A firefighter douses flames as they push towards homes during the Creek fire in the Cascadel Woods area of unincorporated Madera County, Calif.: Josh Edelson

Staff Report –

EUGENE, Ore.— About 120 current and former wildland firefighters issued an open letter Tuesday calling on members of Congress to oppose the Trump administration’s proposal to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule in National Forests.

The rollback of the “Roadless Rule” would remove protections across 45 million acres of national forestlands, opening the door to more road-building and logging in these wild forest areas. The signatories have decades of experience fighting wildfires in U.S. national forests.

Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture is justifying its proposed rescission by saying the rollback will reduce wildfire risk, this assertion is scientifically inaccurate. It is the professional opinion of the wildland firefighters who signed the letter that rescinding this rule will have the opposite effect.

“New roads will mean more human access and more human-caused wildfire ignitions,” they explain in their letter. “Most logging roads in steep backcountry areas are bad tactical ground for holding firelines or staging crews.”

The existing Roadless Rule does not prevent wildfire response or fuels work, they say.

“Rescinding the Roadless Rule will push more firefighters into high-exposure, low-value suppression assignments while pulling resources away from at-risk communities.”

This knowledge, gained by years of on-the-ground firefighting experience, aligns with scientific research.

There is no compelling evidence that eliminating the Roadless Area Conservation Rule  will reduce fire risk to communities. In fact, the science shows that wildfires have a much higher chance of being started along roads. A recent study found that the highest density of wildfire ignitions is within a 50-meter zone around roads. Ignition density decreases away from roads and is smallest in places without roads (e.g., designated wilderness areas and roadless areas).

There are several reasons for this. First, people cause the large majority of unplanned fires and most people stay on or close to roads. Human-started wildfires account for 84% of all wildfires and are responsible for nearly half of all the area burned.

Second, roads lead to vegetative conditions that exacerbate fire ignitions and spread. For instance, road corridors have higher amounts of invasive species that are more likely to ignite and spread fire than native vegetation. Vegetation along the edges of roads tends to dry out sooner than interior forest vegetation, contributing to increased ignitions and higher intensity burns.

Further, roadless areas are mostly remote and generally pose low fire risk to communities. Only 6% of the 44.7 million acres of roadless forests affected by the proposed rescission of the Roadless Rule are in or within a mile of the Wildland-Urban Interface.

Where roadless areas are near communities, the Rule already allows the Forest Service to treat these areas to reduce fuels. In fact, the Forest Service has used this authority to treat 1.5 million acres of roadless areas for fuel reduction over the last two decades. 

Finally, by maintaining remote National Forest areas as unroaded, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule contributes to a low-risk wildfire management strategy by providing areas with low risk of human ignitions and where fire can naturally help reduce fuels without endangering homes or firefighters.  

“The bottom line is that allowing new road-building and more logging in roadless areas will increase the number of fire ignitions in remote and steep terrain,” they say in a press release with the letter. “This will increase firefighter exposure to hazardous suppression efforts with low probabilities of success and pull scarce resources away from the priority of protecting communities. Removing roadless area protections to reduce fire risk is not consistent with current scientific understanding and would not provide better protection from wildfire for communities and property.”

Full Text of the Letter

Dear Member of Congress:

We the undersigned are active, former, or retired wildland firefighters. We are hearing claims that building more roads in roadless areas will improve firefighter safety and wildfire response. From a suppression operational standpoint those claims do not hold up, and for the following reasons we oppose rescinding the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

First, new roads will mean more human access and more human-caused wildfire ignitions. Firefighters know where many fires start: along roads, near vehicles and equipment, recreation sites, and other places of human activity. Opening roadless areas to new road construction will create more wildfire starts creating more firefighter exposure to the inherent safety risks and health hazards of fighting fires. This will cause more demand for already limited and overextended suppression crews and resources.

Second, most logging roads in steep backcountry areas are bad tactical ground for holding firelines or staging crews. They are often narrow midslope roads with tight switchbacks, poor turnouts, limited safety zones, and heavy fuels along roadsides. The location and design of these roads expose crews to rolling material from above or spotting from below that can lead to rapid fire runs. Forest roads are mainly built for timber access, not for safe or effective fireline operations. New roads will be places where more wildfires will be started than stopped.

Third, the existing Roadless Rule does not prevent wildfire response or fuels work. Firefighters can and do suppress wildfires in roadless areas. Agencies can and do conduct fuels treatments there. Given their remote locations, roadless areas offer some of the best places to safely use large-scale prescribed burning and managed wildfire because they have fewer homes or communities at risk. The Roadless Rule does not bar suppression or fuels work, especially using fire treatments.

