Secretary of Agriculture Urges "Proactive Measures" to Protect Wildland Firefighters

The U.S. Forest Service’s priorities for the 2026 fire year must include taking “proactive measures to mitigate environmental and occupational health hazards for wildland firefighters,” according to a memorandum issued by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins on April 28 (PDF). The memo elaborates that the Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture (USDA), will be required to work with the Department of the Interior to modernize personal protective equipment and provide guidance on measures to protect firefighters, such as N95 masks, respirators, showers, laundry services, and dermal exposure mitigation.

The memo also conveys Secretary Rollins’ directives pertaining to the qualifications and preparedness of employees supporting wildfire response, as well as fire risk reduction treatments for communities and infrastructure. Reducing fire risk will require collaboration between the Forest Service and EPA to “eliminate regulatory barriers for prescribed fire and the use of fire retardant,” the memo states.

In a letter accompanying the memo (PDF), Secretary Rollins acknowledges that wildfires pose an increasing threat to communities across the U.S., with western states at particularly high risk this year due to a dry winter. “The official national fire outlook reflects these conditions and anticipates an early start and elevated potential across much of the West,” Rollins writes.

While USDA recently announced a “realignment and reorganization” of the Forest Service, Rollins stresses that this reorganization will not affect the agency’s wildfire leadership, operations, or resources. “Fire management—including preparedness, response, and suppression—will continue without interruption or degradation,” the memo states.

Both Secretary Rollins’ memorandum and letter can be downloaded as PDFs via links included in a USDA press release.