Reorganization of the Natural Resource Agency Wildfire Response

Homeland Security
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Currently there are 4 Department of Interior Natural Resource Land Management Agencies that each have a Fire Management Response and Prescribed Fire mandate for their respective lands. The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service is the largest wildfire response agency in the government. Each of these Five (5) agencies devotes more than 50% of the entire allocated budget to wildfire suppression annually.

Each of the agencies combine their respective forces for responses for initial attack through complex incident response with established incident management teams (IMTs). The issue is not with responding forces from firefighter to Division Chiefs, there are too many senior chiefs (Director and assistants) at each level from District/Forest/Parks/Refuges through the National Level at headquarters.

This is compounded by multiple senior executives from each level at multiple committees attempting to determine priorities and issuing mandates with little input from the field that is acknowledged.

A much simpler organization is needed with a mandate with much a 90% reduction in senior chiefs/executives authorized to make decisions from the field/on the ground representatives in a faster timframe.

The only method that improves this efficiency is pulling the wildfire organization from the agencies and getting past the tunnel vision of local needs t improve efficiency. This “department/agency” should be the United States Fire Service and recognize the importance of firefighters and response.

For example, there is no firefighter job description still under a forestry or range technician position description, No recognition of the hazardous work and the long term effects from this work that should be covered by health benefits like structure fire departments have presently.

As a retired Regional Fire Chief and National Incident Commander in both the Southwest and California, I do know what the program is and what is needed. I would be glad to serve in a capacity to bring this much needed change to realization.
Respectfully Submitted
Clay Templin /s/

1 Like
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I agree with this fully, though I do believe that compensation for these positions should be looked at as well on top of just recognition through reclassification/fixing our job titles

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Bring back forestry maintenance – allow selective logging and clearance of deadfall. Europe doesn’t have massive wildfires because they maintain their forests.

The greens will say it’s not natural – well there’s so little habitat left that we need to maintain it. We aren’t a wide open continent where wildfires can be let go forever, and the animals can flee, the forests can regrow… there’s little left and it needs to be preserved.