FUSEE: Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology

Inside the Poisonous Smoke Killing Wildfire Fighters at Young Ages Across the country, wildfire fighters work for weeks at a time in poisonous smoke. The government says they are protected. We tested the air at one fire to find out why they are still dying.

Another damning report by the NYT on the smoke impacts affecting wildland firefighters.

This story tracks hazardous smoke levels impacting a hotshot crew over a 12-hour night shift.

Wildland firefighters put their lives, limbs, and LUNGs on the line, and need your support.

tinyurl.com/3r5xe9en

New Wildfire Agency Launched to Streamline Federal Response - SSBCrack News Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has announced the establishment of a new firefighting agency aimed at streamlining the federal government's approach to

🔥 FUSEE in the News 🔥
New Wildfire Agency Launched to Streamline Federal Response

"Tim Ingalsbee... cautioned that the discourse surrounding fire management appears to focus solely on its threats, rather than recognizing its role within ecosystems."

Read the article 👇
tinyurl.com/FUSEESSB

Ryan Reed (Karuk, Hupa, and Yurok) received a 2025 Indigenous Leadership Award for his work as the co-founder and program director of the FireGeneration Collaborative. ❤️‍

Congratulations, Ryan!

#IndigenousLeadership #FUSEEFire #FireGenCollaborative #CulturalFire #LandStewardship #TribalLeadership

A future of wildfires in wet Western WA Jim Henterly spends most of the summer atop a North Cascades peak, where the view of our wildfire future is uneasy.

🔥 FUSEE in the News 🔥
What is WA’s wildfire future?

"The Trump administration is dismantling the country’s resources to guard against, fight and recover from wildfires at a time when the risk is increasing." -Tim Ingalsbee, FUSEE Executive Director

Read the article 👇
tinyurl.com/SeattleTimes...

Fighting Fire With Fire “We need more than just a new policy, we need a new culture that welcomes all the gifts that fire brings,” says Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and E…

🔥 FUSEE in the News 🔥
Fighting Fire with Fire in @eugeneweekly.com

"We need more than just a new policy, we need a new culture that welcomes all the gifts that fire brings."

Read the article 👇
eugeneweekly.com/2025/10/09/f...

Federal fire agencies take first steps toward consolidation, other reforms Over the summer, an executive order from President Trump called for the consolidation of federal wildfire programs “to the maximum degree practicable.” The secretaries of Interior and Agriculture rece...

Unless Congress appropriates money for federal fire consolidation, it's essentially an unfunded mandate. The final "fire con" plan is due Oct. 31st but the shutdown raises another constraint.

How is Trump paying for his fantasy of a new "Fire Force"?

www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-gov...

Wildland firefighters are essential workers who will continue to work & be paid during federal shutdown.

But Trump considers USFS timber sale planners to be essential workers "necessary to protect life and property." How absurd!

See pgs. 19-20 of the USDA plan:

www.usda.gov/sites/defaul...

The federal government shut-down was preceded by a "shed-down" as the DOGE dudes' downsizing debacle shed 11,729 workers from DOI land management agencies. The NPS alone lost over 1/3 of its workforce before shutdown!

The shut-down is thus a continuation of the shed-down. Shame on Trumplicans!

The Trumplican Party claims that "they've done their job" and want a "clean bill" to keep the government open.
FALSE: none of the 12 Appropriations bills were passed, and their Continuing Resolution simply continues the funding scheme of their hyperpartisan budget reconciliation bill.

Burgum rolls out plan for Interior-based wildfire service The Trump administration aims to streamline firefighting resources across federal lands.

🔥FUSEE in the news: 🔥
“It’s retrograde, a throwback to talking about fire purely in terms of threat, risk, danger,” Tim Ingalsbee, FUSEE Executive Director.
Read more: "Burgum rolls out plan for Interior-based wildfire service"
www.eenews.net/articles/bur...

4) Roadless areas are some of the best candidates for restoration led with Indigenous stewardship practices and ecological fire management.

3) Firefighter safety is needlessly put at extra risk in roadless areas that have some of the most rugged terrain in remote areas. This endangers the lives and health of firefighters while mis-allocating important resources that should be going to protect communities.

2) We should not expand suppression resources into roadless areas because it is a diversion of these resources needed for community protection. Roadless areas are more fire-resilient and are degraded by such aggressive fire suppression.

Include fire in your comment letter to protect the Roadless Rule:

1) We are failing to fully protect our communities in roaded landscapes and need to focus on those people and places first.

Special Areas; Roadless Area Conservation; National Forest System Lands The U.S. Department of Agriculture is initiating an environmental impact statement (EIS) and rulemaking concerning management of inventoried roadless areas on approximately 44.7 million acres of Natio...

Last chance to protect the Roadless Rule! Comment period ends tomorrow. Submit a comment now.

tinyurl.com/3f439mf8

Interior and Agriculture heads lay out plan for more efficient wildfire collaboration In June, the Trump administration called for a consolidation of federal wildfire agencies “to achieve the most efficient and effective use of wildland fire offices.” Now federal leaders have released ...

