2024 wildland firefighting capacity, U.S. Forest Service

In 2024, the agency reached its goal to have 11,300 wildland firefighters onboard by mid-July. However, according to the Forest Service website, that number "isn't enough capacity to meet the needs of the continuing wildfire crisis..." The chart below shows total wildland firefighter hires in 2024, broken down by hire date and region. Montana is part of Region 1, or the Northern Region. Hover over the colored bars or legend to see specific numbers.

885
521
979
970
2,922
1,283
639
318
28
93
1,275
695
1,170
1,259
3,324
1,690
625
328
30
89
1,463
757
1,225
1,324
3,516
1,854
615
325
31
82
1,484
770
1,231
1,348
3,572
1,995
616
327
32
82
1,476
768
1,226
1,336
3,549
1,992
609
324
32
81
8,638
10,485
11,192
11,457
11,393
April 6
May 18
June 15
July 13
July 27