The tragic death of three firefighters on public lands in Colorado has emerged as a grave warning sign of the dangerous wildfire conditions brewing this summer for federal agencies.
The firefighters, who died nine days ago, were part of an elite helicopter crew that drops into remote areas to extinguish fires before they can grow. The fast-moving flames of the Snyder Fire overcame the crew June 27 on the border with Utah, one of 35 large fires currently burning across the United States.
Driven by widespread drought that’s dried out vegetation in Western states, and exacerbated by blistering heat waves, the potentially historic fire season comes as the Interior Department forges a new consolidated fire agency. At the same time, the Trump administration has ordered both the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service and the larger Forest Service within the Agriculture Department to carry out an aggressive strategy: Fully suppress every single blaze that sparks on federal lands.
That strategy would perhaps have become unavoidable this summer given the dry, hot conditions on the ground that can quickly turn small fires into big ones. But it’s one that’s been widely criticized after decades of fire agencies focusing on quickly extinguishing fires. Many firefighters and foresters today say it’s imperative to let some fires burn under supervision as nature’s way to clear out the accumulated brush and dead trees that fuel megafires. Attacking every blaze can also put firefighters at greater risk, sending them into dangerous terrain and remote areas.
