As the U.S. stares down what experts predict could be a brutal wildfire season, the Trump administration is defending a controversial shakeup at the U.S. Forest Service that saw more than 4,000 employees accept voluntary resignations. Despite the exodus, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins insists America is ready to meet the moment.

“It did not compromise and will not compromise at all, 1%, what needs to be done to make sure that we are ready,” Rollins told Fox News Digital on Friday.

The staffing changes stem from a deferred resignation offer that allowed employees to take a buyout and leave their posts. While most frontline wildland firefighters were shielded from the buyouts and a federal hiring freeze, critics — particularly in blue states — are sounding alarms about what they see as a weakening of the agency just when it’s needed most.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) claimed the administration “decimated the U.S. Forest Service,” warning that nearly every agency employee plays some role in fire response. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) echoed the concern, noting many who left had “Red Cards” — certification that qualifies them to support or fight wildfires on the front lines.

But Rollins says those warnings are more about politics than public safety. She blasted the Biden administration for bloating the Forest Service with thousands of hires who “really had no job description,” accusing them of creating a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy.

“That was in the — not hundreds — in the thousands of hirings that went on just in the Forest Service in the last administration,” she said. “We are now becoming more lean — but no less effective.”

The administration’s new wildfire strategy, unveiled in a May 20 memo co-signed by Rollins and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, focuses on cutting red tape and rapidly deploying resources when lives or property are at stake. The memo instructs the Forest Service to review the impact of the recent departures and find ways to fill any critical gaps.

Rollins emphasized that non-fire personnel will also be mobilized to help on the front lines if necessary — part of what she called a “more robust and more intentional and more effective force” as the fire season intensifies.

Already, more than one million acres have burned nationwide in 2025, and the National Interagency Fire Center is warning of above-average temperatures and dry conditions across the West. Rollins said the outlook points to a potentially “heavy fire season,” though she hopes the worst won’t materialize.

“Our prayer is that it won’t actually happen, that it will be lighter than usual,” she said.

Still, the Trump administration is preparing for the worst. Rollins expressed confidence that Americans will see “an unprecedented level of coordination” among federal, state, and local agencies this year — and she made clear that the administration’s wildfire response wouldn’t be hampered by the recent personnel shakeup.

“There is zero compromising [on] having the most prepared, most effective [firefighters],” Rollins said. “And we’ll do everything possible to ensure that they have every tool they need to be successful this season.”

In short, fewer bureaucrats — more boots on the ground. That’s the Trump formula for tackling wildfires in 2025.