"WHAT BURNS ME ABOUT THE WAY WE FIGHT WILDFIRES"
Western wildfires have been top news for the last two summers. But while images of torching trees and smoky skies are burned into our minds, we rarely hear about the costs associated with fighting these fires. After working as a firefighter for the US Forest Service, I believe we spend more money, energy, and resources (not to mention human lives) on firefighting than we need to. I will speak about current national wildland fire suppression policy as I experienced it and about ideas for improvement.