With a hot, dry summer looming, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum this month told senior career leaders his department’s new wildfire agency should put out every blaze that ignites on public lands.
The directive, contained in an April 8 memorandum obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News, offers the clearest window yet into the mission Burgum has dictated for the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, an agency he created in January to consolidate the Interior Department’s fire resources under one chain of command.
“We will enter this season with the presumption of a full suppression strategy applied to every wildfire under DOI management,” Burgum wrote, noting a responsibility to protect “communities, landscapes, habitat and critical infrastructure.”
Aimed at the upcoming fire season, the order has also stoked concern among some wildfire experts that it signals a broader pivot away from the practice of allowing some wildfires to keep burning under supervision. Firefighters and land managers believe those burns are essential to maintaining healthy forests and rangelands.
