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Today, the Forest Service officially announced its reorganization plans. I interviewed Deputy Chief of Fire and Aviation Management, Sarah Fisher, and Associate Chief of the Forest Service, Chris French, to get the details of the plan.

There is a lot that is taking place, including the relocation of the Forest Service headquarters, and Research and Development will be moved as well. They are moving away from their Regional model and will transition to a more state-based model.

This reorganization will take place in phases, and all Regional Offices will be closed. Some will be repurposed, including Juneau, Alaska, Vallejo, California, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Wildfire operations will continue to operate mostly as is, and Sarah Fisher provides those details as well.

I thank the Deputy Chief and the Associate Chief for their time in explaining this process to the listeners.

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• It was revealed in court documents this week that a helicopter pilot tried to take down a hobby drone over a wildfire with bucket drops. The pilot was between drops, protecting homes, when he spotted the drone.

• The judge in the case fined the drone operator $5K, well below the recommended amount, set forth in the Wildfire Act. The drone pilot argued he didn’t know firefighters and pilots were engaged in the massive inferno.

• A conversation about the growing issue of hobby drones over wildfires, and the lengths firefighters and pilots are forced to take to mitigate them.

• Forest Service Chief Schultz sends out a memo declaring an end to red tape and cumbersome mandates, and putting decision-making back in the hands of operators on the ground.

• Europe launches new wildfire center and is working to expand funding for mitigation, aviation, and training. Huge wildfire aviation conference in Rome.

• California HOA sues homeowners for $23,000 and tries to foreclose on properties burned down in the Eaton Fire.

• A full operational update and a rant.

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• As we head into crews coming on, a conversation about pre-season jitters.

• I talk about how I and others trained for the season, the first day on a Hotshot crew, and what was expected versus the reality. The jitters are normal; it means you care.

• A Minnesota woman was fined $150,000 for not calling in a wildfire that started on her property. The MN DNR doesn’t usually fine large amounts, maybe this is their way of setting an example? Full story.

• Fires are popping up across the western United States. Multiple new starts in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, and New Mexico.

• Full Operational Update as we increase to a PL2.

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• Wildfires in Nebraska have burned nearly 700,000 acres this week, with the Morrill Fire now the largest in the State’s history. Full update.

• South Dakota got a wake-up call with the Qury Fire, now 7,200 acres. The fire’s management has already expressed a shortage of aviation resources due to the ongoing fires in Nebraska.

• The Southwest is expecting a critical fire weather event pushing in early this week, with temperatures above 100 degrees. Fire managers and Incident Management Teams are prepping for a possible wildfire outbreak.

• Elected officials in Colorado sent a letter to Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz, asking for more prescribed burns and forest mitigation work due to concerns over record-low snowpacks. But asking Agencies and Firefighters to put more fire on the ground in these conditions is a big ask… and still no hazard pay for these increasingly hazardous operations. A full discussion on this.

• When do you declare an escaped burn a wildfire? A new report from the Klamath National Forest.

• Plus more.

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Sam Forstag joins the show today to talk about his time as a wildland firefighter and Smokejumper, before deciding to enter a different arena, running for a congressional seat in Montana. Sam has been a longtime advocate for the wildfire workforce, working as Vice President of his union’s local.

We talk wildfire issues, wildfire costs, housing costs, public lands, and a litany of other topics. Sam has been traveling throughout Montana for the last month in anticipation of the June 2nd Primary.

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A new study on Meals Ready To Eat, MREs, was done by the organazation Mom’s Across America. These meals are carried and eaten by wildland firefighters across America. I’ve eaten hundreds, if not thousands, of them. Mom’s Across America provided 24 different MRE items to 3rd-party independent laboratories for testing. The results… much worse than you could imagine.

Some items contained 17,300% the safe aluminum levels, very high levels of lead and mercury in certain drink powders, apples with 27 pesticides, some of which are banned. They found levels of Trenbolone manufactured in China in food items, a very strong anabolic steroid with horrific side effects.

I cover the entire study and the items they tested. They now warn of severe health issues from bioaccumulation of these chemicals, including cancers, birth defects, in utero defects, androgenizing females, and violent tendencies.

They offer solutions to change this food system and lay out the minimal costs required.

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Authorities in Chile have arrested four suspects in connection with the current wildfires that have destroyed entire towns and led to 21 confirmed fatalities. One of the fires was said to have been started in a Eucaliptis grove, an industrial timber farm.

The timber industry in Chile is massive, and timber products are the 2nd largest export for the country. There has been long standing tension between the indigenous populations and the current government over these large timber operations. Both sides have been using the wildfire narrative as a form of protest and as a reason for a crackdown.

Zeke Lunder joins me for a conversation about these recent fires and the history behind these long time tensions. It’s not a cut and dry issue, and there is a lot to discuss.

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• A House committee votes today on whether it should study the effects of drone incursions over wildfires. If passed, they will come up with mitigation solutions, including using force to bring the drones down, wildfire anti-drone radio towers, and using “net guns.”

• CAL FIRE has started testing of fully autonomous wildfire vehicles. Tests include supply drops, repeater use, surveillance, suppression, and drone launching platforms.

• A new study on women who are pregnant and the effects of wildfire smoke. 200,000 women were a part of the study.

• Nevada allows insurance companies to remove wildfire insurance from homeowner polices.

• The Red Cross is preparing for an abnormally busy spring fire season.

• BLM releases report on 38-mile-long fuel break on the U.S.-Mexican border.

• Oregon lawmakers introduce legislation that would require insurance companies to provide rate discounts if communities and homeowners complete project work.

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The Secretary of the Interior officially announced today the creation of the United States Wildland Fire Service. Effective today, the transition period begins, and the unification of wildfire resources within the Department starts.

The Department provided transition plans, framework, and authorities of the new Service, which I cover in full.

Unification of assets, budgets, IT services, and payroll is underway, along with streamlining overhead structures and fully aligning pay structure, position descriptions, and retirement benefits.

A big day for the new United States Wildfire Service.

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It’s one year after the deadly Palisades Fire. What have we learned from this horrible event, and more importantly, what can we do to prevent it from happening again?

It’s clear that major mistakes were made, some long before the fire even started. It’s never been more important to let the operators on the ground operate, without having their hands tied by bad policy and poor decisions.

What needs to change? Will we see that change?

Also, nearly all Western states saw record-breaking temperatures in December, setting the stage for a very receptive fire environment this spring.

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