Earlier this month, the United States was on the verge of a nightmare scenario. Several Western wildfires were raging at once. In California, San Bernardino County was in a state of emergency; the nearby Bridge Fire had destroyed 54 structures, stretching the state’s resources thin. Smoldering fires were reigniting across Washington and Oregon, and the Davis Fire bore down on ski resorts near Reno, Nev., burning 14 structures. There wasn’t a single elite operations unit available — the kind you call in to manage major wildfires.

Cooler temperatures have brought some relief, but at any moment fire conditions might sweep back in, as they often do in California in September.

In the era of climate change and forest mismanagement, it’s tempting to shrug one’s shoulders and presume that firefighter shortages are inevitable. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Unlike urban firefighters, wildland firefighters are specially trained to take on the wildfires that plague the West. For years, those employed by the federal government have complained about profound levels of attrition driven by poor pay, increasingly exhausting working conditions and a lack of mental-health support. And unless Congress gets it together, a government shutdown on Oct. 1 will cut their wages across the board.

In 2020, I was one of them, part of a crew in Northern California working to quell the August Complex, the largest fire in California history, and the North Complex, which killed 16 people. My crewmates were the most courageous people I’ve ever known, unflappable in the face of danger, and the sense of service made it worth it.

But the physical and spiritual cost of this work was sobering. Firefighters typically work 16-hour shifts, but shifts can stretch to 30 hours or more. They do this every day for two to three weeks. They take two days off and start again. And this goes on for six months.

The New York Times