Preparedness Level 5 has been in effect since July 18, yet requests for crews and equipment are still going unmet as fires burn millions of acres and have killed four firefighters, two helicopter pilots and a bulldozer contractor.
The Trump administration has consolidated Interior crews into the new U.S. Wildland Fire Service and shifted final authority toward fire officials, while the agency and Forest Service say every new blaze should get a full-suppression response this summer.
Incident commanders and former officials say that approach can overextend already thin resources—one Utah fire near 130,000 acres had unfilled requests—and could require 30,000 to 40,000 more firefighters even then without guaranteeing success.
Researchers and retired fire leaders argue decades of suppression, combined with drought and climate change, have packed Western forests with fuels, making aggressive suppression a short-term tactic that can worsen long-term fire behavior.
State officials in Nevada, Utah, California and Wyoming report few immediate field disruptions from the reorganization, but lawmakers and fire experts warn separating firefighting from land management could weaken forest-health decisions as the overhaul expands.