaled by few.

Dan Kleinman retired after 40 years in the wildland fire service, including service as a detailed Deputy Regional Fire Director for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Pacific Southwest Region, and as an Operations Section Chief with the National Incident Management Organization (NIMO). He began his career with the California Division of Forestry, serving one season before spending the remainder of his career with the U.S. Forest Service.

His field and leadership experience included positions as a Firefighter and Module Leader on engine and fuels crews, 12 years on a Hotshot crew including seven years as Superintendent - five years as a Battalion Chief, and five years as a Division Chief on a wildfire-active Ranger District.

Throughout his career, Kleinman remained actively engaged in fuels management, including thinning projects and prescribed fire. He maintained prescribed-fire qualifications throughout his career and, for his final 20 years, served as a qualified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 1.

Kleinman’s regional and national working-group experience included service on the Regional Safety FIRST Committee and the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Leadership Committee, where he chaired L-580, a leadership-development program designed for senior fire-management and organizational leaders. In 2009, L-580 delivered the first Gettysburg Staff Ride for Wildland Fire Service leaders, a program that continues to be delivered today.

Notable assignments included the crash of a top-secret F-117 Stealth Fighter and associated wildfire; the Columbia Space Shuttle recovery and investigation; the response to the Pentagon following the September 11 attacks; and the Hurricane Sandy response in New York City’s Rockaways, where he managed a welfare-check operation across multiple public apartment buildings.

At the time of his retirement, Kleinman’s incident qualifications included Incident Commander Types 1, 2, and 3; Operations Section Chief Type 1; Operations Branch Director; Division/Group Supervisor; and Agency Representative.

Kleinman remains active with two nonprofit organizations: the U.S. Hotshots Association and the Greenhorn Mountain Veterans Association. He has been married for 39 years and is the father of three adult children.

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The Director of the Wildland Fire Service, Chief Brian Fennessy, started in his inaugural position just 9 months ago, but there is plenty to talk about. We chat about the busy wildfire season, the workforce, and what lies ahead.

We dive into budgets, unification, aviation, contracting, the differences between wildfire agency organizational structures, and the most capable and operationally sound wildfire workforce in the world: the wildland firefighters in the United States. What went well? What can be improved? What does the future of wildfire in the United States look like?

We cover it all.

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Frustrations have boiled over within the Forest Service as fire supervisors voice concerns about Agency direction, poor facilities, experienced firefighters leaving the ranks, and infighting with line officers.

Wildland firefighter entrapments have hit a 20 year record this season, raising further concern about experience levels in middle management. Unease remains about what the future will look like, and there is urgency to “rip the band-aid off” on plans for Agency change. I cover their concerns as they see it.

This is the time for professionals on all levels of the Agency to come together and solve these issues, which ultimately affect the boots on the ground the most. Sometimes voicing these concerns is what it takes for everyone to sit at the table and figure out how to move forward.

Change isn't simple, and this isn't an easy situation for anyone involved, but cooler heads must prevail.

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• Putting out wildfires is hard enough, but the constant tit for tat political grandstanding is wearing on the workforce. I express what I’ve been hearing from the boots on the ground. A classic rant.

• The Hawk Fire in Nevada announced a fatality this morning. A woman who sustained injuries during the initial day of the fire has passed away.

• The Nation remains at a PL5, and we are one lightning bust away from all out chaos again. Full operational update.

• BC wildfire says civilians are stealing their equipment used to protect homes. Alberta wildfire charged over the death of a wildland firefighter on the Jasper Fire.

• UTV rollover report. Passenger ejected at 30MPH.

• Plus more.

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I sat down with Montana Senator Tim Sheehy to discuss the current wildfire situation across the American West. Congress recently held a bipartisan meeting to talk about the fires burning in multiple regions, the devastation in Spokane, Washington, and the need for wildland firefighter support.

I ask if this season will be a reckoning for the wildfire system, Congress, and the public, with the amount of fire currently on the ground and the tragic loss so far this year. What happens in these congressional wildfire meetings? Why does it always seem like things are delayed, or remain unchanged?

What can be done to better support the boots on the ground, and will we have wildfire amnesia again once the season comes to a close? The Senator addresses all these questions, and more. As you know, Senator Sheehy didn’t hold back. https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

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Today I welcome the Director of the United States Wildland Fire Service, Chief Brian Fennessy. As we all know, it’s been very busy up until this point, and there is lots to cover.

We discuss the unification of the Department of the Interior wildland firefighters and what that looks like moving forward. Who will do the landscape work? Do we have enough firefighters and resources?

We have a conversation about initial attack, full suppression, safety, and the current fire conditions on the ground. Chief Fennessy addresses the many misconceptions about how wildland firefighters operate, and how policy is based on current and expected conditions on the ground. Could the full suppression strategy change if conditions change? Of course.

We also dive into modernizing the workforce; this includes not only using new tech, but also updating the aging comms network and dispatch communication network.

Plenty to talk about.

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• The Great Basin moves to a PL5, and the Widemouth 2 Fire nears 100K acres. Full National wildfire update.

• A report about a line medic who made unconventional decisions that led to life-saving measures for a wildland firefighter in Idaho.

• Reports on the Coleman Creek entrapment in Oregon, the dozer burnover on the Kaiser Canyon Fire in Washington, the Dozer rollover on the Gann Fire in California, and the tender rollover in Idaho.

• Deputy Chief Sarah Fisher’s statement on the feasibility study to combine firefighters from the Forest Service into the USWFS.

• Update on the Seven Cabins Fire in New Mexico. As I reported in May, the airplane crash that started the fire happened inside a military GPS jamming testing zone. New details confirm that military operations likely brought down the plane.

• Full story of the fake paramedic on the Elk Fire in Colorado. It reads like a Tom Clancy novel.

• Plus more.

THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP — Thank you to all of our paid subscribers. Your support allows us to donate generously to firefighter charities and supports all of our content. You also receive all of our article archives, more podcast episodes, Monday morning workouts, and also entered into our giveaways, plus more.

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• Full report released for the Lyons Ferry Fire burnover. Comprehensive report details firefighters trying to burn off around themselves before being overtaken by fire.

• Tens of thousands of acres of fuels treatment and wildfire mitigation projects were halted in Oregon due to environmental lawsuits. Groups sued Mt. Hood National Forest and the Forest Service, which stopped the fuel breaks and fuel reduction projects. Those same project areas are now totally burned.

• The USFS and USWFS released a timeline report for the Knowles Fire Entrapment in Colorado.

• France’s Interior Minister announced this week that they had arrested 162 wildfire arsonists in the last 25 days. France has now doubled the previous record for total acres burned.

• Alaska sends fire crews down to the lower 48.

• Full operational update.

THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP — Thank you to all of our paid subscribers. Your support allows us to donate generously to firefighter charities and supports all of our content. You also receive all of our article archives, more podcast episodes, Monday morning workouts, and also entered into our giveaways, plus more.