Southwest fire direction will bypass regional forester under new national chain of authority
CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. – A national realignment of U.S. Forest Service wildfire leadership will remove a layer of administration between national fire leadership and the Southwest, but officials say the change will not alter how wildfires are fought on the Cibola National Forest or how local incidents receive aircraft and other firefighting resources.
The Forest Service announced Aug. 11 that its national fire and aviation authorities have been consolidated under Deputy Chief of Fire and Aviation Management, Safety, and Employee Wellbeing Sarah Fisher.
The change places authority over wildfire response, preparedness and aviation management programs under the deputy chief, along with authority over certain fire-related expenditures, resource allocations, communications and emergency response actions.
For western New Mexico, however, the most direct change occurs above the forest level. The Southwest Geographic Area fire director will now report directly to the deputy chief rather than receiving fire direction through a regional forester, the Forest Service told the Cibola Citizen.
“In other words, fire direction is no longer routed through a regional forester for interpretation,” the agency said in response to questions from the Citizen.
The Southwest Geographic Area coordinates wildland fire resources across Arizona, New Mexico and portions of west Texas and Oklahoma.
No Change for Cibola Fire Operations
Despite the change higher in the agency, the Forest Service said residents should not expect a different command structure on the Cibola National Forest or Mount Taylor Ranger District.
“There is no operational change with this realignment,” the Forest Service said. “Local units, incident commanders and agency administrators will continue operations as normal.”
That distinction recently became relevant in Cibola County as firefighters responded to the Four Mile Fire in the Zuni Mountains.
During suppression operations, helicopters were photographed dipping into Bluewater Lake to collect water for fire combat operations. The lake has been closely monitored by the Citizen amid persistent drought and declining water levels. According to the agency, local operations like this will be unaffected.
Asked whether the new national authority structure would change how the Cibola National Forest requests, receives or gains approval for aviation resources during an active wildfire, the Forest Service said it would not.
“This does not affect operational response, readiness, resources or workforce structure,” the agency said.
When wildfire activity becomes particularly high nationally, aircraft can also become a shared and limited resource.
The Forest Service said that at national Preparedness Levels 4 and 5, aviation resources are allocated across geographic areas by the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group, commonly known as NMAC.
Those resources are prioritized based on threats to life, property, infrastructure and natural and cultural resources, with aircraft assigned to the highest-priority fires in the country.
The Aug. 11 realignment does not provide additional helicopters, air tankers, firefighters or other resources to Cibola.
“This is a leadership realignment, not a structural reorganization, so there is no impact to firefighters, aircraft or funding,” the Forest Service wrote.
Why Make the Change?
The Forest Service says the purpose of the new structure is to establish clearer lines of authority and communication and provide consistent fire direction throughout the agency.
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz formally delegated the authorities to Fisher as part of the agency's implementation of Executive Order 14308, signed by President Donald Trump in June 2025.
The executive order directed the departments of Agriculture and Interior to streamline federal wildland fire governance and called for greater coordination among federal, state, local and Tribal partners. It also directed federal officials to identify barriers to wildfire response and develop performance measures that include average response times, safety and cost effectiveness.
The Forest Service said the leadership change will not disrupt the partnerships already used to respond to fires in New Mexico.
“Local partnerships such as those between federal and state partners are critical,” the agency said. “This change does not impact our fire operations or our work with these partners.”
Instead, officials said the goal is “to create consistency and standardized direction across the agency without altering how incidents are managed at the unit level.”
Firefighters, incident commanders and local administrators will continue operating under the existing field structure, and the system used to obtain and prioritize aviation resources remains in place. Higher in the organization, however, national fire direction will now travel more directly between the Southwest Geographic Area and the Forest Service's top fire and aviation official.