FiredUp takes a stance on political issues!
We are not just a support organization. Our mission is to make wildland firefighting sustainable for families through both culture and policy change. As a result, we actively take a stance on political issues.
We are a nonpartisan and know that fire families come from across the political spectrum. We are united in our support for policies that priorizie the wellbeing of wildland firefighters, their families, the land they protect, and the communities they serve.
Statement on the US Forest Service Reorganization
FiredUp Partners strongly opposes the U.S. Forest Service reorganization.
We have been consistent advocates for agency reform in order to ensure the wellbeing of fire families and the longevity of the agency. However, this reorganization offers no meaningful change while sowing chaos and putting critical elements of the agency’s mission at risk.
FiredUp Partners recognizes this for what it is: an attempt to dismantle public lands and a direct threat to our families and communities. We call on members of Congress to exercise their oversight responsibilities and stop this reorganization before it causes irreversable harm.
Statement on US Wildland Fire Service
Currently, the DOI and USDA are making structural changes to our nation’s wildland firefighting resources.
Modernizing fire response is a necessary and important step as fire season changes and the nation seeks to slow attrition of our most qualified firefighters. We maintain that including families’ voices in this process is essential. For far too long, this critical perspective has been absent in the national narrative.
Although this kind of public service will always require heavy sacrifice, the choice to serve our nation as a wildland firefighter should not be a choice to sacrifice a chance at a family, long-term financial stability, or day to day quality of life.
It is past time for agency leaders to have a candid conversation about the structural issues that drive wildland families out of the service. We must confront the fact that our community faces the highest rates of line-of-duty death, divorce, long-term illness, and suicide compared to other first responders, including the military.
No one understands these stressors better than the families who endure them daily. We are eager to work with agency leaders throughout the restructuring process to deliberately remedy the factors that are shaping these bleak outcomes across our community.
We are ready and willing, with solutions in hand, to help create a path forward to ensure that our sacrifices are met with the dignity that other first responders and other high demand federal public servants already receive.
Contact us at info@fireduppartners.org