The Trump administration’s cuts to the federal workforce are impeding much-needed fixes to the system used to track firefighters working in remote, active blazes, the investigative arm of Congress has found.
The staffing cuts have forced the U.S. Forest Service “to postpone, pause, or reduce the scope of some efforts planned or underway” to fix what the agency has long considered to be a critical safety issue, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday.
Wildland firefighters often work in mountainous, rural, and remote terrain, which limits access to cell service. The weather conditions are often so poor that even satellite communications are difficult to use — problems that can create safety risks for the firefighters if no one knows where they are or what they might need.