Wyoming firefighter shortage could lead to ‘more large wildfires’
CHEYENNE — Wyoming faces a critical decline in the number of firefighters across the state, with special fire districts struggling to recruit and retain personnel, according to expert testimony.
The first day of the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee two-day meeting in Gillette was dedicated to wildfire funding, following a historic wildfire season in 2024.
Out of roughly 3,600 firefighters in Wyoming, nearly 90% of them are volunteers, according to Sublette County Fire Warden Shad Cooper, who is also president of the Wyoming Fire Advisory Board. However, there’s been a “significant reduction” in volunteer firefighters in the Equality State.
“That reduction scares me … it should scare everybody in the state of Wyoming,” Cooper said. “If that reduction continues on the current downward trend, we’re not gonna be able to fight these fires.”
The state will become susceptible to more large wildland fires with fewer firefighters available to suppress them, he said. And this personnel shortage isn’t unique to Wyoming — it’s happening across the country.
“Wyoming’s recruitment and retention challenges exactly match the national statistics,” Cooper said.
Volunteer firefighters in Wyoming are also getting older. In his own department, many volunteer firefighters are well into their 50s, Cooper said, with some in their 60s and 70s.
“Not only is there a reduction in the total number of volunteers, but the age of those volunteers is increasing, and (they’re) not being replaced,” Cooper said.
The state is also struggling to recruit inmates for its “smoke buster” crews. The smoke busters program is a collaboration between the state Forestry Division and state Department of Corrections.
These crews are made up of pre-release, minimum security inmates based out of the Wyoming Honor Conservation Camp in Newcastle to help with forestry management and fire suppression.
Before 2017, there were three crews with 20 inmates each. Since 2020, there’s only been one crew, which currently has a little more than 20 members. State Forester Kelly Norris said these inmates are not staying in the system as long, since many of them are now being let out on probation.
“This isn’t just Wyoming. This is a national issue that’s happening,” Norris said. “The (inmate) population isn’t what it used to be.”
There’s also burnout among employees within the state Forestry Division, as staff are pushed to take on additional responsibilities due to vacant positions, Norris said. In fiscal year 2025, which began July 1, 2024, the department billed $337,000 in overtime pay for approximately 35 employees.
“This is not sustainable, and it is a major red flag for our staff when it comes to their safety, their home-work-life balance,” Norris said. “Real burnout (is) happening.”
Cost of 2024 wildfires
Local jurisdictions bear the full cost of the first 24 hours of initial attack of a fire.
“Because fire costs are reimbursed, that can be a burden if there are multiple concurrent fires that are ongoing,” Norris said.
In 2024, local jurisdictions successfully contained 98% of the more than 2,000 wildfires across the state. More than 850,000 acres were burned in a historic wildfire season, placing Wyoming fifth on the list of states with the most acres burned in 2024, Norris said.
There were 25 fires in 2024 that qualified for Emergency Fire Suppression Account funds, but one ESFA request was later withdrawn. ESFA provides financial support to local governments when efforts to suppress wildfires exceed local resources. Counties pay an annual assessment fee into ESFA.
This account supports counties with qualifying fires through a reimbursement process. But there’s currently concern about whether counties will be reimbursed for their costs or get “stuck with the bill,” Norris said.
Depending on the financial status of ESFA, reimbursements to counties may be delayed until the close of the calendar year.
The 24 ESFA fires cost $103.3 million total to suppress, according to a memo provided by the Wyoming State Forestry Division.
There is a current cash balance of $52.5 million in the ESFA for the 2025 fiscal year, as of April 30, but this does not reflect the $42 million in pending reimbursements from the 2024 calendar year, according to a Legislative Service Office memo.
Wildfires in the country are becoming “more catastrophic” and costly, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The Pew Charitable Trusts is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to research and public policy, according to spokesperson Ronojoy Sen. He told lawmakers the rising cost of natural disasters, including wildfires, is “an emerging risk to state budgets.”
“Natural disasters are becoming more frequent, more severe and more expensive,” Sen said. “Existing state budget practices are not keeping pace.”
Wildfire funding, recent action
There are three areas of wildfire funding: prevention (or mitigation), suppression (or efforts to fight the fires) and recovery. Local fire districts take on the responsibility of suppressing wildfires “99% of the time,” Cooper said.
The Wyoming State Forestry Division coordinates with the federal government and other state governments to recruit resources, especially aviation, when a county needs extra help.
“We’re in the background trying to get that local district what they need at that time,” Norris said.
Wildfire funding is a top priority for Gov. Mark Gordon, who highlighted funding needs to the state Emergency Fire Suppression Account after it was depleted last year.
He recommended $130 million be set aside to fight future natural disasters and to begin the restoration process on damaged lands. Although lawmakers failed to pass a supplemental budget this year, funding for wildfire recovery efforts was appropriated through Senate File 152.
The Legislature approved an allocation of $176.9 million for the 2025-26 biennium during the 2024 budget session “to suppress and recover from wildfires through direct appropriations, authorized borrowing authority and access to special contingency funds,” according to the Legislative Service Office.
However, this full amount is not solely available for wildfires.
For example, $23.3 million in contingency funds may be used for other emergencies.
SF 152 created new borrowing authority for wildfire funding, on top of additional funding allocations. Under the bill, the governor can borrow up to $30 million out of the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account (the state’s main savings account) to fight wildfires in the event the ESFA and other reserve accounts are depleted.
Lawmakers also refilled the ESFA with $20 million through SF 152 and appropriated $2.75 million to the Office of State Lands and Investments for one full-time employee position and four part-time employee positions for contract and direct fire response.
Around $49.4 million was appropriated through SF 152 to the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Income Account for purposes of restoring vegetation, preventing invasive vegetation, and restoring habitats destroyed by the wildfires on state and private land.
Proposed remedies
Cooper proposed a module program, with four teams of 10 hired seasonal wildland firefighters placed in four regions of the state. Each team would have one full-time supervisor and a module leader. The entire program would be supervised by a fulltime assistant fire management officer.
Most local fire districts are able to handle a fire within the first 24 to 72 hours of the initial attack.
However, volunteers are released after that time period, which leaves a “critical gap” in personnel coverage if the fire continues. These module teams could take over fire suppression efforts after the first 24 to 72 hours, Cooper said, reducing the county’s need to order out-of-state resources.
“The intent ... is that we can use these resources to keep the cost as small as possible, keep these fires as small as possible, and lose fewer fires,” Cooper said.
Rep. Marilyn Connolly, R-Buffalo, who is not a sitting JAC member, testified in full support of Cooper’s module proposal.
“Having worked on fires and been part of the fire service for almost 20 years, when I saw this, I was like, ‘This is (nothing) short of brilliant,’” Connolly said, adding she believed it could save the state and local fire districts a lot of money.
Experts and appropriators also discussed the possibility of the state covering employee contributions for retirement and health insurance for volunteer firefighters, creating a separate $10 million account dedicated to fire mitigation efforts and setting a $60 million cap on the ESFA to prevent it from being overdrawn, as it was during the 2024 wildfire season.
No action was taken by appropriators during Monday’s meeting, at the direction of the co-chairmen, who suggested studying potential remedies more for the committee’s next meeting in August.
This story was published on June 25, 2025.