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More than 4,500 Forest Service firefighting jobs remained vacant

Reporting and findings

  1. reported

    Internal Forest Service data obtained by ProPublica showed more than 4,500 firefighting positions, as many as 27 percent, vacant on July 17 despite public claims that the agency had met 99 percent of its hiring goal.

  2. documented

    Elon Musk was the Trump-appointed senior adviser who led DOGE work.

  3. documented

    Russell Vought was the Trump-appointed OMB director and acting CFPB director.

Summary and current status

The 27-percent gap contradicted official claims of near-complete hiring as over a million acres burned across ten states.

Internal data showed vacancies at the July 17 wildfire-season checkpoint

People and organizations

Relationships in this file

  1. Elon Musklost firefighters through layoffs, resignations, and constrained hiringU.S. Forest Service
  2. Donald J. TrumpTrump-appointed senior adviser who led DOGE workElon Musk
  3. Donald J. TrumpTrump-appointed OMB director and acting CFPB directorRussell Vought

Figures

  1. Vacant Forest Service firefighting positionsmore than 4,500 positions
    Calculation details
    Basis
    Observed
    Population
    Forest Service firefighting organization-chart positions
    Period
    2025-07-17 to 2025-07-17
    Method
    Internal national staffing data obtained by ProPublica.
    Uncertainty
    Agency disputed the characterization; organization-chart data may contain local inaccuracies.