Wildfire reduction projects in 22 states funded by USDA

American Elk prescribed fire Wind Cave National Park

The United States Department of Agriculture on Tuesday announced that the agency has invested $200 million in 58 wildfire reduction projects across the nation.

The programs span 22 states and two tribes, and include efforts like updating community wildfire protection plans and removing hazardous fuels and overgrown vegetation.

The funding comes from the Congressionally-created Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program. The program is slated to invest $1 billion over five years to assist at-risk communities in preventing wildfires. 2025 is the program’s third year.

“No single organization can address the severe wildfire threats we face today,” Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz said. “It is imperative that we work together to protect our forests and communities. For those communities that already have plans in place, these investments will enable immediate, collaborative action to reduce wildfire risk.”

The state with the most approved grants in round three of the program was Colorado, with eight projects funded. Two projects in the state each received just under $10 million in funding, including:

  • “Protecting the Gateway to the Rockies” through the Larimer County Office of Emergency Management, which includes defensive space improvements on 900 parcels, wildfire mitigation treatments on 500 acres of open space, and wildfire preparedness education at 75 community events.
  • Wildfire Risk Mitigation program through the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, which will expand the county’s Sustainable Lands and Safer Homes (SLASH) program, hire more staff specifically for wildfire risk education, and help purchase numerous kinds of field equipment and gear.

The project with the largest amount of funding approved was a $10 million program in New Mexico. The “Colfax Wildfire Risk Reduction Project” through the Cimarron Watershed Alliance will “implement high priority wildfire risk reduction treatments including fuels reduction, evacuation route clearing, restoration focused forest thinning, and defensible space work on private lands in and around communities.”

Click here to see the full list of funded proposals for each year of the program.

Fix Our Forests Act advocates continue push after Wildland Fire Service announcement

firefighters on the Caldor Fire

A historic six-figure advertisement campaign is targeting senators who, for months, haven’t touched a bill that aims to overhaul the United States’ wildfire policies.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fix Our Forests Act in January and has yet to have any motion in the Senate. The bill has effectively been stonewalled under both the Biden and Trump administration after it also stalled in committee in a Senate committee in 2024.

The Act would create an interagency Fireshed Center focused on wildfire prediction and tracking, establish fireshed management areas in forests with high wildfire risks, and expedite the review of wildfire-related forest management projects under the National Environmental Policy Act.

Critics against the Act claim it would further open up forests to logging and allow a large-scale rollback of the Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and National Environmental Policy Act.

Advocates at Megafire Action, a non-profit organization focused on policies to help avert catastrophic wildfires, recently unveiled the ad campaign, claiming to be the first ever made to support a piece of wildfire legislation, just days after the Trump Administration announced the upcoming creation of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service. Megafire Action CEO Matt Weiner told WildfireToday that the Service wouldn’t be designed to address the same problems that the Act tackles, which means Senators need to take action on the bill now.

“The missing piece in all of this is workforce,” Weiner said. “We’ve been asking our wildland firefighters to do too much with far too little for too long, all while putting their health and safety on the line. My hope is that building a better, more efficient system will help us make the case for workforce reform and funding.”

Weiner addressed the concerns brought up by other members of the Senate, but said the larger issue is lawmakers’ lack of urgency on the matter.

Megafire Action’s ad buy will target Washington and other local news outlets through video and static advertising and run for one week.

Human error blamed for double-helicopter crash that killed 2 firefighters and pilot in 2023

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its final report on a mid-air collision of two firefighting helicopters over Cabazon, California, that killed two firefighters and a pilot in 2023.

The crash of the two on-duty contracted Cal Fire helicopters, a Sikorsky S-64E Skycrane and a Bell 407 – a derivative of a LongRanger, resulted in the deaths of Cal Fire Assistant Chief Josh Bischof, 46, of Menifee, Cal Fire Capt. Timothy D. Rodriguez Jr., 44, of San Jacinto and contract pilot Tony Sousa, 55, of Red Bluff.

