A group of five U.S. senators sent an urgent letter to Cabinet secretaries in September warning that federal wildfire suppression funds were nearly depleted while fire conditions remained dangerous across much of the West — raising the prospect that agencies could run out of money to fight fires before the season concluded.

The Bipartisan Letter

Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) co-signed a September 11 letter to Interior Secretary Doug Bergum and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, expressing serious concern about federal preparedness to respond to the 2026 fire season.

The senators noted that the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Wildland Fire Service had dedicated over $6 billion to fire suppression budget authority for Fiscal Year 2026 — spending nearly the entire amount as of September 2, while the West was still expected to remain in peak fire season with hot, dry, and windy conditions for weeks to come.

Firefighter Safety and Staffing Concerns

Beyond the budget, the senators raised serious concerns about personnel capacity. Their letter noted reports that:

  • Incident Management Teams had worked more fires than is considered safe, operating under temporary supervisory structures due to a shortage of fully qualified personnel
  • Locally-led initial attack was sometimes delayed by national resource mobilization priorities
  • Personnel had worked repeated or extended assignments beyond normal operational limits

The 2026 season has seen the deaths of four wildland firefighters and two pilots — a fatality rate that the senators described as exceptionally concerning given the ongoing demand for resources. Record-breaking temperatures and historic drought have driven catastrophic fires across the West, destroying thousands of homes and wreaking havoc on the economies of rural communities.

Legislative Responses

The letter follows a summer of legislative activity on wildfire. In July, Senators Padilla and colleagues introduced the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act (WEPA) of 2026, a bipartisan bill that would make it easier for states and communities to use prescribed fires as a prevention tool. A separate Fix Our Forests Act would improve federal forest management efficiency and wildfire response capacity.

2026 as a Turning Point?

Policy analysts say 2026 may represent a tipping point for federal fire funding. The nonprofit Taxpayers for Common Sense noted that 2026 is on track to be the biggest fire season in a decade and that wildfire is no longer a seasonal threat — it is a year-round budget reality requiring structural reform. Oregon alone accounted for an estimated $842 million in total firefighting expenditures this season.

As Congress returns from recess, pressure is mounting for lawmakers to act on both emergency supplemental funding and longer-term structural reforms to how the federal government funds and resources wildland fire suppression. Without action, fire budget transfers — which have historically been raided from other programs including forest restoration — may again become the default solution.