This summer, the U.S. has been challenged by a significant shortage of firefighters within the Forest Service (USFS) while contending with numerous fires nationwide.
Despite official statements claiming the firefighting workforce is more robust than ever, the agency has struggled to keep up with the intensifying conditions and the destructive fires they fuel. This is according to nine firefighters who anonymously shared their insights with the Guardian, as they are prohibited from publicly disclosing this information.
Several individuals familiar with the agency’s internal hiring data revealed considerable gaps in key leadership roles, leading to bottlenecks and operational difficulties in a hectic and perilous year.
They depicted a response system stretched to its limits, exerting unsustainable pressure on minimal crews as the peak fire season continues. Last year, many firefighters worked over 1,000 hours of overtime—equivalent to adding five months of work to an already demanding season. This year is anticipated to be even more challenging.
“We simply do not have enough personnel,” stated a federal fire captain in the Pacific Northwest, where wildfires recently ravaged neighborhoods in Spokane, Washington’s second-largest city. “Every firefighter is engaged at the highest priority we can possibly engage them, but houses are burning. When it’s not Spokane, it’s going to be the next town, and the next town.”
The USFS, which operates under the Department of Agriculture, is responsible for managing over 193 million acres across the country and employs the majority of the federal firefighting workforce. The agency has faced ongoing challenges with recruitment and retention, issues that have become increasingly pressing as the climate crisis exacerbates fire risks.
A fire captain illustrated the shortages by comparing them to a soccer game, where each team has 11 players on the field but an active roster of 30 for potential substitutions. In the Forest Service, however, there are no backup players available.
“Entering a game with 13 players is reckless. Playing an entire season with 13 players is abusive,” he explained. “That’s how we fight fires—and no one gets a day off.”
This scenario sharply contrasts with the narrative presented by Tom Schultz, the USFS chief, who has consistently assured lawmakers and the public that the agency’s firefighting workforce is fully capable.
“Our firefighting workforce is stronger than at any point in recent years,” Schultz testified before a congressional subcommittee in July. “We are fully staffed and equipped to respond aggressively to every unplanned ignition.”
Despite repeated inquiries from journalists and members of Congress, the agency has resisted providing detailed breakdowns of its staffing numbers. Instead, the USFS maintains a hiring target of 11,300 positions as the operational staffing benchmark—a figure that has remained unchanged for years.
John Winn, a spokesperson for the USFS, did not provide answers about staffing issues or clarity on the numbers, reasserting Schultz’s stance by stating via email that the agency was “fully staffed at the level we are funded for, and our posture allows us to respond effectively—just as we have for decades.”
However, according to several firefighters, the “operational” staffing minimums fall short of what is needed to maintain a competent firefighting force under current conditions.
Firefighters who have reviewed internal staffing data suggest that the actual number of deployable personnel during large fires is likely much lower than the figures disclosed by the USFS publicly.
The contrast between public statements and on-the-ground realities has increased the stress on already exhausted crews.
“Having more firefighters means I have a higher probability of coming home,” remarked a fire captain. “How are we supposed to feel when our leaders—those who address mourning families when firefighters die—are not truthful about our capacity?”
Gaps in leadership
Firefighters expressed significant concern about the growing void at the management level. Specialized roles critical for large-scale fire suppression operations, such as taskforce leaders, division supervisors, and heavy equipment managers, require years of experience. Replacing losses in these key leadership positions has become notably challenging.
Seth McKinney, a fire management officer with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, spent 12 years at the USFS before leaving but returned this summer to assist as the forest he formerly worked for lacked chief officers.
“It shouldn’t be surprising that we’re in this predicament because we haven’t invested in our federal firefighters,” McKinney said, noting that the workforce has diminished significantly.
For years, increasing job hazards and low pay led many experienced workers to exit the USFS. Even after a long-overdue pay increase was implemented in 2025, the agency had already lost nearly half of its permanent employees between 2021 and 2024, leaving it scrambling to fill leadership roles during peak fire seasons.
