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jimwhittington.bsky.social
Retired BLM/NPS/USFS - Courtesy faculty with Oregon State's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. Interested in wildland fire, incident management, climate change, history, public health, & crisis comms. Texas expat. Birthday: 318.51
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Firefighters don’t expect electeds to be part of the culture, but it would help if they tried to respect it. This is absolute disrespect and it’s another pro-cancer move by this crew.

submitted 4 days ago • 2 comments

My younger self wouldn't say much when people made ignorant jokes about federal employees or went on an anti-government rant when I told them what I did for a living. I just smiled and moved the discussion along. That changed on this date in 1995. 1/

submitted 6 days ago • 2 comments

Seeing a number of fed friends announce their "retirement" on FB today. This is probably not what they wanted, but in every case there was a sense of relief to be out of there. Lots of experience and institutional knowledge in critical areas is now just gone with no replacements in sight.

submitted 7 days ago • 0 comments

Our ability to efficiently identify hazards and effectively manage risk exposure is quickly disappearing. There will be residual expertise amongst the degraded and disappeared products, but changing conditions tend to outstrip our earned expertise. This is foolhardy and destructive.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

These are critical for wildland fire potential outlooks, which allow the fire community to plan & prepare. We're about to be driving around with a black-painted windshield and without air bags or seat belts--have your personal evac plan ready.

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

“We’re under attack by a bunch of people who’ve never had dirt underneath their fingernails. People who have never swung a tool. People who know as much about the meaning of public service as they do about who’s in their Signal group chat.” Sam Forstag - USFS Smokejumper

submitted 8 days ago • 1 comment

Aaron Ortega Gonzalez, a Mexican citizen and a Ph.D. student at Oregon State, has sued the Trump administration for revoking his visa. He's researching the impact of wildfires on ranchlands.

submitted 8 days ago • 3 comments

Another group that does enormous good, who have a mission more important than self.

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

There's also the emergency response side. We've done a great job in the US of making a chaotic & unsafe world seem much more predictable & safe than it really is. So much so that unlike earlier eras, when people die before their time it is now noticed & not just accepted. We're going backwards.

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Back to the 10 AM policy I guess. 1/ "A draft [EO] under consideration by the White House calls for restructuring the nation’s firefighting system to focus on the “immediate suppressing of fires,” including responding to wildfires within 30 minutes..." www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

submitted 13 days ago • 4 comments

We really need more prison concerts. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mwz...

submitted 19 days ago • 0 comments

How about those Rockets!

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

The Trump administration doesn't even want our military to know anything about its own history. This will most certainly make it easier for Trump's goons to whitewash its history even further.

submitted 21 days ago • 15 comments

Spent the last few days stocking up on essentials like shelf-stable staples, TP, & salsa. Also made sure my appliances were in good working order. Will soon turn some of the hummingbird/butterfly garden into vegetables. I'm now ready for the next 6 months of tariff price jumps... or Cascadia.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

With staff reductions, $1 credit card limits, cancellations of contracts, destruction of the National Weather Service, & a host of other bad decisions, this map points to a long PL5 summer/fall with diminished firefighting capacity. So, prepare for an evac now & go when the notice comes. Just go.

submitted 21 days ago • 1 comment

This is Soviet Union empty grocery shelves level governance.

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

This wholly applies to wildland firefighters, all responders, and every emergency manager. For instance, we often work in a time-compressed environment. It is both ethical and more efficient to help all who need it rather than to investigate everyone’s legal status before providing assistance.

submitted 26 days ago • 1 comment