By Bridgette Williams
Brian Fennessy has spent decades around wildfire, from fire rescue in Southern California to aviation, emergency response and work with the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service.
Now he has a new job: building the U.S. Wildland Fire Service.
Created at the beginning of 2026, the new service is intended to bring several federal wildfire programs under one management structure and improve what has long been one of the toughest parts of fighting fire on public lands: getting everybody on the same page quickly.
“Wildfire response depends on coordination, clarity and speed,” Fennessy said in announcing the early planning effort.
Which is the idea behind the new agency – until now, wildfire responsibilities within the Department of the Interior have been spread among six different offices and agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Office of Aviation Services and Office of Wildland Fire.
Those agencies have worked together for years, but multiple chains of command often means more communication, more approvals and more opportunities for resources to be delayed when a fire is moving fast. This new Wildland Fire Service is supposed to simplify that.
The mission goes beyond putting out fires. The agency is also charged with reducing wildfire risk before ignition through fuels management, creating more fire-resilient landscapes, improving wildfire science and technology and working with communities to prepare for fire.
That shift comes as large western fires continue to threaten ranches, forests, water supplies, infrastructure, energy systems and rural economies. Oregon has suffered over two-million acres burned by August this year, surpassing the record set in 2024.
The service will still work alongside the U.S. Forest Service, tribes, states and local fire agencies, but Interior officials say putting its own wildfire programs under one roof should make it easier to move people and equipment where they are needed.
For ranchers and rural communities, that is the real test.
Nobody on the ground cares much which federal office owns the paperwork when a fire is coming over the ridge. They care whether crews arrive, whether aircraft can be deployed, whether somebody has authority to make a decision and whether preventable acres are lost while agencies sort out who is responsible.
Fennessy says the goal is to build a system that better supports both firefighters and the communities they serve.
Photo Credit: Larry Angier