The Board’s final report determined that the crash’s cause was due to the Skycrane flight crew’s decision to fly at an altitude of 4,000 feet, which was a dangerous and unapproved altitude for the craft.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: NTSB releases initial report on Cabazon mid-air

“The Skycrane flight crew’s decision to enter the Fire Traffic Area’s 7-nm NOCOM ring at an altitude significantly above their maximum cleared altitude, which resulted in their need for an aggressive descent into congested airspace and subsequent failure to see and avoid the Bell 407,” the Board’s findings said.

The collision caused the Bell 407 to break apart and crash, killing all three people inside. The Skycrane was damaged in the collision, but it safely landed.

Both helicopters were part of the late afternoon initial attack response to the Broadway Fire west of Palm Springs. Both aircraft took off from nearby Hemet, 11 miles southwest of the fire, with the Bell 407 airborne approximately three minutes ahead of the Skycrane. The two helicopters flew different routes around mountainous terrain toward the fire, and ADS-B data showed both helicopters on a converging flight path until the time of collision west of the fire.

Click here for the full report.

‘US Wildland Fire Service’ unveiled by USDA, DOI on Monday

Rice Ridge Fire in Montana helicopter

The United States Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture announced the establishment of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, a consolidation of all federal wildland fire agencies under the Interior.

The new service will be established by January 2026, according to a press release sent from the Department of the Interior on Monday. The press release detailed numerous wildland fire consolidation efforts throughout the federal government, including:

  • Creating a joint federal firefighting aircraft service
  • Standardizing the Emergency Firefighter Program
  • Establishing a joint contracting, procurement, and payment center
  • Building a government-wide Wildfire Enterprise IT System
  • Developing a unified wildfire risk mapping tool

The departments also said they will begin shifting away from “outdated systems and fragmented response” that have hindered previous wildfire efforts.

“For too long, outdated and fragmented systems have slowed our ability to fight fires and protect lives. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are cutting through the bureaucracy and building a unified, modern wildfire response system that works as fast and as fearlessly as the men and women on the front lines,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said in the press release. “By streamlining federal capabilities and strengthening our partnerships with state, tribal and local teams, we will deliver the common-sense reforms needed to safeguard our communities, our lands and our future.” 

The announcement is a continuation of President Donald Trump’s executive order in June, which directed the departments and all agencies represented by the National Interagency Fire Center to enhance their wildland firefighting capabilities at the state and local levels, including through the use of artificial intelligence, data sharing, and mapping capabilities.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Trump orders US to ‘consolidate’ wildfire programs

“Time and time again, we have witnessed the devastating consequences of wildfires caused by mismanagement and a lack of preparedness. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are taking bold action to modernize wildfire response systems, streamline federal wildfire capabilities, and strengthen their effectiveness. We started this work in the spring and have continually updated our policies and programs to properly manage our forests through common-sense timber production and management, protecting our national forests and grasslands for generations to come,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said. “Secretary Burgum and I are committed to leading a bold transformation of the federal wildfire system to help our communities, neighbors, and partners better prepare for, respond to, and recover from wildfires.”   

Click here for the full press release.

Air pollution rule change aimed at reducing wildfire emissions moves forward in US Senate

Nature Conservancy Prescribed Fire

The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s push to change a decade-old air pollution rule was recently advanced in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Committee members on Wednesday discussed a draft of the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act (WEPA), which would amend a portion of the Clean Air Act to allow looser restrictions on when officials can start prescribed burns. The act would specifically change the EPA’s Exceptional Events Rule, which allows states to be exempt from meeting national air quality standards during high-pollution events they can’t control, to allow prescribed burning to be considered an “exceptional event.”

Committee Chair Senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican from West Virginia, led Wednesday’s hearing championed the Act, saying passing it will help reduce wildfire emissions.