Fourth, rescinding the Roadless Rule will push more firefighters into high-exposure, low-value suppression assignments while pulling resources away from at-risk communities. In a time of a shrinking workforce with longer fire seasons that is stretching crews and increasing firefighter fatigue, Congress should not support a policy that creates more wildfire ignitions and adds more pressure for aggressive suppression actions in remote rugged terrain.

Ending the Roadless Rule and building more roads into roadless areas will not make firefighters safer. New roads will create more human-caused wildfire ignitions in remote steep terrain, increasing firefighter exposure to hazardous suppression efforts with low probabilities of success. This will also pull scarce resources away from the priority of protecting communities. For all the above reasons and more, we urge you to oppose rescission of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.

Sincerely,

Timothy Ingalsbee; Engine Crew, Hotshot, Helitack; Oregon
Mike Beasley; Fire Management Officer; California
Jessica Camarena; Firefighter Type 2; California
Jessica Hamner; Lead Forestry Technician; Utah
Joe Turner; Senior Forestry Technician; Utah
Richard Fairbanks; Division Supervisor; Oregon
Hannah Starbuck; Squad Boss; California
Anthony Lintz; Engine Boss; Nevada
Sarah Peterson; Senior Wildland Firefighter; Idaho
Jessica Kearney-Reeves; Helitack Squad Leader; Idaho
Elizabeth Smith; Prescribed fire and fuels crew member North Carolina
Shaelyn Camille; Wildland Firefighter (WFM, handcrew) Oregon
Laken Alles; Former Hotshot and Wildfire Researcher Oregon
Ed laskey; Wildland Firefighter; Oregon
Jon Carnill; Fire Prevention Patrol; Idaho
Renn Percifield; FFT1; Washington
Kellyn Ursin; Wildland Firefighter; Florida
Aubrey Blumers; Type II Wildland Firefighter; Wisconsin
Jasper Miltko; Former Assistant Fire Engine Operator; California
Robert Clancy; Crew member, Pumper Foreman, Asst. Helitack Foreman, Hotshot Crew Boss; New Mexico
Emma; Assistant Fire Engine Operator; Oregon
Hazel Farrell; Forestry Technician; California
Alexandra Blaszczyk; Firefighter Type 2; New Jersey
Darla Allen; Forestry Technician Senior; Colorado
Jose Torres; FFT2 IA Handcrew; Oregon
Matthew Fox; Line Medic, Med Unit Leader; Oregon
Scott Polhamus; Crew Boss; Oregon
Matt Behrens; Fire Effects Monitor; Alaska and Utah
Jessica Blunn; FFT2; Oregon
Tristón King; Fire Engine Operator; Utah
Sophia Marquez; Lead PBA Coordinator; California
Dalton Loveless; Lead Forestry Technician (Fire); Washington
Brian Ortega; FFT2; Oregon
Louisa Evers; Former Long-term Analyst (LTAN); Idaho
Ben Jacobs; Wildland Fire Manager; California
Timothy Rich; Fire Behavior Analyst, Branch Director; California
Liam Chambers; FFT 1; Idaho
Jonathan Sifuentes-Winter; Resource Advisor, Type II Fire Fighter; California
Hunter Harrington; Assistant Engine Captain; Idaho
Gabriel Belton; Firefighter Type 1 Trainee; North Carolina
Julie Rechtin; Fuels and Prescribed Fire Technician; California and Oregon
Charles Mark; Agency Administrator; Idaho
Elizabeth Lockwood Firefighter/EMT (Retired); Oregon
Steve Nicholson; DIVS NR CIMT Team 2; Wyoming
Tyler Aldworth; Fire Response Researcher and Volunteer Firefighter; Colorado
Elishua Ferdon; FFT1; Oregon
Tanya Golden; Past Volunteer; Oregon
Krista Gollnick-Waid; Long-Term Analyst and Fuels Program Lead; Idaho
Catharine Welch; Land Manager/Prescribed Burn Coordinator; Florida
Joseph Fox; Retired Smokejumper and Hotshot; Oregon and Idaho
Derek LaFlamme; Wildland Burn Boss, Former FDEP and FWC; Florida
Tim Fondriest; AFMO; Arkansas
Rebecca Lipton; Hand Crew; Oregon
