'Really stupid': Musk’s DOGE cuts federal government firefighters' credit card limit to $1

27 February

Firefighters battle the Hughes Fire near Castaic Lake, north of Santa Clarita, California, U.S. January 22, 2025.

South African centibillionaire Elon Musk's mission to slash federal agency budgets may have an impact on the government's ability to fight wildfires this summer.

The Lever reported Thursday that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has made steep cuts to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which is under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of the Interior. This reportedly impacts funding appropriated to fight wildfires across the country.

One of the most significant budget cuts DOGE has ordered is setting the limit for BLM firefighters' credit cards and travel credit cards to just $1, making it impossible for them to buy supplies or travel to wildfire sites. Additionally, the Trump administration froze the disbursement of approximately $3 billion in wildfire mitigation-related funds. This includes things like clearing dead branches and undergrowth that can help wildfires spread quickly if not removed ahead of time.

Rod Dow, who worked as a "smokejumper" (a highly trained firefighter who parachutes into wildfires to fight them) for 45 years before retiring, told the Lever that the cuts to firefighting programs will have a ripple effect well into the future. He pointed out that it takes roughly 10 to 15 years to obtain the skills and qualifications needed to effectively battle the worst fires, and argued that those who have been laid off as a result of DOGE's cuts amount to a massive waste of time and money for the government.

While the Trump administration maintains that it intends to hand over public programs to private firms in the long run, Dow said privatizing firefighting efforts could prove catastrophic. He told the Lever that battling wildfires typically requires cooperation and coordination across multiple agencies throughout the process.

“It’s not going to be easy to convert that over to a privatized arrangement,” Dow said. “It would be really stupid. That doesn’t mean [Donald] Trump and [Elon] Musk aren’t going to do it.”

Dow added that the scope of the cuts to federal firefighting programs may end up causing more damage due to a lack of resources, saying: "You’re gonna lose somebody’s house, or somebody’s going to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you just don’t have the helicopter time to go save them."

Click here to read the Lever's full report.

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