the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Oct 14, 2024
Last September, an Orange County (California) public works crew moving boulders with heavy machinery sparked a brush fire. This limited fire was ignited less than two miles from the U.S. Forest Service’s Trabuco Station, but the station was unstaffed by federal firefighters.
Had the Forest Service adequately staffed this station, this small fire could have been immediately contained. Instead, this so-called Airport Fire flared from steep slopes into forested areas, burning a 23,000-acre area into ashes, destroying 160 structures, and injuring 22 people. At its peak, the Airport Fire threatened 20,780 structures before it was contained.
The Airport Fire was the third large blaze to break out within a 40-mile radius in Southern California in four days, which followed the Line Fire near the San Bernardino National Forest and the Bridge Fire in the Angeles National Forest. More destructive fires in increasing numbers hit the U.S. and California every year.
Although we desperately need more firefighters against such ever increasing danger, the U.S. Fire Service is understaffed. The agency’s base pay is a miserly $15 an hour, barely matching the minimum wage, which hampers efforts to recruit new firefighters to this dangerous work. At the same time, low pay and long work hours cause experienced firefighters to leave the agency. The U.S. Fire Service has lost nearly half its permanent employees within the last three years. And the remaining firefighters are overwhelmed, eventually causing further workforce losses.
For example, according to San Bernardino County fire chief Dan Munsey, of the roughly 25 Forest Service stations in the county, at best only 11 are staffed at any given time. So, the majority of the stations have no firefighters.
Because the U.S. Forest Service understaffs or provides no staff to its departments, wild forest fires are left uncontrolled, destroying large swaths of the area and killing people.
The U.S. government cuts from social services vital to our living, such as firefighting, to spend our taxes on horrible wars and to further enrich the filthy rich capitalists. As a result, it creates an ash land for us, not significantly different than it does by bombing other countries.