On Today’s Show: To support and subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

• 20-year-old Wess Roley has been named as the shooter in the Idaho Wildfire ambush that took place yesterday in Hayden, Idaho.

• New details have emerged about the suspect, which I cover.

• He allegedly has a past criminal record and mental health issues.

• Today, we remember the Granite Mountain Hotshots and the Yarnell Fire. I give my thoughts about being on a wildfire when this news was announced to our crew.

• Full operational update.

  Share

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.

Idaho Wildfire Shooting Update: To support and subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

• The press conference has just finished, with new details on the incident.

• Two firefighter deaths were confirmed by the local sheriff, FBI en route, and SWAT on scene.

• Law enforcement says they are still actively taking fire from an unknown number of “well-prepared suspects.”

• The sheriff and firefighters responding called it an “intentional fire and ambush.”

• I cover the initial call and radio traffic leading up to the shooting.

  Share

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.

On Today’s Show: 100% community supported, To Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

• The public land sale proposal has been removed from the budget bill.

• Sen. Mike Lee said this morning that he may reintroduce the proposal, but will remove the sale of Forest Service land and significantly reduce the amount of Bureau of Land Management Land available for sale.

• A firefighter received second-degree burns to the hands, arms, and face on the Conner Fire in Nevada.

• Dani Shedden, mental health counselor and owner of Close the Gap Wellness, joins for an interview about Mental Health in the wildfire workforce.

• We discuss current uncertainty in the industry, the importance and safety of focusing on the operational mission, and finding a positive outlook in your work.

• Plus an 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.

On Today’s Show: To Support and Subscribe 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

• I cover the proposal to sell off up to 1.5% of public lands for housing developments. I am a firm believer that public lands are our greatest national treasure.

• I cover the full details of the plan, which expects to raise $10 billion, and further fund land management costs. But is it worth it?

• Full operational update of all wildfires across the United States.

• Alaska has responded to 1 fire per hour in the last 48 hours. Setting up for a very busy weekend.

• Southwest continues to burn, with multiple injuries on New Mexico fires.

• DOI and USDA announce new mental health program for wildland firefighters and dispatchers.

• 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.

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe and Support 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

Today, I welcome Dr. Carrick Detweiler, founder and CEO of Drone Amplified. They have developed the quadcopter drone and software platform used by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, State Agencies, and others for aerial ignitions on wildfires and prescribed burns.

We discuss how these platforms are being utilized, the growth of these types of technologies and operations, working with wildfire agencies, and what the future holds.

Aside from his work with Drone Amplified, Dr. Carrick Detweiler is the Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), a Faculty Fellow of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute, and has a courtesy appointment in the UNL Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Dr. Detweiler co-directs the NIMBUS Lab, working with aerial robots and other robot systems.

Dr. Detweiler completed his Ph.D. at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) at MIT, studying computer science and robotics in the Distributed Robotics Lab.

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.

Subscribed

On Today’s Show: I am 100% subscriber-supported, Thank you. 🙏To Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

John Mills moved to California and quickly came to realize the harsh reality of living in the wildland-urban interface. More out of necessity than anything else, he began working on the Watch Duty platform, a wildfire-tracking app, with Co-founder David Merrit.

John and I discuss the process of developing wildfire tech platforms, the future of the company, and the struggles and successes of his and his team’s journey to building out the platform.

Thanks to John for taking the time to discuss the evolution of Watch Duty.

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.

On today’s show: To support and subscribe👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

Yesterday, Secretary Rollins and Secretary Burgum received their 2025 wildfire briefing in the Forest Service offices and signed a joint wildfire memo afterward. Further, Secretary Rollins issued a memorandum directing the USDA and Forest Service to take immediate action on wildfire response.

This includes new directives during times of PL3 and higher, including using non-fire employees to help with wildfire support and response. Also, increasing red card and other qualifications, ordering, purchasing, dispatching, and more.

Basically, everyone will be available to fight fire or support those efforts.

Also, the budget bill that will be voted on soon contains language that would create “no tax on overtime.” This would have major implications for wildland firefighters who earn up to 144 OT hours per check or 1,400 OT hours per summer. I'm watching that closely.

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.

On Today’s Show: To subscribe and support 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/With wildfire couples starting another season and enduring the struggles that come with that, I thought it would be a great time to have a conversation about exactly this.

Brittany Culbertson is a mom of two boys (17 & 20) and a proud Wildland Fire wife for 23 years. She has lived in northern Nevada for 24 years and works as a middle school teacher. Brittany is passionate about education and staying active in our local community, always striving to make a positive impact both in and out of the classroom.

We discuss raising a family, becoming independent, communicating in a wildfire relationship, and how Brittany and her husband have been able to navigate the struggles and joys of 23 years as a wildfire couple.

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.

On today’s show: To Support and Subscribe 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

These last couple of weeks, listeners have been asking for an episode of the recent Timber Executive orders on Timber management in the National Forests. So, I invited Sharon Friedman on the show, who has a wealth of knowledge as the former Assistant Director of NEPA for the USDA in the D.C. office.

Sharon Friedman is the founder and Managing Editor of The Smokey Wire, a community sourced and supported news site for forest and federal lands issues. The Smokey Wire focuses on shared learning and civil discussion among practitioners (wildfire, forest, grassland, wildlife, fish, legal professionals), researchers, academics and the public.

She retired from the US Forest Service in 2012 as the Regional Planning Director for the Rocky Mountain Region, and previously was the Assistant Director for NEPA in the Washington Office. She joined the Forest Service in 1979 as an Area Geneticist in Oregon and switched from genetics and silviculture to NEPA in 2001. She has two degrees in forestry and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of New Hampshire.

BOOT GIVEAWAY

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.

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe and support: 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

I welcome Jessie Thomas to discuss health and fitness through the fire season. Sometimes, you need to hack the system to make it work for you, as the food and nutrition provided are often subpar. So, Jessie provides solutions for how you make it through the year while maintaining your health and wellness.

Jesse has a wealth of knowledge and experience as a former Lolo and Flathead Hotshot turned Missoula Smokejumper of 8 years. We discuss gut health during fire season, maintaining your physical and mental health to allow for a long and successful fire career and dive into the current state of our world and communities.

Jessie, founder of Missoula, Montana’s Sustainable Wellness, knows that the health of the human body over a lifespan is determined by what we eat and how we live.

A perfect time for this conversation.

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.