POLITICO Energy

The wildfire firefighter shortage

Episode Summary

The Wildland firefighters are a special unit that battle fires on federal lands and can assist states fighting blazes within their borders. But extremely low wages and ever-increasing working demands are pushing many of these crews out of the job and into other departments. Today, POLITICO’s Ximena Bustillo explains the Biden administration’s plan to keep its firefighters.

Episode Notes

The Wildland firefighters are a special unit that battle fires on federal lands and can assist states fighting blazes within their borders. But extremely low wages and ever-increasing working demands are pushing many of these crews out of the job and into other departments. Today, POLITICO’s Ximena Bustillo explains the Biden administration’s plan to keep its firefighters.

Ximena Bustillo covers agriculture for POLITICO.
Anthony Adragna is an energy reporter at POLITICO.
Raghu Manavalan is an editor for POLITICO Audio.
Carlos Prieto is a POLITICO podcast producer.
Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO’s audio department.
Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO’s audio