The Hotshot Wake Up

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What's Inside The Proposal To Sell 1.5% Of Public Lands? I Cover This Plan To "Dispose Of" Millions Of Acres. Alaska wildfires pop off, Dozer operator burned in New Mexico. Jun 21, 2025

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On Today’s Show: To Support and Subscribe 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

I cover the proposal to sell off up to 1.5% of public lands for housing developments. I am a firm believer that public lands are our greatest national treasure.
I cover the full details of the plan, which expects to raise $10 billion, and further fund land management costs. But is it worth it?
Full operational update of all wildfires across the United States.
Alaska has responded to 1 fire per hour in the last 48 hours. Setting up for a very busy weekend.
Southwest continues to burn, with multiple injuries on New Mexico fires.
DOI and USDA announce new mental health program for wildland firefighters and dispatchers.
Plus more.

THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP — Thank you to all of our paid subscribers. Your support allows us to donate generously to firefighter charities and supports all of our content. You also receive all of our article archives, more podcast episodes, Monday morning workouts, and also entered into our giveaways, plus more.

Fire In The Sky, Drones For Firing Ops And More: CEO Of Drone Amplified, Dr. Carrick Detweiler. Their IGNIS quadcopter UAS platform is the standard for firing ops across the industry. Jun 20, 2025

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Today, I welcome Dr. Carrick Detweiler, founder and CEO of Drone Amplified. They have developed the quadcopter drone and software platform used by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, State Agencies, and others for aerial ignitions on wildfires and prescribed burns.

We discuss how these platforms are being utilized, the growth of these types of technologies and operations, working with wildfire agencies, and what the future holds.

Aside from his work with Drone Amplified, Dr. Carrick Detweiler is the Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), a Faculty Fellow of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute, and has a courtesy appointment in the UNL Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Dr. Detweiler co-directs the NIMBUS Lab, working with aerial robots and other robot systems.

Dr. Detweiler completed his Ph.D. at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) at MIT, studying computer science and robotics in the Distributed Robotics Lab.

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CEO Of Watch Duty, John Mills, Discusses Developing Wildfire Tech And The Future Of The Company. Jun 02, 2025

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On Today’s Show: I am 100% subscriber-supported, Thank you. 🙏To Subscribe: https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/

John Mills moved to California and quickly came to realize the harsh reality of living in the wildland-urban interface. More out of necessity than anything else, he began working on the Watch Duty platform, a wildfire-tracking app, with Co-founder David Merrit.

John and I discuss the process of developing wildfire tech platforms, the future of the company, and the struggles and successes of his and his team’s journey to building out the platform.

Thanks to John for taking the time to discuss the evolution of Watch Duty.

USDA And DOI Sign Joint Wildfire Memo. Sec. Rollins Directs Forest Service Wildfire Response In New Order. No Tax On Overtime...? May 21, 2025

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Yesterday, Secretary Rollins and Secretary Burgum received their 2025 wildfire briefing in the Forest Service offices and signed a joint wildfire memo afterward. Further, Secretary Rollins issued a memorandum directing the USDA and Forest Service to take immediate action on wildfire response.

This includes new directives during times of PL3 and higher, including using non-fire employees to help with wildfire support and response. Also, increasing red card and other qualifications, ordering, purchasing, dispatching, and more.

Basically, everyone will be available to fight fire or support those efforts.

Also, the budget bill that will be voted on soon contains language that would create “no tax on overtime.” This would have major implications for wildland firefighters who earn up to 144 OT hours per check or 1,400 OT hours per summer. I'm watching that closely.

Plus more.

23 Years As A Fire Wife: The Struggles And Joys Of Wildfire Relationships. Brittany Culbertson joins to discuss what it’s like to be a longtime Fire Wife. May 16, 2025

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On Today’s Show: To subscribe and support 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/With wildfire couples starting another season and enduring the struggles that come with that, I thought it would be a great time to have a conversation about exactly this.

Brittany Culbertson is a mom of two boys (17 & 20) and a proud Wildland Fire wife for 23 years. She has lived in northern Nevada for 24 years and works as a middle school teacher. Brittany is passionate about education and staying active in our local community, always striving to make a positive impact both in and out of the classroom.

We discuss raising a family, becoming independent, communicating in a wildfire relationship, and how Brittany and her husband have been able to navigate the struggles and joys of 23 years as a wildfire couple.

The Timber Executive Orders: Former NEPA Assistant Director For The USDA, Sharon Friedman, Joins To Discuss The Orders. May 12, 2025

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These last couple of weeks, listeners have been asking for an episode of the recent Timber Executive orders on Timber management in the National Forests. So, I invited Sharon Friedman on the show, who has a wealth of knowledge as the former Assistant Director of NEPA for the USDA in the D.C. office.

