Firefighters struggle with staffing, equipment shortages amid record wildfire season: “We’re running thin”

September 19, 2026 / 8:00 AM EDT / CBS News

When Cody Turcotte arrived to fight a wildfire scorching homes in Spokane, Washington, last month, there weren't enough people at the scene to control it. His team of five engines joined just two others that had been battling the blaze alone for hours, as its flames rapidly spread.

"You're getting embers casting down on the bushes and on the back porch, lighting furniture on fire," Turcotte said. "And you're three people on a fire truck, and you're like, 'How the hell do I protect these eight homes?'"

Sixteen hours into that shift, Turcotte said his team hadn't received an update about engines they'd requested earlier for support. At that point, he recalled, their supervisor told them: "Nobody's coming. Keep working." But, later, with houses still burning around them, the team was reassigned to another fire that had broken out nearby. No one else was there to fight it.

Other firefighters have described similar circumstances this summer, telling CBS News that a nationwide shortage of resources, including firefighters and equipment, left crews struggling to manage the turbulence of this year's record wildfire season.

"The fires that we're seeing now are quickly…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/