A turf war over which federal agency should lead the response to wildfires is brewing again, just as the West faces an especially severe fire season.
In recent days, Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) has revived the discussion about turning over the Forest Service’s wildfire responsibilities to the Interior Department’s U.S. Wildland Fire Service, raising the idea of a 90-day emergency order to temporarily make the move.
Sheehy, founder of the wildfire aviation company Bridger Aerospace, drafted a letter to President Donald Trump asking for an emergency order to put the Interior agency firmly in charge of coordinating wildfire response, according to a Senate office asked to sign it. The letter, on Senate stationery, doesn’t have the lawmaker’s name, but Sheehy’s office provided a statement saying he’s promoting Trump’s proposal to unify fire command at the Interior Department.
The draft letter, published on the forest policy blog The Smokey Wire, calls for “immediate and temporary consolidation of all asset control, coordination, carding and contracting under the Department of the Interior, with singular command and unified standards under the U.S. Wildland Fire Service.”
