“The federal firefighting system is “imploding” in California, due to poor spending decisions and high job vacancy rates,” according to Casey Judd, of the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association, in an interview with The Herald, a Monterey County, California newspaper. As a result of the problems, “small fires have exploded into extended, multimillion-dollar conflagrations,” writes the Herald, leaving “national firefighting resources… stretched critically thin across several regions.” Many of the reported problems involve the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

In a June, 2007 investigation of federal wildland firefighting cost controls, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted increased reliance on contractors and reported that “inadequate administration and oversight of the agreements…resulted in poor contractor performance and high rental rates.” The GAO also noted a lack of qualified personnel and clear goals and strategies for containing costs.

The GAO report did not address Forest Service secrecy surrounding its fire management plans, the subject of a lawsuit, “Environmental Protection Information Center v. United States Forest Service, No. C-02-2708 JCS.” In April, 2006, the federal judge in the case ordered the Forest Service to “involve the public, consider alternatives, and disclose environmental impacts as it decides how and when to use or suppress fires on national forests.”

In a contemporaneous news release, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE), expressed support for the ruling, saying that public involvement would “help managers craft better fire plans.” DAP agrees that transparency and public input are vital to good planning and urges citizens in areas where wildland fires are a problem to request and review copies of fire management plans.