The decision undermines Trump’s repeated insistence that communities need to clear combustible materials like fallen branches and undergrowth — “it’s called management of the floor,” he said while visiting Los Angeles last month — to guard against wildfires.
Elizabeth Peace, a spokesperson for the Interior Department, said via email that mitigation work is “currently undergoing review to ensure consistency” with Trump’s executive orders.
The scrutiny is being applied only to projects using money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, two centerpieces of former President Joe Biden’s administration. They included roughly $3 billion for wildfire mitigation efforts, often known as hazardous fuels reduction programs.
This trash is another example of “real estate developer Trump” coming through.
He honestly believes that he just needs to order “the help” to landscape everything prim and proper to fix wildfires. The fact that “landscaping” millions of acres of wildland is INCOMPREHENSIBLY IDIOTIC simply does not occur to him, and he can never be wrong so he’s sticking with it.
He probably thinks Central Park is a typical forest
But confusion has caused delays. Ben McLane, a fire crew captain for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington state, said uncertainty over whether firefighters are exempt from the freeze stalled the hiring process for seasonal wildland firefighter positions.
…
“We’re very confused, and we’re not being told anything,” he said. “I don’t know whose job it is to say that firefighters are an essential aspect for public safety and are exempt from the hiring freeze. But whoever’s job it is, they need to say it, because if they don’t, then there will be situations where people call 911 and there aren’t enough firefighters to go around.”
This is what happens when reality is repeatedly contested, when so-called “leaders” lie and obfuscate what’s really going on. All the rapid-fire news sent out since this election was called, deliberately overdone to confuse us, has led to this consequence.
Now, due to a lack of clarity about changes in government hiring, we’re got people with both the skill and the desire to be firefighters, who are not signing up to fight fires. Even with Trump leaving a loophole, its effectiveness is zero because everything Trump says appears to be liable to change. Cult-members may hold firm to his ever-changing whims, but people who live in reality have to make realistic calls. The most realistic call is to go by his history, and Trump’s history shows him lying, backpedaling, and flip-flopping more than a fish on a pier.
I can’t blame anyone for being confused about what’s going on, nor can I blame anyone for seeing what is happening and choosing to get out of the way before the wrecking ball hits.
The only reliable thing about this administration is its unreliability, and having fewer firefighters is only one consequence of that.
It’s one rake Michael, how much could it cost, $1000?
I thought it best to let some burn in a controlled matter so in a couple of years it’ll become less of a hazard
The issue is that controlled burns require a large amount of manpower to make sure it STAYS controlled. You don’t simply toss a match into that part of the forest, there’s a lot of firebreak work and very careful observation that goes in to making sure a burn doesn’t turn into something bigger and harder to control.
Is it better to not let it burn or clear out fuel, in the long run?
The only things Trump wants are money and subservience.
Look at what he does, not what he says, and hold him accountable for that.
I can see this working. We just need a workforce that costs no money. Apropos of nothing, how is privatization of prisons working out?
Too few brooms, so little time.
YEah, fire season is coming on fast. smh. And of course this will also be drumpi’s fault.
Just need a few rakes from Lowe’s!!
