Firefighters sound alarm as US faces critical staffing shortage: ‘We don’t have enough people’

The U.S. Forest Service is facing a severe shortage of firefighters this year, even as wildfires burn at record pace. More than 49,200 fires have burned over 7.2 million acres nationwide since January, well above the 10-year average, and the country has been at the highest level of fire-response demand since July 18. Nine firefighters told reporters the agency is far more short-staffed than officials admit, with gaps especially severe among experienced managers who coordinate large firefighting operations. Last week alone, more than 600 requests for aircraft, crews, equipment, and supervisors went unfilled over a 72-hour span, most from the Pacific Northwest, where wildfires recently damaged neighborhoods in Spokane, Washington.

The shortage traces back to years of low pay and dangerous conditions that drove experienced staff out, plus a roughly 20 percent workforce reduction during federal cuts in 2025. Fewer available crews has also meant less of the preventive brush-clearing and controlled-burn work that keeps small fires from becoming disasters — treated acreage nationwide dropped 35 percent last year, and 47 percent in Oregon.

For homeowners, especially in fire-prone areas of the West and Pacific Northwest, this means slower response times and less preventive land management are more likely this fire season and into fall. If you live in an area with wildfire risk, it's worth staying alert to local evacuation notices and checking whether your community has its own wildfire-preparedness or defensible-space programs, since federal crews may be stretched thinner than in past years.