In this episode, I interview Tim Ingalsbee, co-founder and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE). Tim and I discuss his critiques of the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service, arguing consolidation is framed as efficiency but functions as defunding, job shedding, and a suppression-first “Fire Force” detached from land stewardship, able to override local land managers. Tim says federal fire management is failing due to an obsolete full-suppression paradigm, reinforced by “attack all fires” directives, which wastes resources, increases hazards, and can worsen ecological damage. He advocates strategic suppression and an Alaska-style triage model, prioritizing protection of lives, communities, and infrastructure while living with fire for ecological benefit. Our conversation covers problems with thinning for timber, home ignitability and community-wide mitigation, workforce programs like the Oregon Conservation Corps, Indigenous fire stewardship, cultural change away from militarized firefighting, and FUSEE’s work promoting proactive fire management and policy reform.
Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE)
S. 3609 (The Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act)
03:26 New Wildland Fire Service
05:50 Consolidation Risks And Missions
10:18 Attack All Fires Directive
14:29 Strategic Suppression Triage
18:33 Smokey Bear Myths
22:35 Thinning/Prescribed Fire Debate
28:05 Home Ignition Zone Focus
32:47 Community Workforce Programs
35:46 Preparing Communities For Fire
38:03 Fireproofing Homes First
39:28 Oregon Conservation Corps Model
40:28 Indigenous Fire Stewardship
44:53 Living in the Pyrocene
47:04 Militarized Firefighting Culture
49:31 Toxic Tools and Home Hazmat
52:31 Firefighters as Stewards
55:23 Epiphanies on the Fireline
59:51 FUSEE Mission and Advocacy
01:01:08 Prescribed Burn Smoke Concerns
