UTF: "Utterly And Totally F*cked." The Unable To Fill List...

Hundreds of middle management positions on fires go unstaffed this year after wage disparity and a pandemic cleared them out.

It was only a matter of time before it all caught up.

The UTF list is the list of positions on wildfires that dispatches, and Regions are Unable To Fill for ongoing incidents and active fires. This list has been steadily growing over the last month as resources get stretched thin by the increasing number of wildfires nationwide. It’s not trending to be a record fire season yet… but it’s busy.

This week, there are multiple hundreds of UTFs for division-qualified people, taskforce-qualified people, Logistics, Finance, Dispatch, and Heavy Equipment Bosses. The UTF list just for Divisions and Taskforce Leaders alone is pages and pages long.

These are not your entry-level positions…

These are the middle management and even some upper management positions that have hundreds of vacancies on active wildfires that they simply cannot fill. I remember when you would see 12 Division positions on a UTF list a decade ago, and people would be shocked and clamoring to get that assignment.

It has grown to a point where it’s becoming a problem.

So, where did all the qualified and middle management people go? Well, I’ve been warning about it for a while… Since 2020, to be exact. But let’s have Forest Service Chief Moore tell us why. Here is a clip I reported on back in February of 2023 that reiterated what I have been saying for years.