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Putting fire on the ground

Image shows a firefighter squatting down applying prescribed fire while several other firefighters look on in a forest setting.
Fire personnel monitor the Crystal Reservoir prescribed fire near Colorado Springs, Colorado, on May 16, 2025. (Forest Service photo by Josh Cowden) In places like the Pike-San Isabel National Forests across the country, fire has shaped the land for thousands of years. Many forests depend on…
#PrescribedFire, #Fire, #ControlledBurn, #FirePrevention, #WildfirePrevention, #WildfireRiskReduction, #PikeNationalForest

Employee Wildfire Preparedness Challenge returns

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One of the prize packages for winning employees. (Forest Service photo by Sheryl Page) The Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management team is excited to kick off the second annual Employee Wildfire Preparedness Challenge. This voluntary challenge is a simple, meaningful way for Forest Service employees and…
#Employees, #WildfirePrevention

The fire that never starts

A photo close to the ground of green grass growing along the side of a paved road, with a Forest Service wildland fire truck on the road in the background.
When 95% of wildfires are started by humans — especially in a part of the country like Southern California with 25 million people — stopping wildfires before they start is a lofty goal.But for Nicole Molinari, an ecologist for the Forest Service, a recent mapping effort contains a compelling insight — nearly two thirds of human-caused fires occur along roadsides in the area…
#Fire, #FirePrevention, #WildfirePrevention, #Grasslands, #NativePlants, #Wildfire, #WildfireRiskReduction

Building community to mitigate wildfires

Image shows a collage of four photographs. The left-most shows two people walking towards a car with a hill in the background, the second from the left shows a woman marking on a map on a wall, the third from the left shows a man showing a group of people something in the undergrowth of a forest, and the fourth from the left shows a group of people standing around a table.
What do you do when you can't entirely stop something bad from happening? You mitigate the damage it might cause. Natural disasters, like hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires, can never be completely stopped. In fact, wildfire is an important part of many healthy ecosystems. That doesn’t mean it won't pose an existential threat to people's lives and property, so dealing with the threat it poses…
#Community, #Wildfire, #WildfirePrevention, #Firefighters, #WildlandFirefighters

Meet Smokey Bear in Washington, DC!

Image shows a Forest Service employee pointing to something for a visitor while animatronic Smokey Bear looks on.
Smokey Bear stands outside the USDA Forest Service entrance. Come in to visit our Information Center and meet Smokey! (USDA Forest Service photo by Alex Demas) Imagine you’re a tourist visiting Washington, DC. As you walk along the south side of the Mall towards the Washington Monument, out…
#SmokeyBear, #History, #WildfirePrevention, #Safety

Happy Birthday, Smokey Bear!

Image shows Smokey giving the high sign to the camera.
On August 9th, 2025, Smokey Bear turns 81 years young! Here he's celebrating early with a young fan on the National Mall. (USDA Forest Service photo by Preston Keres) Here at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service, wildfire prevention is a big priority. There’s no better…
#SmokeysBirthday, #SmokeyBear, #WildfirePrevention, #FirePrevention, #Fire, #OutdoorSafety