When Cody Turcotte arrived to fight a wildfire scorching homes in Spokane, Washington, last month, there weren't enough people at the scene to control it.
asserted
Turcotte → arrive → it
His team of five engines joined just two others that had been battling the blaze alone for hours, as its flames rapidly spread.
asserted
flames → join → hours
"You're getting embers casting down on the bushes and on the back porch, lighting furniture on fire," Turcotte said.
asserted
Turcotte → get → fire
"And you're three people on a fire truck, and you're like, 'How the hell do I protect these eight homes?'"
asserted
I → protect → homes
Sixteen hours into that shift, Turcotte said his team hadn't received an update about engines they'd requested earlier for support.
asserted
they → say → support
At that point, he recalled, their supervisor told them: "Nobody's coming.
asserted
Nobody → recall → them
But, later, with houses still burning around them, the team was reassigned to another fire that had broken out nearby.
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that → burn → fire
No one else was there to fight it.
asserted
one → fight → it
Other firefighters have described similar circumstances this summer, telling CBS News that a nationwide shortage of resources, including firefighters and equipment, left crews struggling to manage the turbulence of this year's
."The fires that we're seeing now are quickly becoming large, campaign fires, and they're happening much more frequently," said Turcotte, a firefighter for 17 years.
asserted
Turcotte → describe → years
"We're able to respond, but man, we're just running thin, and kind of moving pawn pieces around to try to cover these holes.
asserted
we → respond → holes
The blazes his team came up against became known as the
, which destroyed close to 900 structures and seared over 10,000 acres.
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which → come → acres
Officials called it the worst natural disaster in the region's history.
asserted
Officials → call → history
Firefighters have been taxed in part because wildfire activity this year has been severe.
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activity → tax → part
But experienced firefighters and fire officials from local, state and federal agencies told CBS News that last year's
under the Department of Government Efficiency exacerbated the strain.
asserted
year → tell → strain
The Forest Service employs many of the nation's wildland firefighters, who specialize in responding to wildfires.
asserted
who → employ → wildfires
Roughly 6,000 people left the Forest Service last year through a mix of terminations and buyouts, shrinking it by about 16%, according to federal employment data reviewed by CBS News.
uncertain
people → leave → News
Some of the heaviest cuts fell on core wildland fire states like
and Oregon.
asserted
Some → fall → Oregon
The cuts followed staffing declines in recent years at the Forest Service, which lost personnel to other organizations with better pay and hours, according to multiple current and former firefighters at the agency.
uncertain
which → follow → agency
And while the cuts last year didn't target frontline firefighters directly, they did hit swaths of administrative employees who could serve as support staff during wildfire operations.
uncertain
who → target → operations
Many handled important logistical tasks, Forest Service staffers said, like securing authorizations for equipment, land use and water supplies during wildfires.
asserted
staffers → handle → wildfires
"A person in a non-fire position that holds some kind of fire qualification to be able to support us logistically, that's where we've been having a hard time since DOGE," said Justin Brown, a wildland firefighter based in Nevada.
asserted
Brown → hold → Nevada
"We're just lacking a lot of those people to be able to surge and come in and stand up an incident management team and give us the support we need to be able to fight the fire effectively.
asserted
we → lack → fire
The Forest Service is also missing many mid-level managers, like fire engine drivers, engineers, operators and captains, according to several Forest Service employees who asked not to be named out of concern for their jobs.
uncertain
who → miss → jobs
They said those roles are vacant or filled temporarily by less inexperienced staff and last-minute contractors hired on sight for urgent operations.
asserted
roles → say → operations
Wildfires have burned a record 8.5 million acres in the U.S. so far in 2026, more than ever by this time of year since at least 1983, when the National Interagency Fire Center started tracking.
asserted
Center → burn → 1983
Because of the volatile season, most of the country's firefighters and equipment have been tied up for months, fighting major wildfires or positioned near imminent fire threats, according to the fire center.
uncertain
most → tie → center
Firefighters said the setup has stretched inventory as far as it could go, with crews or equipment not always available to fight new fires and teams being pulled from one active wildfire to another.
uncertain
crews → say → another
At the season's peak, in August and into early September, about 15,000 firefighting personnel were involved in active wildfire responses nationwide, the fire center said, including federal, state and some international crews.
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center → involve → crews
The Forest Service told CBS News that it employed more "operational" firefighters during the peak than it had in five years.
asserted
it → tell → years
It also said it has "expanded the number of non-fire employees qualified to support wildfire response."
asserted
it → say → response
But the agency has acknowledged its shortcomings, too, saying on its website that the 11,745 wildland firefighters it had "onboard nationwide" as of Aug. 17 wasn't "enough capacity to meet the needs of the continuing wildfire crisis."
asserted
it → acknowledge → crisis
It added, however, that it couldn't support additional hires "with existing infrastructure, funding and other resources."
asserted
it → add → infrastructure
In a statement to CBS News on Sept. 14, the Forest Service said that was "simply an acknowledgement of the reality that wildfire seasons have evolved into year‑round wildfire years."
asserted
seasons → say → years
"Even with robust staffing that our budget allows us, the increasing scale and complexity of wildfire activity continues to demand more from all fire agencies," the statement said.
asserted
statement → allow → agencies
Whether a wildfire is managed federally or locally depends on where it sparks and how it spreads, but complicated outbreaks require coordination through unified commands, involving the Forest Service, state agencies and local fire districts.
asserted
outbreaks → manage → Service
Several firefighters dispatched to such incidents this summer described waiting for reinforcements, both crews and equipment, that sometimes never arrived.
asserted
that → dispatch → reinforcements
Blake Miller, a firefighter from Scottsdale who was deployed to wildfires in the Pacific Northwest over the summer, said his crews faced resource scarcities battling large Oregon infernos.
asserted
crews → deploy → infernos
"You can put the order in for the resources that you would traditionally need to get certain tasks done.
asserted
tasks → put → that
But if those crews or those trucks aren't available, then you just have to deal with what you have on scene there," said Miller.
asserted
Miller → have → scene
"There were some days that we did more with less, for sure."
When the
sparked near Reno, Nevada, on Aug. 22, requests for aircraft were repeatedly denied by federal dispatch centers throughout that first day, records show.
asserted
records → be → day
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia
