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Photo: Jalisco Miles, left, holds a checklist while Farrell Hayes and Riston Bullock check on the fire truck engine on June 12, 2025. (Lauren Paterson / NWPB)
As the Trump administration looks to combine multiple fire agencies under one organization, firefighter numbers are dwindling.
Northwest Public Broadcasting’s Lauren Paterson reports on how the Nez Perce Tribe is stepping up despite the challenges.
Three young firefighters are standing under the hot sun in Lapwai, Idaho, doing an engine check on one of their fire trucks.
All of them are members of and firefighters for the Nez Perce Tribe.
Riston Bullock is going into his thirteenth season.
He says he does this job because he’s dedicated to protecting the land, and his community.
“Now that I’ve been in fire for so long, it’s kind of more, being the first one to respond, put the fires out.”
A big challenge here in Idaho, and across the nation, is that there aren’t enough people to help.
“ We’re losing firefighters. The numbers are going down.”
People can still volunteer, but…
“We need people at the shop ready to go when those fires start..”
Across from the shop in the air conditioned office, Jeff Handel, the fire management officer, is on the phone trying to schedule repairs for fire trucks.
“OK what I need is, I got a couple rigs that need radios put in ‘em.”
He’s also worried the younger generation doesn’t seem too interested in firefighting.
“ It’s pretty tough in today’s world when you can get a job, work from home and, and, and do okay financially, why would you wanna go out and do the firefighting thing? Which is very hard work.”
Back at the shop, the firefighters are organizing equipment like ropes and hatchets.
There could be changes coming to how the Nez Perce Tribal fire crew works with other agencies in the region.
The Trump administration is trying to merge all federal firefighting into a single agency. That could mean shifting thousands of jobs around just as fire season is ramping up.
Bullock says he’s not sure how that would work.
“I feel like it’ll just kind of be a new name, but I still feel like we’ll still have our shops and everything here will be mixed out through each other.
Approximately $1.2bn will be requested as part of the new Wildland Fire Service budget.
For now, Bullock and the rest of the crew aren’t giving it too much thought. They’re busy getting ready for the next call.
Alameda County Coroner’s sign. (Photo: I Love Old Signs! / Flickr)
A group of researchers found gaps in how death certificates are maintained with implications for Native Americans’ health.
The Mountain West News Bureau’s Kaleb Roedel has more.
Researchers from prestigious universities to Indigenous communities studied death certificates from 2008 to 2019.
They found Native Americans have a life expectancy of roughly 72 years old. The national average is 79.
That’s a much bigger gap than official stats show, says Jacob Bor. He’s an associate professor at the Boston University School of Public Health and the study’s lead author.
“American Indian populations have been subjected to deliberate policies of physical and cultural erasure for centuries. These patterns have contributed to today’s economic and physical marginalization and deprivation and to poor outcomes in these populations.”
Bor and his team uncovered another problem. Death certificates for at least 40% of Native Americans failed to identify them as American Indian or Alaska Native.
In most cases, their race was misreported as “White.”
The New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department announced this week the appointment of Joannie Suina as assistant secretary for Native American early education and care.
The citizen of Cochiti Pueblo recently served as special projects coordinator at the state’s Indian Affairs Department focusing on issues including Indian education and MMIP.
She previously served as communications director for the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.
The position will work on strengthening state-tribal early childhood partnerships.
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