Overview

• The order directs consolidation of wildland firefighting efforts currently split among five agencies into a single program under the U.S. Interior Department.
• Thousands of firefighters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service are slated to transfer into the newly established Federal Wildland Fire Service with fire season already underway.
• Opposition from former Forest Service chiefs and firefighter groups emphasizes potential budget overruns, logistical chaos and diminished response capability.
• The directive omits any acknowledgment of climate change despite federal projections of another severe season after nearly 9 million acres burned last year.
• Senators Alex Padilla and Tim Sheehy have sponsored parallel bipartisan legislation endorsing a similar consolidation framework.