‘Efficiency’ cuts across offices have left teams understaffed, firefighters underpaid and uninsured, and without adequate equipment

“If this turns out to be a major fire year, it’s going to be a shit show,” said Dr Hugh Safford, a fire ecologist at the University of California, Davis, who spent more than two decades working for the US Forest Service (USFS) before retiring in 2021.

Suely they’ve been busy raking the forest ?