The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Equipment Technology Committee recommends that fire shelters manufactured prior to 2006 be removed from service after serious degradation was found during fire this past summer.
An investigation was initiated after the July 2025 Laguna Fire in the Santa Fe National Forest where shelters from 2006 and 2017 were deployed in the same fire conditions, but the pre-2006 shelter showed serious degradation.
Equipment specialists from the USFS National Technology and Development Program (NTDP) inspected both shelters and found that one had a manufacture date of 2017, while the other was manufactured pre-2006," Nate Hesse, chair of the NWCG Equipment Technology Committee wrote in a statement issued this week. "The shelters were exposed to the same conditions during the deployment and, while both undoubtably protected the individuals, the pre-2006 shelter displayed more degradation and delamination while the 2017 shelter remained intact. Through firsthand accounts and findings in the field, NTDP determined the degradation and delamination issues were present upon deployment of the shelter and not caused solely by conditions in the deployment zone."
Neither of the firefighters were injured but the interior conditions concerned officials to issue this notice.
The pre-2006 shelters can be easily identified by white or pink insert labels.
The NWCG recommends that all pre-2006 shelters are removed from service by Jan. 1, 2026 and are destroyed.
