Wildland firefighters in a hotshot crew from near Klamath, Oregon, search the ruins of houses in a neighborhood where many homes were destroyed by the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California. | David McNew/Getty Images

Wildfires have consumed thousands of buildings, killed dozens of people, and smothered millions in choking smoke in recent years. Blazes like the Los Angeles wildfires in 2025 have also revealed that fighting these massive blazes continues to be hampered by bureaucratic traps — which agency is in charge of the response, who is on the hook for the cleanup, what layer of government is accountable for prevention, and who has to pay for it all?

“In too many cases, including in California, a slow and inadequate response to wildfires is a direct result of reckless mismanagement and lack of preparedness,” President Donald Trump said last year in an executive order.

That confusion is one reason why the Department of the Interior announced last month that it is taking steps to create a new Wildland Fire Service. The idea is to streamline disparate firefighting efforts across 693 million acres of federal land into one agency.

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