“WEPA would ensure that states won’t be penalized for using prescribed burns and facilitate state leadership on actions that would mitigate wildfire risk,” Capito said during the hearing. “I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about the environmental and public health benefits that would come from having WEPA signed into law.”

The act mirrors a request from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in March, when he asked staff to revisit the agency rule.  EPA staff said that prescribed burns are virtually never nominated for exclusion under the rule.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Trump’s EPA may change obscure rule in attempt to increase prescribed burns

An analysis published February considered the potential impacts of the change: “The relevant parts of the rule are very complex, but, to simplify, they indicate that if a prescribed burn complies with certain regulations and standard practices, it will be deemed by the agency to be ‘not reasonably controllable or preventable’ and classified as a ‘natural’ rather than ‘human-caused’ event, such that the ‘unlikely to recur’ requirement no longer applies,” the study on the rule published said. “To qualify, prescribed burns must comply with smoke management plans that reduce pollution effects and multiyear land resource management plans that set the frequency and location of burns. These requirements are quite complex and potentially burdensome.”

One of the witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing was Jonathan Wood, the vice president of law and policy at the Property and Environment Research Center. He believes passing the act would work to solve the policy problem.

“It would give the Environmental Protection Agency and states needed flexibility to treat prescribed fire smoke the same as wildfire smoke, while streamlining the process,” Wood’s statement from the hearing said. “It would also have no effect on EPA’s authority, the pollutants covered by the CAA, or any substantive environmental standard.”

Click here to watch the full hearing.

Feds sue California utility, claim it started deadly Eaton and Fairview wildfires

The U.S. government has filed two lawsuits against a utility company in California, blaming it for starting two deadly wildfires in the state, including the Eaton Fire in 2025 and the Fairview Fire in 2022.

The Department of Justice sued Southern California Edison (SCE) in Los Angeles federal court on Thursday, alleging the company caused the wildfires through negligence. The department demanded over $77 million in damages for violating California’s public safety laws.

“The lawsuits filed today allege a troubling pattern of negligence resulting in death, destruction, and tens of millions of federal taxpayer dollars spent to clean up one utility company’s mistakes,” Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a press release. “We hope that today’s filings are the first step in causing the beginnings of a culture change at Southern California Edison, one that will make it a responsible, conscientious company that helps – not harms – our community. Hardworking Californians should not pick up the tab for Edison’s negligence.”

No official cause for the Eaton Fire has been determined, but federal officials alleged that “faulty power infrastructure” owned by the utility ignited the fire. The utility previously reported that it operates transmission towers in the Eaton Canyon area where the fire ignited and admitted that it detected a “fault” on one of its transmission lines around the time the fire started, according to the lawsuit.

“SCE negligently failed to properly maintain its power and transmission lines and infrastructure in the area where the Eaton Fire ignited,” Essayli said. “In a July 31 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SCE reported that it was ‘not aware of evidence pointing to another possible source of ignition’.”

The lawsuit also blamed the 2022 Fairview Fire on a sagging power line owned by the utility company that came into contact with a communications messenger cable, creating sparks and igniting nearby vegetation. Officials said the utility failed to properly maintain its power and transmission lines in the area where the wildfire ignited and failed to ensure the minimum clearance between the lines.

USDA signs new long-term fire retardant contract

DC10 and fire retardant, Australia

The supply of chemicals for aerial fire suppression across the US has been locked in with the announcement by US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins that the nation’s Forest Service and Department of Interior’s aerial wildland firefighting force has entered into a new five-year contract.

The new contract is with Perimeter Solutions, a US-based fire supply company, which supplies a range of firefighting chemicals to governments and agencies around the world.

The company, already a long-time supplier of wildfire products to the USDA, CalFire and others, has secured the dominant position as the supplier of fire-retardant in the US for the next five years

Perimeter, according to its website has manufacturing facilities in US, Canada, France, Spain, Germany and Australia. The new contract, however, states that 100 percent of Perimeter’s retardant for federal use will be manufactured in the US.