The agency lost roughly 20 percent of its workforce during a mass-firing spree in 2025 under the Trump administration, according to a recent government report. Although the layoffs did not specifically target firefighters, they impacted essential support roles now urgently needed by crews.
“Without experienced middle management, effective coordination is impossible,” a firefighter familiar with the shortages commented. “Being short in these areas is no small matter and poses a significant safety risk.”
These roles oversee thousands of personnel deployed during major fires. When gaps exist, other fire-suppression resources may not be fully utilized.
During recent fires in Oregon, private contract resources were left unused due to a lack of qualified managers to supervise them, state Senator Mike McLane noted. He learned of the issue from constituents and confirmed it with incident management team staff and the Oregon Department of Forestry.
The issue has been worsened by years of mismanagement within the agency, a firefighter explained, as the loss of positions crucial for coordination and supervision has left gaps that severely hinder response efforts. “We are now completely unprepared for the type of fire seasons that will become increasingly common.”
A destructive summer adds more pressure
This wildfire season has already proven destructive. Since July 18, the nation has been at “preparedness Level 5″—the highest level of resource deployment, indicating that new requests for support may go unmet.
As of Tuesday, over 49,200 wildfires have burned more than 7.2 million acres (2.9 million hectares) nationwide since the start of the year, surpassing 10-year averages, and the threat is far from over. Fire risks are expected to remain high in many regions through the fall and could persist into winter.
Inter-agency complex-incident management teams, key to organizing responses to large-scale disasters, have also suffered, with fewer experienced leaders available. There were 46 teams in 2023; now only 38 remain.
Dave Upthegrove, Washington’s commissioner of public lands, who manages approximately 6 million acres (2.4 million hectares) of public lands and directs statewide wildland firefighting efforts, acknowledged the importance of the USFS as a partner. However, he expressed concerns earlier this year about the agency’s reduced capacity.
“There are fewer teams, which was true in 2025 as well,” Upthegrove stated. “The difference this year is the extreme weather conditions, dangerously high winds at times, very dry fuels, and a fourth year of drought. All of that has combined to make us highly vulnerable to large and catastrophic fires like we have seen throughout the state, especially in Spokane.”
With resources thinly spread, meeting the equipment and manpower needs when new fires start has become increasingly difficult.
More than 600 requests went unfulfilled during a 72-hour period last week, according to an internal dataset shared with the Guardian, most originating from the Pacific Northwest, which is currently being severely impacted by fires. Requests for aircraft, crews, and equipment were unmet 265 times over the three-day period. Numerous requests for experienced managers and supervisors also went unanswered.
Staffing shortages have also hindered essential landscape treatment work that prevents fires from spreading.
More than half of the federal firefighters who participated in a survey conducted in March by the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters advocacy group and the National Federation of Federal Employees union reported having to cancel prescribed burning projects due to staffing shortages.
Last year, the USFS treated 35 percent fewer acres than in 2024, as per an analysis by the nonprofit Center for Western Priorities. In Oregon, now experiencing a historic fire season with more burned acres than ever recorded, treatments decreased by 47 percent.
Only a quarter of federal firefighters surveyed said their unit was fully staffed. A fifth reported that unqualified personnel were filling the vacant positions.
This situation is unfolding amid a significant consolidation of the federal firefighting workforce under a new agency, the Wildland Fire Service, part of the Department of the Interior. Officials claim this strategy will enhance coordination and streamline costs.
While many federal firefighters support a centralized approach, there are widespread concerns about how this consolidation will be implemented and whether officials will fulfill promises to improve working conditions for crews who endure substantial mental and physical challenges while protecting communities year after year.
After years of sounding the alarm about the growing gap between limited capacity and expanding disasters, federal firefighters are becoming disillusioned with the sacrifices being demanded of them.
“What’s the purpose of the fire service? That’s the hard question we’re starting to ask ourselves,” one fire captain said. “Is it actually to manage fire and to do what we’re telling the public we’re intended to do? Or is it simply to sell the public a belief so that they can sleep at night?”