Teresa D. Hawkes; Wildland Firefighter; Oregon
Stephen Pyne; Crew Boss (Former), Fire Historian (Since); Arizona
Isabella Myrah; Fire Effects Monitor; California
Lindsay J. Brice; Smokechaser (Former); Minnesota
Michael Mees; Fire Fighter type 2; Oregon
Karen Hogenboom; Former Firefighter/EMT; Pennsylvania
Christian Caufield; F2 on a Type 2 Handcrew; Oregon
Zachary Allen; Wildland Fire Module Leader; Wyoming
Michael Helton; USFS Wildland Firefighter/ Engine Crewmember; Oregon
Paul Claeyssens; ARCH, REAF, READ, FFT2 and BAES; Oregon
Molly McGuire; Wildland Firefighter; Washington
Lia Brewster; Former FFT2, Fireline EMT, Helitack Short Hauler; Washington
Andrew Cockerham; Wildland Firefighter; California
Dave Toler; Line Crew and Engine Boss; Oregon
Lindsay Browder; Crewmember, Hotshot Crew; Montana
Andrew Persante; FFT2 AD; New Mexico
Fabiola Baeza; Wildland Firefighter; Florida
Nicole Yetke; Crewmember; Florida
William Kohler; Prescribed Fire Technician; Iowa
Garrett Mercator; FFT1; Oregon
Lauren Clark; Fuels Planner; Oregon
Claire Monahan; Fire Research Scientist; California
Brian Peterson; Supervisory Wildland Firefighter; Montana
Steve Harbert; Fuels Management Specialist (Retired); Oregon
Maria Nielsen; Former Conservation Corps Firefighter; Minnesota
Solomon E. Roncalio-Meyer; Firefighter/EMT-Wildland FF Type 2; Oregon
Caitlin Patrick; Incident Response Driver; Minnesota
Liz Crandall; FFT2, RA, PIO, Incident Security Manager; Oregon
Scott Fitzwilliams; Agency Administer; Colorado
Erika Lutz; Prescribed Fire Information Coordinator; California
D.R. Patterson; Resource Advisor (READ); Nevada
Hazel O’Brien; Wildland Fire Engine Lead; Washington
Lily Emerich; Helitack Squadleader; Montana
Eduardo Caballero; Lead Firefighter; Oregon
Francis Oleary; FFT2; Oregon
Rand Snyder; Helitack Squad Boss; Oregon
Brandyn Harvey; Star Peak Fire, Owner; Oregon
Carson States; Engine Boss; Oregon
David Schroeder; Communications Technician; Oregon
Randall Sinnott; Wildland Firefighter; Oregon
Iris Garber; FFT2; Oregon
Erin Hogan; Former Hotshot Squadboss; Oregon
Russ Plaeger; Fire Information Officer; Squad Boss (Retired) Oregon
Steve Bear; Former Wildland Firefighter; Washington
Taro Pusina; Incident Commander Type 3, Fire Behavior Analyst; California
Elizabeth Lockwood; Firefighter/EMT (Retired); Oregon
Daniel Lockwood; Firefighter/EMT/Training Officer (Retired) Oregon
Linn Gassaway Resource Advisor, Liaison Officer; California
Isaac Wagar; United States Forest Service Hotshot; California
John Seeger; Faller (Retired); California
Evan Sterling; Alaska Fire Medic; Alaska
Sharynn Blood; Archaeologist; California
Linda Chappell; Fire Ecologist and Fuels Specialist; Utah
Jonathan Paul; Engine Captain/ Incident Commander Type 4; Oregon
Doug Ledgerwood; Air Operations Branch Director; Oregon
Hayden Wyatt; Fireline EMT and Rapid Extraction Module Support Member; Colorado
Mary Helen Seeger; First Woman Firefighter in Klamath National Forest (1974); California
Mark Petroni; Planning Section Chief 1 (Retired); Montana
Lacey England; Former USFS Helicopter Rappeler and Current TNC fire coordinator; Oregon
Anna Feldman; Wildland Firefighter (Type 2 IA); Washington
Dawn Griffith; Former Fuels AFMO; Idaho
Isaac Davis; FTT2; New Mexico
Andrew Ayers; FFT2; California
Matthew Irving; Former hotshot; Utah
Tyee Williams FFT1; Oregon
Mick Garvin; Faller/Squad boss; Oregon

To get in touch with a wildland firefighter on this letter who can speak directly about the issues outlined above, contact Timothy Ingalsbee at 541-338-7671 or fire@efn.org.

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