As Wildfire Season Begins, Trump’s Staffing Cuts Are Leaving Millions of Americans Exposed
WASHINGTON, D.C. —With a dangerous fire season already underway and drought persisting across much of the country, a new NPR investigation reveals that the Trump administration's sweeping staffing cuts have gutted the U.S. Forest Service's ability to prevent catastrophic wildfires — even as FEMA simultaneously enters the season with its Disaster Relief Fund in a "financial danger zone." Americans are being left doubly exposed: less protected before fires start, and less supported after disaster strikes.
"The Trump administration has gutted both the agency meant to prevent disasters from happening and the agency that helps Americans survive them. Slashing Forest Service staff means more catastrophic wildfires, and gutting FEMA means less help when those fires arrive," said Sabotaging Our Safety Advisory Council Member Tory Gavito. “This severe mismanagement is a reckless attack on disaster safety across the country.”
According to NPR's analysis, the Forest Service reduced hazardous vegetation on nearly 1.5 million fewer acres in 2025 compared to 2024 — a sharp decline from the more than 4 million acres treated in the final year of the Biden administration. Prescribed burns, the proven tool for clearing dangerous underbrush before it feeds catastrophic fires, fell by nearly half — from over 1.6 million acres in both 2023 and 2024, to roughly 900,000 acres in 2025.
The Trump administration eliminated 5,860 Forest Service personnel in the first six months of 2025 alone — a 16% reduction of the agency's entire workforce. Senate Democrats have directly linked these cuts to the agency's diminished capacity to prepare for wildfire season. As fire experts warn, the math is brutal: fewer staff means less prevention work, less prevention work means more extreme fires, and more extreme fires means staff are too occupied fighting blazes to do the prevention work that would have stopped them.
Meanwhile, FEMA — the agency Americans depend on when those fires do become disasters — has been financially hamstrung by the same administration. FEMA has triggered Imminent Needs Funding after its Disaster Relief Fund dropped below $3 billion, entering fire and hurricane season in crisis mode before a single major storm or blaze has struck.
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