With fire season approaching again in the drought-hit western United States, Jaelith Hall-Rivera, a senior U.S. Forest Service official, assured lawmakers this month that federal firefighting crews would be sufficiently staffed and ready for action.
¡°We will be at the capacity that we need,¡± she told Congress, days before the government said the first three months of 2022 were the driest on record in parts of the West and predicted a ¡°significant¡± risk of wildfires starting in May.
But federal firefighters on the front lines of the climate-change-fueled blazes said that crews tasked with combating them are vastly understaffed this year ¡ª and fear sufficient help will not be coming soon.
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