Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz told skeptical Senate appropriators Wednesday that his agency is fully prepared for wildfire season despite losing thousands of employees in recent months.
Schultz also defended President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget against sharp questioning from lawmakers on the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, vowing that a proposal to consolidate wildland firefighting into a new bureau will improve the government’s ability to combat blazes.
Schultz said that after recent hirings, the agency now has nearly 11,000 firefighters, which is close to its target.
“Our goal is to have about 11,300 at full capacity, so we’re actually a little bit ahead of where we were this time last year in terms of our overall hiring of our firefighting force,” he said.
