President Donald Trump’s executive orders shrink the federal workforce make a noticeable exception to public safety employees, including those who fight land land fires. But the continuous discounts, financing, and temporarily stopped, the weakest force of the already strained fires in the country by reaching support staff who play decisive roles in preventing and controlling the incendiary.
It is worth noting that about 700 forest service employees ended in the “Valentine’s Day massacre” in mid -February Employees who carry pregnancyA spokesman for the agency confirmed to ProPublica. These workers carry other full -time jobs in the agency, but they were trained to help fire control sets, such as providing logistical support during fire. It also helps in the prescribed burns, which reduce the flammable vegetation and prevent large fires, but the burns cannot move forward only if there is a certain number of employees available to contain them. (Non -thermal employees without a red card can perform such tasks.)
Frank Pin day, a member of the Board of Retired Pensioners in the field of forest services, said that the employees who get the red cards are the “spine” of the fire control force, and it will have a “great impact”. “There is not enough basic firefighters to do the full task that must be done when we have a high -fire season.”
PROPUBLICA spoke to employees all over the forest service – which runs an area of land nearly twice the size of California – including employees working in fire control, utilities, wood sales and other roles, to know how to affect the agency’s overwhelming personnel changes on the agency’s ability to work. The employees said that the cuts, which have reached entertainment, wildlife, wildlife and other divisions, show that the Trump administration has turned the agency’s focus away from environmental supervision, industry and fire control.
However, despite Trump’s advertised handrails, the cuts affected the power to combat fire that exceeds 10,000 people. Employment has slowed as there are fewer employees to obtain new workers at speed and people confused about job nicknames that can be set. Other discounts led to Cancel some of the training and burns programs.
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“Everything is really disorganized in chaos, which is a type of point,” one of the forest service employees told ProPublica.
Another added: “This agency no longer serves its mission.”
The employees asked not to name the fear of revenge.
Forest service did not respond to questions about the effect of discounts, unlike clarifying the number of employees with employees. A spokesman for the forest service said About 2000 employees under observation Newly promoted employees and those who have been promoted are usually launched, and groups have fewer protection at the workplace – in February. Others who have knowledge of the match, including the representative of the Federal Federation and an employee of the Senate, said that the original number of employees with termination was 3400, but this decreased, most likely as workers were returned in departments such as wood sales.
The White House and a representative of the Ministry of Governmental efficiency did not respond to the suspension requests.
In early March, An independent federal council reviews employee complaints The Ministry of Agriculture has forced the Ministry of Asset in the Forest Authority to return more than 5,700 employees on monitoring for a period of 45 days. During the first weeks I presented to salary statements, many, including forest service employees, were placed on paid administrative leave and did not give any work.
The administration and the work are continuing to lay off workers amid the challenges of the court for their moves. The word has been distributed throughout the forest service in March that the leadership of the departments has collected lists It contains the names of thousands of additional forest service employees who can be demobilized soonAccording to some workers.
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In addition, the Agency’s employee deficiency in the Agency’s Information Technology Unit threatens firefighting operations, according to the agency’s employee. In December, the branch chief left this for the Fire Department and Air Agency. The Ministry of Agriculture published the opening of the job, and described the department as “support for the technical needs of Bild Wildland Live to extinguish the fire.” This includes supervising the programs used by fire control crews to request equipment-everything from fire-resistant clothes to hoses-from the agency’s warehouses, so that the first respondents have access without interruption to life rescue equipment.
The next day for Trump’s inauguration, the Ministry of Agriculture removed the information technology function. The situation is still not packed, according to an employee with knowledge of the situation.
Forest service employees said that the employment of new firefighters had also stumbled among the flood of requests sometimes from the administration and Doug.
“We are really, really, behind us on board our employees at the present time,” a forest service is a forest service.
Employment issues The challenges of exacerbation that preceded the second Trump administration. To address the tremendous budget shortage, forest service during the era of President Joe Biden last year stopped employing seasonal workers, with the exception of those working in forest fires. (Watch firefighters permanently wages Congress in the recently approved draft spending law))
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However, many permanent employees, including many firefighters, work on a seasonal basis and are placed on an unpaid -paid position for several months every year when there is less work. The uncertainty within the federal government has led many of these employees to abandon government work and search elsewhere.
“Some of our employees have assumed other jobs.” “People will not wait.”
An employee of PROPUBLICA said that the discounts in the agency’s legal administration will also reduce their ability to care for the country’s forests and fight forest fires. Large burns described and other vegetation removal projects require an environmental review, a process that often targets lawsuits, including the relevant green groups that the efforts exerted in removal of trees.
Micro -legal employees can lead to fewer described burns, which increases the risk of catastrophic fires, according to the lawyer of the Ministry of Agriculture who worked in forest service projects. The lawyer was dismissed in mid -February cleansing of test staff.
The lawyer said: “Every time we lose the case west, this means that the forest service cannot do a project, at least temporarily.”
“They will file a more suit, and they will lose more,” said the lawyer, who was repeated in March. Following the ruling of the Board of Directors that the collective shootings of the Ministry of Agriculture were illegal.
The employee received wages again, but he was placed immediately on an administrative leave. Because of the discounts to support employees, this was several weeks before the release of many employees who return to government laptops and badges and allow them to do any work.
“Government efficiency is at its best,” the lawyer said.