Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology is celebrating 20 years of advocating for change in wildfire coverage and management. For FUSEE members, proactive fire lighting can solve the wildfire crisis. This stance has been historically underrepresented in media and policy because of the conventional narrative that fire suppression and logging will prevent wildfire damage.
“We’re torch bearers for a new paradigm of fire management” says founder and executive director Timothy Ingalsbee, echoing FUSEE’s slogan. Over its 20 years FUSEE has been featured in over 400 news stories and has had a national impact on wildfire policy.
Ingalsbee spent years working as a wildland firefighter in his 20s which brought him to Oregon and to the frontlines of the Warner Creek blockade in 1994.
He recalls watching the Forest Service justify cutting down old-growth trees for the sake of “wildfire prevention,” and says he knew something needed to change. “They’re three-foot diameter, giant trees, which are really hard to catch on fire as opposed to logging slash.”
Federally employed firefighters could not speak to reporters or policymakers without written permission and being accompanied by a handler. “They were desperate for a voice,” Ingalsbee recalls. And that’s how FUSEE was born.
FUSEE speaks up for firefighters and activists who are fed up with aggressive suppression tactics, endless logging bills, and want to shift the understanding of humans’ relationship with fire, he says.
Instead of fighting wildfire, Ingalsbee suggests working with fire, living with fire and thriving with fire. “We have climate change just propelling fires, so we’re never going to be able to fight our way out of this wildfire crisis.”
“Fire is nature’s recycler. It turns down, dead, woody debris into soil nutrients,” he continues. “Sometimes fire is what causes plants to regenerate.” He explains that in the right conditions, fire can be what saves an ecosystem.
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the nation has spent an average of $2.9 billion annually on wildfire suppression in the last five years. Use of air tankers, helicopters, bulldozers and fire retardant chemicals has contributed to rising costs.
Last year, another locally based group, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, filed a lawsuit in Montana against the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) last year brought attention to the harmful effects of aerially delivered fire retardant, outweighing the little evidence that aerial retardant is effective in fighting fires.
FUSEE says that the USFS left ecological fire management out of early draft considerations for the Northwest Forest Plan Amendment. Ryan Reed, program director for FUSEE’s FireGeneration Collaborative and University of Oregon graduate, is a member of the amendment’s federal advisory committee.
The plan amendment will address changes in policy regarding wildfire resilience and tribal inclusion. With a push from FUSEE, the committee and wildfire activists, FUSEE is hoping that USFS incorporates Indigenous prescribed burning practices and fire management into the plan which is now expected to be released in November.
“Whether the public knows it or not, I think that’s why we’re we’re in a position to provide opportunities for not only the agency to get on board but also for the public to learn and change this current fire suppression paradigm that the U.S. Forest Service has created,” Reed said at a late September advisory committee meeting.
To celebrate 20 years, FUSEE is hosting an anniversary party and fundraiser Friday, Oct.18. Attendees can enjoy performances from vocal ensemble Family Mystic, Eugene pop-punk band Foreal, and Eugene bluegrass band Moon Mountain String Band.
Fiery festivities include fire-spinning collective Fairly Fire putting on a show with fire dancers, fire eating, juggling, and more. Settle down with wood-fired pizza, a fire pit, and a hot tub and sauna alongside music til midnight.
FUSEE celebrates 20 years at Manifestation Eugene, 3675 West 1st Avenue 6 pm, Oct. 18. Tickers can be purchased on a sliding scale from $30 to $75 at donorbox.org