In a company statement Perimeter claims a “made in America, for America” commitment. “Combined with an increased commitment to sourcing domestic raw materials, the contract reinforces Perimeter’s support for American manufacturing, supply chain diversification, and national resilience. The USDA will receive the lowest pricing Perimeter offers.  Together, the benefits of the contract are a result of operational efficiencies and long-term investment in US-based infrastructure by Perimeter Solutions”

In 2024, US federal agencies dropped 48.6 million gallons of fire retardant to fight wildfires. Rollins, in her announcement, boasted that the new contract would save American taxpayers $153 million over the next five years “…including a negotiated direct price reduction and additional cost savings transitioning to full-service bases and powder retardant by 2030.”

“This contract is a tremendous win for America’s taxpayers, our rural communities, and the brave men and women who fight wildfires every day,” Rollins said. “By locking in historic cost savings and bringing every step of the fire-retardant supply chain back to American soil, we are protecting lives, saving communities from destruction, and keeping America safe, strong, and resilient. This agreement proves that when we put America first, we get the best results for our people and our land.”

WildfireToday reached out to the USDA for specifics on where the $153 million in savings comes from, but the agency has not returned our request for comment as of this article’s publication.

‘Fire weather’ indicators aren’t one size fits all, research shows

Metrics to indicate wildfire likelihood and severity are common worldwide; however, a growing body of research suggests that more nuanced approaches may be necessary.

The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index launched by the Canadian Forest Service in the 1960s is now adapted for use in numerous regions, including parts of Australia, Europe and Asia. The United Kingdom also uses the index, but does not have a fire danger rating system akin to other nations.

Most decision support systems based on fire weather–fire relationships have primarily been developed in fire-prone regions that have a long history of experiencing large and extreme wildfires (Canada, Southern Europe, Australia, United States) and then adapted for use in emerging fire-prone regions that have smaller fires, many of which are not detected by satellite.

The Canada Index’s essential metrics, including humidity, temperature, precipitation, and wind speed, may not be good enough alone to predict fire occurrence in places such as the UK, according to a recently published paper. The study explored using another metric, specifically extreme atmospheric blocking events, alongside the index’s other measurements, that may better help forecast wildfires throughout the UK.

Atmospheric blocking occurs when a high-pressure system remains nearly stationary and effectively blocks airflow, causing dry conditions and high surface temperatures that promote vegetation fires, according to the paper. Tracking persistent positive anomalies, or PPAs, of the blocking events may act as a better warning system than relying on the usual fire weather indicators.

“Because of their long-development phase and slow-moving nature, (PPAs) tend to be more predictable in the medium-range of up to two weeks, compared to surface fire weather indicators that are more locally variable and get challenging to forecast beyond the short-term,” lead author and University of Birmingham researcher Kerryn Little told WildfireToday. “Considering synoptic indicators of fire weather like PPAs in addition to surface fire weather indicators may help us to get an early warning of elevated fire weather conditions to aid fire preparedness and management decision-making.”

Using PPA events and other similar indicators of fire danger periods would provide significant benefits for fire preparedness regions like the UK, which have had to rely on general fire danger assessments, rather than region-specific, tailored forecasts.

“Our research does show (like others have) that certain fire weather indicators don’t perform well where there is a strong phenological control on when fires occur. Many of our fires in the UK (and in other temperate regions of Europe) occur during spring. High temperatures and long dry periods are not necessarily needed for these fires, as live fuel moisture can be very low prior to new vegetation growth and so those indicators based on weather variables alone don’t capture this risk. To capture the spring fire season, other indicators that incorporate this phenological control are needed.”


Read the full paper Extreme blocking ridges are associated with vegetation fire occurrence in England in the International Journal of Wildland Fire. In assessing the Canadian FWI for UK use, lead author Kerryn Little and University of Birmingham colleague Nicholas Kettridge, were assisted by contributing Canadian writers Dante Castellanos-Asuna and Mike Flannigan from Thompson Rivers University, and Piyush Jain from Canada Forest Service.

US heads into wildfire-prone Labor Day weekend with above-average number of fires, but low burned acreage

DC-10 dropping on the Almeda Fire

One of the busiest times for the wildland throughout the United States is also among the most frequent times for wildfires.

Labor Day weekend is a time when human-caused wildfires usually spike, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Numerous Forest Service offices have put out statements sharing tips on how to prevent wildfires during the holiday weekend.

The center’s predictive services have issued fuels and fire danger advisories for parts of the West, underscoring how quickly new ignitions could spread. The majority of the nation’s western coast, along with portions of Tennessee and Kentucky, has very dry fuels heading into the holiday weekend, and much of northern California, northern Montana, and northern North Dakota have moderate fire risk for the next week.

The U.S. has recorded an estimated 46,122 fires since the beginning of the year, the highest year-to-date fire total since 2022 and much higher than the 40,513 fire total average year-to-date. But, the nation’s 4.1 million acres of burned land is under the nation’s 10-year burned acreage average of 5.3 million. Over 18,000 wildland firefighters are deployed nationwide.

“Whether you’re camping, towing a boat, or grilling in the backyard, please remember that most wildfires are human-caused and preventable,” NIFC said. “Make sure campfires are dead out, secure trailer chains so they don’t spark, and never leave barbeques or burn piles unattended. Simple choices like these protect the landscapes we love and help firefighters focus on naturally ignited fires.”

The nation’s worst Labor Day wildfire tragedy occurred in Oregon in 2020, the deadliest wildfire event in state history. Hurricane-force winds triggered warnings from officials of heightened fire danger. An estimated 16 fires claimed 11 lives, destroyed more than 4,000 homes, and burned over 919,000 acres throughout the state.

“The effects of the Labor Day wildfires will be felt for years to come, but – like the forests that burned in those fires – Oregon’s forest sector is resilient,” a report on the fires commissioned by the state said. “Foresters, loggers,
tree planters, scientists and other forest professionals have been working ever since the smoke cleared to restore the forests that they pride themselves in stewarding, as well as to better understand how our forests respond to and recover from wildfire.”

Click here to read the full 2020 report.

Debris removal from Maui wildfire passes halfway mark as officials expand disaster resources

Most of the debris from the deadly 2023 wildfire in Lahaina, Maui, now resides in a permanent landfill, County of Maui officials announced on Saturday.

Officials have successfully transferred 64% of the total 400,000 tons of wildfire debris from a temporary debris storage site in Olowalu to a permanent disposal site at the Central Maui Landfill, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The site was chosen due to its far distance from any residential areas, schools, and drinking water sources.

The transfer operation started on June 16 and was estimated to take five months to complete.

“Our debris mission is going very smoothly, we appreciate all your support over the last two months,” Lt. Col. Adrian Biggerstaff recently said at a community meeting. “If you know someone hauling the debris, please thank them, give them a big mahalo because they’re doing amazing work for us and the community.”

Credit: County of Maui

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: The failure of fire, law enforcement, and other agencies at the 2023 Maui fires

The milestone was announced as County of Maui officials continue to encourage all survivors of the wildfire to connect with disaster case managers through state and/or local services.

Both the State of Hawaiʻi Disaster Case Management Program and the Hoʻōla iā Mauiakama Disaster Case Management Program recently expanded services for residents affected by the fire and reportedly work closely with each other to avoid service duplication, according to County of Maui Office of Recovery Administrator John Smith.

“DCMs help survivors develop individualized recovery plans and connect them with housing assistance, mental health services, transportation support, financial aid and more,” Smith said. “Whether through the state or a community-based program, DCMs serve as a consistent guide and advocate for wildfire survivors throughout their long-term recovery journey.”

Click here for full details of both disaster case management services.