On July 18, federal wildland fire managers placed the country under a designation known as Preparedness Level 5 — bureaucratic code for all hands on deck, or, as one veteran wildland firefighter called it, “fire DEFCON.” In layman’s terms, Preparedness Level 5 means the nation’s wildland firefighting resources are stretched thin, more fires are looming and local crew supervisors are reluctant to send them far from home to help out elsewhere. This is only the fourth time in the past two decades that the country has reached such a state so early in the calendar year. So far, more than 5 million acres have burned nationwide, triple last year’s total, and there are still months left in the fire season.

Nine days after the country reached Level 5 preparedness, the U.S. Forest Service, the largest of the five federal agencies responsible for fighting wildfires, with more than 11,000 firefighters, said it had met 101% of its 2024 hiring goal. But firefighters on the ground say the agency is underestimating how severely its ranks have been depleted.

Overall numbers are hard to come by, but according to data provided by a dispatcher who works for the Bureau of Land Management, as of July 26, 2,417 nationwide requests for critical firefighting resources — from radio operators to task force leaders — had gone unfulfilled. Those requests went to all five federal agencies, as well as state and private organizations. Particularly alarming, the dispatcher said, was the shortage of experienced firefighters: “It tells us we have a critical shortage of certain mid-level and senior operational qualifications.”

Eric Franta, who works at a Forest Service helicopter air base in Oregon, told me his unit was only 75% staffed. (In a profession where fears of workplace retaliation are common, the only firefighters willing to share their names are those with the National Federation of Federal Employees, the union that represents wilderness firefighters. Franta is a union representative.) Another Forest Service firefighter in Oregon said, “We can’t fill crews.” Firefighters in California are reporting similar problems. According to interagency data obtained by ProPublica, 90 of the state’s roughly 270 Forest Service fire engines were unavailable for service on Aug. 12. Engines can be unavailable for a variety of reasons, including mechanical maintenance or crews on mandatory leave, but firefighters say the number is unusually high. On the same day, at least a third of statewide Hotshot crews — elite teams that fight large wildfires — were understaffed to operate as intended, according to the data.

In March, ProPublica reported that the nation’s fire service was facing an exodus, especially among the most qualified firefighters. Over the past three years, the Forest Service has lost 45% of its permanent employees, forcing it to fill its ranks with inexperienced firefighters. People inside and outside the agency cite varying reasons for the departures. Wildland firefighters are poorly paid; the base wage is $15 an hour, about what a fast-food restaurant waiter makes. (In 2021, Congress passed a measure adding a temporary retention bonus for firefighters, which remains in effect but has not been made permanent.) The federal bureaucracy makes it difficult for wildland firefighters to maintain a career. And the Forest Service in particular has been slow to address the health risks that come with fighting wildfires. Although the Department of Labor now considers cancer a work-related illness for wildland firefighters, the term still isn’t mentioned in the multi-agency preparedness guide for new recruits.

When asked about the disparity between the 101% staffing level and the poor ratings of firefighters on the ground, a Forest Service spokesperson wrote, “We have a number of gaps in critical leadership roles due to the departure of experienced leaders and managers with years of knowledge and expertise.” The spokesperson added, “If those roles cannot be filled by qualified and experienced individuals, it can lead to operational inefficiencies.”

In a single day last week, the federal government reported 123 new fires. Several of them were in and around the Boise National Forest in Idaho, where Morgan Thomsen, a union representative and Forest Service firefighter on a helicopter crew from Wyoming, was working. There weren’t enough firefighters to fill the crews to put them all out, he told me. “The new fires are all big now, but there’s hardly anyone there,” he texted. “The system is stressed and can’t handle it. Now it’s up to the weather and the conditions on the ground to get these fires out before they burn down houses and stuff. We’re basically out of our minds and triaging.”