Living in this beautiful region of Colorado, surrounded by mountains and rivers, comes with its costs, including the high risk of wildfires and limited evacuation routes. Our safety depends on well-resourced government agencies and programs to help prevent wildfires and respond quickly and effectively when any blazes begin.

Garfield County Commissioners and CD3 Rep. Jeff Hurd, R-Grand Junction, were elected to protect our health, safety, and welfare, including keeping us safe from wildfires — but the silence of these elected officials while federal workers, programs, and funds for wildfire safety are being slashed is astounding and wrong. 

Firefighting professionals across the nation are sounding the alarm about the consequences of President Trump and Elon Musks’s decision to gut the ranks of wildland firefighters and pull funding from fire mitigation and prevention programs.

“There’s going to be firefighters that die because of this; there will be communities that burn,” said former firefighter Steve Gutierrez, who served 15 years with the U.S. Forest Service.

Mark Novak, Fire Chief of Vail Fire and Emergency Services, explained that the elimination of federal employees means less capacity for Colorado’s fuel reduction projects and less funding for local wildfire resiliency programs.

“I’m very concerned about taking a big step backwards … and losing a lot of ground that we’ve gained in creating community wildfire resilience,” Novak said.

Drastic cuts to funding also means that national and state resources, including hotshot crews and planes that drop water and fire retardant, will be much less available wherever fires occur.

These cuts are particularly concerning for Garfield County, where over 25% of residents live in areas designated as “Highest Risk” for wildfire intensity. The danger is compounded by the thousands of oil and gas wells in western Garfield County, which can increase the severity and health risks of wildfires.

Federal employees are losing their jobs, and funding is being slashed, so Republicans in Congress can give huge tax giveaways to the richest Americans. In the House budget, individuals who make $743,000/year will get a $62,000 reduction in their annual taxes. Why is Rep. Hurd supporting tax giveaways for America’s richest individuals while gutting programs vital to protecting us from wildfires? 

Meanwhile, Garfield County Commissioners have said nothing about the Trump/Musk executive orders exposing us to greater wildfire risk. The commissioners have not been shy about weighing in on national politics in the past. They signed official letters of support in 2021 for three bills introduced by then-CD3 Rep. Lauren Boebert. The commissioners have no excuse for remaining silent now.

We’ve already seen how a loud public backlash against Trump and Musk’s plans have caused them to backpedal. Their funding freezes initially included rescinding job offers to doctors, nurses, and counselors hired to work for the Veterans Administration. Veterans responded with a huge public outcry. 

A post by Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, made national news: “This is throwing a massive hand grenade into the largest healthcare system in America that serves millions of vets. It’s already hurting morale and retention — and will impact recruiting at V.A. forever. It’s reckless and stupid. And intentional.”

Trump and Musk soon backed down, and over 300,000 VA health care jobs were exempted from the freeze. 

We can all help build the public backlash against the atrocities of the Trump/Musk administration, whether it’s gutting the VA healthcare system, allowing school children to go hungry, or putting us at greater risk for dangerous wildfires. In addition to flooding the phone lines of our elected representatives and filling our newspapers with letters to the editor, we need to take public actions that demonstrate our outrage. Loud and visible public actions can shift public opinion and compel change at top levels.

We can get together with friends and brainstorm ideas for voicing our disgust with the Trump/Musk policies in bigger and louder ways in our community — maybe it’s printing and distributing a bunch of “Fabulously Fighting Fascism” t-shirts or hats; recruiting people to speak out at school board and county commissioner meetings; or organizing clever, eye-catching demonstrations outside public buildings. 

We need to be out in public, showing our neighbors and our elected officials that we are furious that the Trump/Musk administration is putting us at increased risk of wildfire danger — or slashing funds for food assistance, public schools, Medicaid or whatever your biggest concern may be — all so that the richest Americans can get even richer, and while many local elected officials stand idly by. 

Debbie Bruell of Carbondale previously chaired the Garfield County Democrats and is a past member of the Roaring Fork Schools Board of Education.