Lots of happy talk about fed fire consolidation from Trump Admin boasting about greater "efficiency" & "streamlining" while power gets concentrated in the hands of political appointees, & env. regs, agency budgets, & the wildland fire workforce are cut.

www.boisestatepublicradio.org/politics-gov...

Burgum rolls out plan for Interior-based wildfire service The Trump administration aims to streamline firefighting resources across federal lands.

The Dept. of Interior revealed its fire consolidation schema to create a U.S. Wildland Fire Service headed by a new "Fire Chief."

The mission of the USWFS remains vague, but it centralizes administrative power in the hands of another Trump political appointee.

www.eenews.net/articles/bur...

From bandannas to N95s: It’s finally time for wildfire fighters to mask up U.S. Forest Service has ended its prohibition on masks for Wildfire Fighters and will now provide N95 respirators during major incidents across the United States.

It's comforting that Congress is finally paying attention to this issue, and federal agencies are taking some initial actions.

Firefighter safety must include caring for physical and mental health, and providing long-term health care for all.

internationalfireandsafetyjournal.com/wildfire-fig...

Today we give the stage to not just wildland firefighters, but all first responders who have given their lives to protect others.

Forest Service reverses decades-long ban, allows wildfire firefighters to use N95 masks After asserting for years that firefighters cannot do their jobs while wearing protective masks, the U.S. Forest Service will now provide the breathing protection.

Since the creation of the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, firefighter safety is the #1 priority on every fire incident. The concept of firefighter safety needs to include longterm health and wellness.

Smoke sucks! Mask up when and where you can.

www.latimes.com/science/stor...

U.S. Wildfire Fighters to Mask Up After Decades-Long Ban on Smoke Protections

Under pressure, the USFS relents and makes masks available to wildland firefighters.

Firefighter safety is the #1 priority, and this must include caring for health and wellness.

Next step: long-term health care for available all firefighters, public and private.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/u...

‘If I Live to 25, I’ve Lived a Good Life’

Another devastating story about young wildland firefighters afflicted with horrible diseases from smoke effects.

Private contract firefighters are denied worker's comp, as profits come first.

Wildland firefighters are essential workers, not expendable 'soldiers.'

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...

FUSEE condemns the recent arrests of wildland firefighters by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). At a time when every able-bodied firefighter is needed to protect threatened communities, pulling trained crew members off the fireline to demand papers is not only cruel, it is dangerous.

Border Patrol arrested firefighters as they were battling a wildfire Veteran firefighters worried a DHS raid on the Bear Gulch fire in Washington could make it more difficult to find contractor crews.

This story continues to spread because it displays the dangers of extremist xenophobia impacting both community wildfire safety and our sense of justice.

More importantly, this could impact the morale and cohesion of firefighting crews across the country.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Firefighter from Oregon detained by Border Patrol while fighting wildfire Attorneys say they have not been able to locate the firefighter since he landed in federal custody.

The two wildland firefighters taken by U.S. Border Patrol agents have become 'los desaparacidos' unable to speak to their families or lawyers. The rest of their crews were removed from the Bear Gulch Fire.

Trump's xenophobia trumps wildfire safety or justice.

www.klcc.org/crime-law-ju...

Federal agents arrest firefighters working on WA wildfire Federal agents showed up northeast of Lake Cushman to check identification of crew members fighting Washington's largest active wildfire.

Fire and ICE don't mix!

At a time when every able-bodied firefighter is needed to protect threatened communities, Trump's ICE patrols are hauling crews away. Taking firefighters off the firelines to line up to show their papers. This is Gestapo cosplay shit!

www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

How a ‘good fire’ in the Grand Canyon exploded into a raging inferno A miscalculation allowed a small blaze to roar out of control last month, destroying a historic lodge and other buildings on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

The Dragon Bravo is a tale of two fires: 1) the wildland fire that was rejuvenating the land; 2) the urban fire that destroyed the lodge and other structures. The latter was caused by structure vulnerability to ignition--a problem we can proactively solve.

www.latimes.com/environment/...

Danger in Plain Sight - The Lookout Learn more about the five-part video series DANGER IN PLAIN SIGHT where wildfire experts take a deep dive into the LA fires (Jan 2025).

Follow the Lookout's Zeke Lunder and firefighter friends as they delve into the context of the So-Cal fires:
Documentary series here: the-lookout.org/danger-in-pl...

Between flames and the sky are America’s aerial firefighters Water-dropping aircraft are a key part of efforts to fight wildfires. And with the 2025 season especially fiery, these pilots have stayed busy.

"...the real issue is not that fire happens, but how we respond to it."

Read more:

Call on Governor Kotek to pardon wrongfully incarcerated Brian ‘Hakiym’ Simson, a CAL FIRE Engineer, wildland firefighter, father, poet, and longtime community advocate.

Sign and share: change.org/justiceforha...