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Two Pilots Died Fighting A Yosemite Fire That Threatened Nothing, On Burgum's Orders
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Two firefighting pilots died fighting a Yosemite wildfire that was climbing a remote mountainside, away from every home in the park, under Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's order to fully suppress every wildfire, no matter what it's threatening.
"For what?" one federal fire official told The Atlantic. "There's nothing out there. Just let nature do its thing." Another asked, "Did they die in vain?"
Burgum's new Wildland Fire Service runs firefighting in every national park, and his April memo calls for "the presumption of a full suppression strategy applied to every wildfire." It's a throwback to the 10 a.m. policy from 1935: every fire out by 10 the next morning. Yosemite started letting some fires burn in 1974, because putting out every fire is why Western forests are overgrown tinderboxes. One fire researcher told the AP, "The more you make fire go away, the more fuel accumulates." So we brought back fire science from the Dust Bowl. Can't wait for the comeback of leeches.
Yosemite got shock and awe. At least 17 helicopters. More than 1,000 firefighters. For a fire that burned about 6,700 acres of mountain and zero buildings, and cost at least $55 million. That's more than $8,000 an acre. For land we already own.
The crews knew. One told The Atlantic, "What are we doing? There's nothing out here. We're slamming this fire shut." Six firefighters got hurt or sick. Then a helicopter doing water bucket drops went down. Pilots Greg King and Ryan Cutter were killed. The crash is still under investigation. At least 17 wildland firefighters, pilots and contractors have died this year, already more than the full-year average of the last decade.
One of the best ways to stop monster fires is to set small ones on purpose, with a plan. The Forest Service's prescribed burning fell by about half last year after it lost 16% of its staff. Yosemite has done zero burns this year. Superintendent Ray McPadden canceled the one near the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias, planned for around Memorial Day, because two people familiar with the decision say he was worried it would hurt visitation. What the actual feck. Four years ago, that grove survived a wildfire because the park had burned it on purpose more than 20 times.
So who comes out ahead when every fire gets the full air show? An aerospace analyst told the AP, "Anyone that has an air tanker benefits." Like Bridger Aerospace, an aerial firefighting company founded by Montana Republican Senator Tim Sheehy. The Forest Service has paid it more than $235 million since 2021. Sheehy pushed to scrap Forest Service inspections of firefighting aircraft, the same month one of his old company's planes failed one with a crack in its wing. His shares now sit in a blind trust. Blind. Like the policy.
Yosemite's former superintendent, Cicely Muldoon, says skipping the burns means "you're really putting people in harm's way." The kindling keeps piling up under giant sequoias older than most countries. They've survived centuries of fire. Let's see if they survive Doug Burgum.
Sources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/2026/10/yosemite-fires/689069/
https://www.eenews.net/articles/burgums-wildfire-mandate-smother-every-blaze/
https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/04/wildfire-prevention-work-declines-under-trump-administra