CA Joins Pact with Other States, Canada to Beef up Wildland Firefighting

Sep. 5—As the U.S. Forest Service makes cuts that threaten to hobble federal firefighting capabilities, California is entering into a pact with other western states and parts of Canada to beef up regional firefighting forces.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that the state has joined the Northwest Wildland Fire Fighting Compact, an agreement that expedites the movement of personnel and equipment between fire agencies in eight states and five Canadian provinces.

California's membership is intended to bolster the state's fire defenses and similarly strengthen fire teams elsewhere. But just as much, the move signals California's continued effort to show state-level leadership in response to federal policies under President Donald Trump.

Earlier this month, Newsom helped forge a health alliance with Oregon, Washington and Hawaii to offer medical guidance where states believe the federal government has fallen short. Similar pacts have been made over climate policy and reproductive rights.

"While the Trump administration retreats from firefighting, California is proud to join forces with our northwestern neighbors to fight catastrophic wildfire," Newsom said in a statement. "We're all on the front lines of this worsening wildfire threat — and by joining our collective resources together, we will be even more effective in protecting our communities."

The Forest Service, which oversees the nation's largest wildland firefighting force, has lost thousands of employees, or least 15% of its staff, amid a broader government-downsizing this year.

Federal officials say fire crews are sufficiently staffed because the cuts did not target firefighters. Critics, however, say many non-firefighters who were trained in firefighting or indirectly support firefighters were let go, undermining the agency's potency.

The Forest Service is currently trying to hire back many former employees as wildfire season peaks across the West.

The Northwest Wildland Fire Fighting Compact, also known as the Northwest Compact, is among several resource-sharing agreements that currently exist between fire agencies in the United States and Canada. The pacts are widely seen as helpful in navigating the bureaucracy that can hamstring the sharing of government employees and equipment, particularly across international borders. U.S. and Canadian fire crews have often helped one another.

The firefighting compact is California's first. The state's entry brings one of the strongest, if not the strongest, state-level firefighting force to the collaboration. The state's Cal Fire agency counted 12,264 employees, including more than 10,000 firefighters, as of last month.

The members of the pact include the U.S. states of Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon and Northwest territories.

"Wildfire is no longer a problem that stops at our borders and state lines," said Joe Tyler, director and fire chief of Cal Fire, in a statement. "By joining the NW Compact, we're building stronger connections, sharing knowledge, and ensuring that when fires threaten, we can respond faster and more effectively."