October 13, 2003

P R E S S   R E L E A S E

For more information -
Andy Stahl, FSEEE (541) 484-2692
Marc Fink, Western Environmental Law Center (208) 342-2216
Ken Weaver (509) 961-6719

Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, a non-profit partnership combining current, former, and retired U.S. Forest Service employees with citizen owners of the national forests, announced today that it has filed the first-ever federal court challenge to Forest Service firefighting.

"Too many firefighters die each year in a fruitless and self-defeating war against fire," said FSEEE Executive Director Andy Stahl. "It is time for the Forest Service to take a deep breath and assess how fire is to be managed in our national forests."

Over 900 wildland firefighters have died since 1910, the year the U.S. Forest Service declared war on fire. This year 26 perished in firefighting-related incidents.

"Two years ago, my son Devin died while fighting the Thirty Mile fire," said Ken Weaver of Moxee, Washington. "His death was needless. That fire threatened nothing, and certainly nothing worth the lives of the four firefighters who perished." Mr. Weaver will testify in the lawsuit, explaining the impact that firefighting has had on his family.

"The Forest Service must take a hard and public look at its firefighting activities," explained Western Environmental Law Center attorney Marc Fink, who represents FSEEE in the case. "The National Environmental Policy Act requires the Forest Service to look before it leaps into battle against fire," Fink continued. "Yet the Forest Service has never, not once in its history, weighed the pros and cons of firefighting."

Click here for a copy of the Complaint filed in federal district court in Missoula, Montana.