The federal employee terminations have apparently been widespread.

I say apparently because official documentation has been sparce. Media outlets have reported upwards of 200,000 federal employees have been let go. In addition to those 200,000, another 75,000 have reportedly accepted early retirement buyouts. FEMA and other allied agencies have collectively lost thousands of employees in a matter of weeks. Without some retooling, rehiring and/or reprocessing, these terminations will surely have a direct impact on the fire service.

Here is a partial list of federal job losses from agencies that will have direct and indirect impacts on the fire service:

• Department of Homeland Security: 405 (200 from FEMA alone)

• Department of Interior: 2,000 (firefighters were spared, maintenance and conservation workers were not)

• Centers for Disease Control: 1,300, including 16 from the World Trade Center Health Program, more from the firefighter cancer registry program, and NIOSH, which runs the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program.

• Environmental Protection Agency: 388

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid: Unknown number as of this writing, but cuts will certainly impact fire-based EMS agencies

I have read numerus firsthand reports from impacted NIOSH and NFA workers, all of whom asked to remain anonymous. While I recognize we will all have to share in the pain of budget balancing, I’m quite confident that cutting firefighter safety and training programs to the bone will not resonate well nor result in positive outcomes. The NIOSH, National Firefighter Registry and NFA cuts will impact firefighter safety for years to come. With respect to NIOSH’s firefighter safety staff alone, they are now reportedly down to two investigators to perform investigations for the agency’s trauma team.

Further evidence of the policy upheavals manifests in program cancellations that appear to be related to the Executive Order directing agencies to remove all references and programs that may be considered DEI initiatives. For example, the U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Academy announced cancellation of the National Weekend, sponsored by Women in Fire, which had been scheduled for May 17 and 18, 2025, at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Additionally, the U.S. Forest Service announced cancellation of the annual spring bootcamp for women who are interested in becoming wildland firefighters.

Whether it is training, grants management, wildland management, disaster response, CMS funding and management, firefighter death investigations or any number of other support functions, the consequences of these terminations is yet to be determined. I can assure you, however, that the local fire service will bear the brunt of the impact.