U.S. Forest Service (FS) 2017 Fire Season Key Messages
Through partnerships and the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, the FS is working with other federal agencies and local, state, and tribal governments to plan for, prevent, and safely respond to wildland fire across all lands and jurisdictions.
Safe and Effective Wildfire Response
*Firefighter and public safety is the number one priority for the FS in wildland fire management and emergency response. This means that all responders return home safely from every assignment. Sound risk management will be used in developing strategic and tactical decisions to protect values at risk and meet other land management objectives while evaluating risk and exposure to responders.
*Managing wildfires is inherently complex and challenging and compounded by many factors, including longer fire seasons; wildfires occurring outside of historic fire seasons in different parts of the country; bigger wildfires burning more land on average each year; more extreme fire behavior; and the presence of homes and communities in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI).
*The FS works closely with other federal and state partners to predict and mitigate smoke impacts on individuals and communities during wildfires.
*The FS is well prepared to respond to wildfires. This year, the agency has more than 10,000 firefighters, 900 engines, and hundreds of aircraft available to respond to wildfires in cooperation with our federal, tribal, state, local, and volunteer partners.
*FS wildfire suppression costs have exceeded annual appropriated funding almost every year since 2000.
*Members of the public who fly drones over or near wildfires threaten the safety of firefighters and the effectiveness of wildfire management operations.
Resilient Landscapes
*Response to wildfires is based on local Land Management Plan (LMP), FS fire season direction, and sound risk management which considers values at risk; fuel and weather conditions; availability of wildfire management assets; and other factors.
*Lands managed by the FS often have vegetation and wildlife habitat that require fire to remain healthy and functioning watersheds.
*The FS reduces risks associated with severe wildfires by conducting treatments such as mechanical thinning and prescribed fire and managing wildfires to achieve multiple objectives. In 2016, the FS reduced hazardous fuels on over 3 million acres of National Forest System, state, and private lands.
*Assessments of more than 1,400 fuel treatments since 2006 have shown that they are effective in reducing both the cost and damage from wildfires.
*Approximately 11 million acres of National Forest System lands located in or near the WUIwill benefit from fuel treatments that reduce risk and increase ecosystem and community resilience.
*Thinning, prescribed fires, and other types of fuel reduction methods can help prevent severe wildfires with minimal impacts to air quality while smoke from severe wildfires may pose significant risks to public health and safety.
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U.S. Forest Service (FS) 2017 Fire Season Key Messages
Fire Adapted Communities
*More than 5,000 homes and other structures were destroyed by wildfires in 2016. The FS is working with partners to better prepare homeowners and communities in the WUI for future wildfires.
*Communities can reduce wildfire risk or adapt to wildfire by taking actions that will protect homes, neighborhoods, and communities from wildfires. To learn what communities are doing to adapt to wildfire, visit
*Reducing the loss of lives, property, infrastructure, and natural and cultural resources from wildfires depends on long-term collaborative community action. The WUI Toolkit is available at
*The FS encouragescommunities to use tried and true mitigation practices (defensible space and home hardening, local fire protection resources, mitigation and prevention education, safe zones, hazardous fuels reduction in and near communities with the help of collaborative partnerships) to reduce wildfire risk and impacts.
*The FS, other federal agencies, tribes, states, local government, and community residents must work together to adapt to wildfire.
*Nationally, nine out of ten wildfires are human caused through debris burning, equipment sparks, campfires, and other means. Information about preventing human caused wildfires is available at