Sharon Friedman is the founder and Managing Editor of The Smokey Wire, a community sourced and supported news site for forest and federal lands issues. The Smokey Wire focuses on shared learning and civil discussion among practitioners (wildfire, forest, grassland, wildlife, fish, legal professionals), researchers, academics and the public.

She retired from the US Forest Service in 2012 as the Regional Planning Director for the Rocky Mountain Region, and previously was the Assistant Director for NEPA in the Washington Office. She joined the Forest Service in 1979 as an Area Geneticist in Oregon and switched from genetics and silviculture to NEPA in 2001. She has two degrees in forestry and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of New Hampshire.

BOOT GIVEAWAY

Getting Through Critical 80 Healthy, Now What? Sustainable Wellness Through The Fire Season With Jessie Thomas. Jessie is a Former Hotshot, Smokejumper, and now a health and fitness coach. Apr 27, 2025

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I welcome Jessie Thomas to discuss health and fitness through the fire season. Sometimes, you need to hack the system to make it work for you, as the food and nutrition provided are often subpar. So, Jessie provides solutions for how you make it through the year while maintaining your health and wellness.

Jesse has a wealth of knowledge and experience as a former Lolo and Flathead Hotshot turned Missoula Smokejumper of 8 years. We discuss gut health during fire season, maintaining your physical and mental health to allow for a long and successful fire career and dive into the current state of our world and communities.

Jessie, founder of Missoula, Montana’s Sustainable Wellness, knows that the health of the human body over a lifespan is determined by what we eat and how we live.

A perfect time for this conversation.

Living In The Wildland Urban Interface: Insurance Costs Rising, Home Hardening, And Wildfire Risk Maps. Stanford Scholar Michael Wara provides a needed dose of reality. Apr 24, 2025

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With recent developments in Oregon, Idaho, and California regarding their use of wildfire risk maps, the skyrocketing cost of insurance, and the reality of living in the Wildland Urban Interface, Stanford scholar and lawyer Micheal Wara joins the show to provide insight on where this all stands today.

Wara is Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program and a senior research scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment as well as Senior Director for Policy at the Sustainability Accelerator within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

Wara has served as a Wildfire Commissioner for California, as a member of the California Catastrophe Council, the oversight body of the California Wildfire Fund, as a consultant to the Senate pro-Tem on wildfire issues, and as a consultant to CPUC and OEIS on utility wildfire risk management. Wara has served on multiple National Academy of Sciences and California Council on Science and Technology reports. He is also a member of the Tamalpais Design Review Board.
Prior to joining Woods, Wara was an associate professor at Stanford Law School and an associate in Holland & Knight’s government practice. He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his Ph.D. in Ocean Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Yes, There Is A Draft Executive Order For Wildfire. Here Is What's In It. Also, Oregon scraps wildfire risk map and Oklahoma Governor wants dissolve wildfire agency. Apr 14, 2025

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There have been ongoing discussions about major changes in the wildfire world for some time now. As significant changes are ongoing across the government, we get our first look at a draft executive order regarding a national wildfire service and more. This includes aviation and contracting changes, dispatching changes, and ultimately forming a singular wildfire service. I cover the draft order.

Oregon once again scraps the wildfire risk map after 4 years of trying to implement it with millions of dollars spent. Also, the Governor of Oklahoma fired the head of their wildfire service and is asking if they should dissolve the agency altogether.

Plus, the Forest Service provides an update on pay implementation and premium pay details.

California’s Growing Fuel And Wildfire Problem. A Conversation With Zeke Lunder. Fuels mitigation and prescribed fire are key to the solution. Mar 29, 2025

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Zeke Lunder is a Pyro-geographer. His parents fled the Bay Area for the hillbilly sticks of Northeastern California in the late 1970s, when the timber industry was still a major part of the local economy, and Zeke started working in the woods in high school on a Forest Service conservation crew.

Zeke started his prescribed fire and fuels career in 1995 on a timber crew on the Lassen National Forest, marking trees for thinning on large-scale shaded fuel break projects and burning house-sized piles of logging slash. He got a degree in map-making from California State University, Chico, in 1996 and was one of the first NWCG-qualified wildfire mapping specialists in the United States.

In 2021, Zeke and his wife, Erika, founded Lookout Media, which provides in-depth reporting on prescribed fire, wildland fire management tactics, and forestry through their YouTube channel and website. Zeke currently lives in Chico, California.

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