Vale Hotshot firefighters work on the Connor Creek fire in Baker County on May 9, 2025. (Al Crouch/BLM fire investigator)

The fire management officer for the BLM’s Vale District said he’s pleased with the number of fire engines and firefighting crews available for this summer’s wildfire season on the district, which includes 5.1 million acres of public land that spans most of the eastern one-third of Oregon and extends from the northern tip of Nevada into the southeast corner of Washington.

“I think we’re looking pretty good,” Brent Meisinger said on Tuesday, May 13. “I feel good about what we have locally (for firefighting).”

The Vale District includes about 500,000 acres of public land in Baker County.

The Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, through firings and incentives for early retirement, have raised concerns about firefighting resources after a series of summers with multiple major blazes.

Fires burned almost 2 million acres in Oregon last year, including the 294,000-acre Durkee Fire in Baker and Malheur counties, the state’s biggest.

Administration officials say firefighters are exempt due to the critical nature of their work.

Critics have pointed out that many employees from the BLM, U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service are certified to support firefighters even if they don’t actually wield tools on a fireline.

Meisinger said the Vale District will have 10 fire engines this fire season, two more than last summer.

Engines will be stationed across the district, including in Baker City, Farewell Bend, Vale, Juntura, Jordan Valley and Burns Junction.

A helicopter will be available to drop water on fires, and the district’s 23-member Hotshot elite firefighting crew is in place.

The Vale Hotshots have already doused one fire, a 16-acre blaze that started May 8 near Brownlee Reservoir about 18 miles north of Huntington. That fire is under investigation.

Meisinger said he’s comfortable that the Vale District will have sufficient support staff, as well as designated firefighters, for this summer.

As for the Forest Service, which also manages more than 5 million acres of public land in Northeastern Oregon, officials from the national forests in the Blue Mountains, the Wallowa-Whitman, Umatilla and Malheur, referred questions about firefighting resources to the Pacific Northwest regional office in Portland.

Jennifer Risdal, fire communications officer for the agency’s Pacific Northwest and Alaska regions, replied in an email to the Baker City Herald that “Wildland firefighting positions are considered public safety positions. USDA has been actively working with (Office of Personnel Management) on its wildland firefighting positions. Protecting the people and communities we serve, as well as the infrastructure, businesses and resources they depend on to grow and thrive, remains a top priority for the USDA and the Forest Service. We are incredibly proud of our firefighters, and we will ensure they have the training, tools, and resources they need to work alongside our state and local partners, as well as private landowners, to continue the work to protect lives and livelihoods.”

Risdal said the Forest Service nationwide plans to employ 11,300 permanent and temporary firefighters for the 2025 fire season.

“We boost wildland firefighting capacity with other agency staff and administratively determined emergency workers who are qualified to support fire management activities,” Risdal wrote.