Hoyle, Committee Leaders Press Trump Administration and Win Action for Wildland Firefighters’ Safety
For Immediate Release: September 17, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, after U.S. Representative Val Hoyle (OR-04) and other Natural Resources Committee leaders pressed the Trump administration with questions about its plan to protect the health of wildland firefighters on the job, U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz has committed to providing wildland firefighters with masks.
“As the United States faces wildfires of increasing frequency and severity, we also face a growing crisis among the wildland firefighters on the front lines protecting our lives and homes,” said the lawmakers in the letter. “Recent reporting suggests that federal agencies are neglecting their duty to protect the health of wildland firefighters. Making matters worse, agencies are already struggling to fill vacant wildland firefighter positions. Neglecting the health of current firefighters will make future recruitment harder and leave our communities vulnerable.”
The lawmakers made clear that wildland firefighters should be provided with respirators on a voluntary basis at minimum. Following the letter, Chief Shultz announced all wildland firefighters will be provided with N95 masks.
All federal firefighters receive medical expense coverage for work-related injuries through the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA). However, recent staff cuts have potentially increased the wait time for claim approvals, and not all federal firefighters have the same access to other agency-specific casualty assistance programs.
In the letter, the lawmakers also requested individual briefings from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on this matter.
The lawmakers asked the agencies to be prepared to answer the following questions:
1. What steps is your agency taking to prevent wildfire smoke inhalation?
2. What respiratory PPE is currently offered to wildland firefighters? What, if any, PPE is required and under what conditions is it offered or required?
3. When will you require the distribution and use of respiratory protective equipment to wildland firefighters?
4. How much would it cost to provide situationally appropriate respiratory protective equipment to all firefighting crews in your agency?
5. What steps has your agency taken to improve tracking of the long-term health of federal wildland firefighters? How have recent staff and budget cuts affected those studies?
6. How would consolidation of federal wildfire response under the proposed U.S. Wildland Fire Service impact the casualty assistance program?
7. How have recent agency personnel and budget cuts impacted the response rate for wildland firefighter workers compensation claims?
8. How would consolidation of federal wildfire response under the proposed U.S. Wildland Fire Service impact current and future PPE guidance and policy?
The full letter can be viewed here.
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