Interior Secretary Doug Burgum launched Monday a new firefighting agency with the goal of streamlining the federal government’s approach to putting out wildfires on public lands.
Burgum in a statement said “common sense” reforms are needed to allow federal firefighters to more quickly face fire risks. The Interior Department also released a secretarial order Burgum signed Sept. 10 establishing the U.S. Wildland Fire Service and marshaling his agency around the new program, which would work closely with the Forest Service that is housed within the Department of Agriculture.
“For too long, outdated and fragmented systems have slowed our ability to fight fires and protect lives.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,” he said.
The new division of Interior comes from an executive order President Donald Trump signed in June ordering public land agencies to unify their policies and practices on fighting fire.
That mandate echoed long-held complaints from Republicans that fire is mismanaged on public lands, but it fell short of expectations that the administration would try to shift fire responsibilities from the Forest Service to Interior, as it had proposed in its fiscal 2026 budget. That move would likely need congressional approval.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, in a statement Tuesday, also promised a “transformation of the federal wildfire system” and blamed “mismanagement and a lack of preparedness” for devastating wildfires in the past.
“We are taking bold action to modernize wildfire response systems, streamline federal wildfire capabilities, and strengthen their effectiveness,” she said. “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.”
Critics of the administration’s fire unification effort thus far have warned that Interior’s fire agency needs to recognize the dual responsibility of putting out wildfires and managing their natural role in the environment.
Tim Ingalsbee, executive director at Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, said Tuesday that Trump administration rhetoric suggests the key role that fire plays in land management isn’t being prioritized enough.
“It’s retrograde, a throwback to talking about fire purely in terms of threat, risk, danger,” Ingalsbee said.
Burgum’s Sept. 10 order directs the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Wildland Fire and National Park Service to finalize a plan by the end of October to consolidate authority in the wildland fire program. If approved by Burgum, that plan would go into effect on Jan. 12, 2026.
Interior will create a USWFS fire chief role to lead the fire service. That post will be a Senior Executive Service position.
Burgum’s order also calls for a “centralized Fire Intelligence” office to predict fire and joint procurement, contracting and payment centers with USDA to slash bureaucratic delay.
It directs Interior to do an assessment of how to modernize standards for personal protective equipment for firefighters and make recommendations within 270 days.
The order mandates that fire leaders in Interior’s bureaus continue to work with land managers within this new paradigm, calling for “consistent collaboration with land managers to ensure aggressive fuels treatment strategies, effective and nimble wildfire response, and thoughtful post-fire recovery.”
Interior and USDA will also standardize fire qualifications and training, as well as some hiring practices, according to the order. The order also says that Interior will work with the Forest Service and EPA to cut regulatory restrictions on prescribed fire and the use of fire retardants.
Michael Boren, who is the acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, will lead the unification effort, according to the secretarial order.
Trump has also nominated Boren, an Idaho investment consultant and Republican campaign donor, as the Department of Agriculture undersecretary for natural resources and environment, a role that oversees the Forest Service.
If confirmed, Boren would also lead the USDA side of the unification effort, as Rollins published an order Monday that tasks the undersecretary for natural resources and environment with that responsibility.
Steve Ellis, chair of the National Association of Forest Service Retirees, said the order needs more detail but contains some steps in the right direction to streamline fire response.
“It does appear to reduce the bureaucratic inconsistencies that can make firefighters and contractors’ lives more difficult than they need to be,” he said, praising provisions like collaboration with EPA to ensure that firefighters can do actions like prescribed burns, which can be impeded by air quality rules.
“How do you want your smoke? Wildfire, where you can’t control it or prescribed fire?” Ellis said.
Ellis said the order lacks critical details about who is accountable and responsible in fire response. He also said that as the administration moves forward it needs to take input from state foresters.
Ingalsbee, with the Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, questioned whether Interior’s consolidation and unification effort would improve interagency coordination on fire.
He said the documents released Monday don’t address the significant divide between the missions at the various agencies involved.
“There’s a world of difference in the fire management strategies of the Forest Service and the [National] Park Service, for example,” said Ingalsbee, who served as a firefighter in both agencies during his career. “The Forest Service is still a very devoted, aggressive suppression agency, whereas the park service is striving towards more ecological, you know, management of fire.”
The question posed by this unification is whether it will prompt the Forest Service to behave more like the NPS or pull the NPS into a fuller suppression mindset, he said.
