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The Forest Service claims it’s fully staffed for a worsening fire season. Data shows thousands of unfilled jobs.
VOL. 13,
NO. 233
Bass repeats call for troops to leave LA; Pentagon withdraws Marines By Joe Taglieri joet@beaconmedianews.com
By Abe Streep, ProPublica This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Mayor Karen Bass, left, and state Sen. Caroline Menjivar, D-Panorama City, welcome the news of 700 Marines ending their LA deployment. | Photo courtesy of Sen. Caroline Menjivar/Facebook
L Reche Fire in Riverside County. | Photo courtesy of Bill Thost, Riverside County Fire Volunteer Reserve Photographer
D
espite the Trump administration’s public pronouncements that it has hired enough wildland firefighters, documents obtained by ProPublica show a high vacancy rate, as well as internal concern among top officials as more than 1 million acres burn across 10 states. Less than a month ago, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced that the Trump administration had done a historically good job preparing the nation for the summer fire season. “We are on track to meet and potentially exceed our firefighting hiring goals,” said Rollins, during an address
to Western governors. Rollins oversees the wildland firefighting workforce at the U.S. Forest Service, a subagency of the Department of Agriculture. Rollins had noted in her remarks that the administration had exempted firefighters from a federal hiring freeze, and she claimed that the administration was outdoing its predecessor: “We have reached 96% of our hiring goal, far outpacing the rate of hiring and onboarding over the past three years and in the previous administration.” Since then, the Forest Service’s assertions have gotten even more optimistic: The agency now claims it has reached 99% of its
firefighting hiring goal. But according to internal data obtained by ProPublica, Rollins’ characterization is dangerously misleading. She omitted a wave of resignations from the agency this spring and that many senior management positions remain vacant. Layoffs by the Department of Government Efficiency, voluntary deferred resignations and early retirements have severely hampered the wildland firefighting force. According to the internal national data, which has not been previously reported, more than 4,500 Forest Service firefighting jobs — See Fire season Page 07
as many as 27% — remained vacant as of July 17. A Forest Service employee who is familiar with the data said it comes from administrators who input staffing information into a computer tool used to create organization charts. The employee said that while the data could contain inaccuracies in certain forests, it broadly reflects the agency’s desired staffing levels. The employee said the data showing “active” unfilled positions was “current and up-to-date for last week.” The Department of Agriculture disputes that assessment, but the figures
os Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday repeated her demand for an end to the local deployment of federalized National Guard soldiers and U.S. Marines in connection with deportation operations that began last month. State Sen. Caroline Menjivar, D-Panorama City, a former member of the Marine Corps, joined Bass during a morning news conference in Sylmar, along with other military veterans and families of service members who support a troop withdrawal. The mayor said they "all feel appalled at the misuse of our troops right now, the militarization that has taken place of the National Guard, the inappropriate deployment of the Marines to our city streets." Bass added that the city needs the National Guard’s assistance to prepare for fire See LA troops Page 27
season, not to guard federal buildings and accompany immigration enforcement agents on raids. "The administration, we know, has retreated some of the forces, but we need all the troops to return home and to not be here, to not be used as political stunts, to not be used to intimidate Angelenos, and to not be used as pawns," Bass said. Menjivar echoed much of what the mayor said, adding the Marine Corps has a legacy of courage, valor and victory on the battlefield that is now tainted by "the battle of LA against people of color," she said. "This is why it was so personal and infuriating to me to see 700 of my brothers and sisters in the corps deployed to my backyard because we did not sign up to intimidate and potentially take military action against Americans on American soil, who are exer-