low-wages-and-health-risks-are-crippling-the-us.-wildland-firefighting-forces

Low Wages and Health Risks Are Crippling the U.S. Wildland Firefighting Forces

Federal agencies are struggling to maintain firefighting brigades during some of the worst fire seasons in history.

At the end of February, a curtain of flames engulfed the Texas Panhandle, eventually marking the state’s largest wildfire in history. The blaze was merciless, burning through more than 1 million acres of land and swallowing houses whole.