The Hotshot Wake Up

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ As we head into crews coming on, a conversation about pre-season jitters. I talk about how I and others trained for the season, the first day on a Hotshot crew, and what was expected versus the reality. The jitters are normal; it means you care. A Minnesota woman was fined $150,000 for not calling in a wildfire that...

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe And Support: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Wildfires in Nebraska have burned nearly 700,000 acres this week, with the Morrill Fire now the largest in the State’s history. Full update. South Dakota got a wake-up call with the Qury Fire, now 7,200 acres. The fire’s management has already expressed a shortage of aviation resources due to the ongoing fires in Neb...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe 👉https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Sam Forstag joins the show today to talk about his time as a wildland firefighter and Smokejumper, before deciding to enter a different arena, running for a congressional seat in Montana. Sam has been a longtime advocate for the wildfire workforce, working as Vice President of his union’s local. We talk wildfire iss...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe: 👉https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ A new study on Meals Ready To Eat, MREs, was done by the organazation Mom’s Across America. These meals are carried and eaten by wildland firefighters across America. I’ve eaten hundreds, if not thousands, of them. Mom’s Across America provided 24 different MRE items to 3rd-party independent laboratories for testin...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Authorities in Chile have arrested four suspects in connection with the current wildfires that have destroyed entire towns and led to 21 confirmed fatalities. One of the fires was said to have been started in a Eucaliptis grove, an industrial timber farm. The timber industry in Chile is massive, and timber products a...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ A House committee votes today on whether it should study the effects of drone incursions over wildfires. If passed, they will come up with mitigation solutions, including using force to bring the drones down, wildfire anti-drone radio towers, and using “net guns.” CAL FIRE has started testing of fully autonomous wil...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ The Secretary of the Interior officially announced today the creation of the United States Wildland Fire Service. Effective today, the transition period begins, and the unification of wildfire resources within the Department starts. The Department provided transition plans, framework, and authorities of the new Serv...

On Today's Show: To support and subscribe 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ It’s one year after the deadly Palisades Fire. What have we learned from this horrible event, and more importantly, what can we do to prevent it from happening again? It’s clear that major mistakes were made, some long before the fire even started. It’s never been more important to let the operators on the groun...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Yesterday, USDA Leadership announced plans to move the Forest Service leadership and senior staff from D.C. to Salt Lake City. This is part of the reorganization plan, which will phase out the 9 Regions and create five hubs. This still all hinges on Congressional approval. Senators penned a letter to Forest Service C...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Today, Sam Davis, CEO of Bridger Aerospace, joins the show to talk about the 2025 wildfire season, the expansion of the company into Spain, what Bridger has planned for the future, and more. Sam joined the company in 2019 and took the helm after founder Sen. Tim Sheehy stepped down to run for U.S. Senate. We also get...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ A very Happy Thanksgiving episode for the wildland firefighter community and their families. There is plenty to be thankful for today, including doing a job you love with the kickass people you work with, in our nation’s most beautiful landscapes. A fun conversation about it all. I also cover the Oregon fire season....

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe 👇 https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Montana had a near record slow wildfire season, but it was one of their most expensive. Why? The Windy Rock Fire played a big role, a Team Fire in a wilderness study area that cost $56M in initial reports. Environmental groups in the State are questioning forest management, suppression, prescribed fire, and project...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Today, I cover the 2025 wildfire season by the numbers and compare them to last year. Total Fires (nationally and by region) Acres Burned (nationally and by region) Crew Orders Aircraft Orders Flight Hours UTFs Cancelations Drone Incursions, And More. I also cover the LEAF Act, which was introduced to ensure local co...

On Today’s Show: To Support and Subscribe 👇 https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ The Senate Committee on Aging held a hearing today in California to let residents testify on their experiences before, during, and after the Palisades fire. The hearing was conducted by Senator Scott of Florida and Senator Johnson of Wisconsin. Multiple people spoke about the day their homes were lost and what they...

On Today’s Show: To Support And Subscribe 👇 https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ As we enter the longest government shutdown in history, some Forest Service Employees are now being asked to come into work without pay. Major vacancies in high-level wildfire positions persist, as the Agency tries to fill critical positions internally. PacifiCorp Power in Oregon says they are facing liquidity issu...

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe and support 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Shutdown pay funding update for the USFS and DOI. DOI has a longer runway of funding for wildfire resources, and the USFS is looking for a funding extension. We have reached the important date for the unification planning phase of the new USWFS, and the search for the new National USWFS Chief continues. Updates on a...

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Today, I cover all the wildfire activity across the nation and updates on incidents happening on wildfires. The PNW and California remain the hotspots, with lingering fires in Montana and Idaho. There was a dozer rollover in Washington, an engine rollover in California, and an update on the tree strike involving a hotshot crew i...

On today’s show: To Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ The question on the minds of many agency leaders and supervisors is how to build and train the new generation of wildland firefighters. Well, that’s just what firefighter and teacher Bryan Kerns is doing with his wildfire program, earning him the 2025 Tennessee teacher of the year. Bryan Kerns is the Fire Science teacher at Doby...

On Today’s Show: To support and subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ OroraTech is a wildfire technology company that provides satellite detection, monitoring, fire spread modeling, and post-fire recovery data for wildfire managers. They recently signed a deal with the State of Idaho to provide these services statewide. CEO Martin Langer joins the show from Munich, Germany, to discuss...

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe and support: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Today, I welcome the Fire Chief of the Angeles National Forest, Robert Garcia. Chief Garcia started his career as a seasonal firefighter, moved to working on Hotshot crews, became the Superintendent of Little Tujunga Hotshots, and rose to the position of Fire Chief. The Angeles National Forest is home to five Hotshot...

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe 👇 https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Today, I welcome Fire Captain Robert Sepulveda Jr. to discuss the world of REMS. Robert is a Captain for Pasadena Fire and joined the FIRESCOPE Technical Search and Rescue Specialist Group   in 2020 and is Chair of the Rapid Extraction Module Support Subcommittee. Robert is certified as a Regional Task Force Leader, Technical...

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe:👇 https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Today, I’m joined by Gabriel Mann, Director of Hotshot, to discuss the new allegations brought by a lawsuit in California yesterday regarding the events surrounding the Palisades Fire. These new allegations point the finger at the State of California and the water utility for their role in the Palisades Fire disaster. The laws...

On Today’s Show: To Subscribe 👇 https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Six months ago, the Palisades and Eaton Fires rolled across communities in southern California, and the official cause of the Palisades Fire is yet to be confirmed. Work by the Washington Post and others suggests that the Lachman Fire may have rekindled, which began on New Year's Eve from fireworks in the same area. Briann...

On Today’s Show: To support and subscribe: 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ Today, I welcome San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey to discuss what he believes are the four biggest lies in the wildfire industry, and what the actual truths are behind those lies. The Four Lies the Chief Addresses: There is a large wildfire crisis. (Truth: We have a land management crisis.) There is a fi...

On Today’s Show: To support and subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/ 20-year-old Wess Roley has been named as the shooter in the Idaho Wildfire ambush that took place yesterday in Hayden, Idaho. New details have emerged about the suspect, which I cover. He allegedly has a past criminal record and mental health issues. Today, we remember the Granite Mountain Hotshots and the Yarnell Fi...