This week, the U.S. Forest Service directed its employees in California to stop prescribed burning "for the foreseeable future," a directive that officials said is meant to preserve staff and equipment to fight wildfires if needed.
"Basically everyone is burning, except for the feds right now. I'm looking around at my fire friends - the state is burning, the tribes are burning, the prescribed burn associations are burning. And we haven't seen much from the federal agencies burning."
Long term, the risks to communities are much worse if we don't see prescribed fire on the ground, Quinn-Davidson said.
"I think the Forest Service is worried about the risk of something bad happening [with a prescribed burn]. And they're willing to trade that risk - which they will be blamed for - for increased risks on wildfires."
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