BREAKING: Trump Didn’t Just Deploy the Guard to L.A. — He Weakened California’s Firefighting Force

Revealing how the federal deployment quietly stripped California of 56% of its wildfire crews, and why the timing was unlikely to be accidental.

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Dear friends,

While our attention is pulled to the House as they vote for Trump’s Big Ugly Bill, I’m back with more news of what’s been unfolding in the shadows.

Yesterday, I read an AP article reporting that the top military commander overseeing the National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles has asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for permission to release 200 of those troops so they can return to wildfire duty.

That caught my attention. First, because we’re now nearly a month on from the protests — why are those troops still there? But moreso, because I recently wrote that the Trump administration plans to use wildfires to redraw American federalism.

So, I did what any curious researcher would do — I pulled on the thread.

This is what I learned.

First, a quick reminder: On June 6, protests broke out in Los Angeles after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out a series of raids across the city. Some of the protests escalated, though most stayed peaceful and were largely concentrated within a five-block stretch of downtown Los Angeles.

On June 7, as tensions rose and protests spread to Paramount and Compton, Trump federalised the California National Guard and ordered 2,000 Guard members to deploy to the city under Joint Task Force 51. On June 9, he authorised another 2,000 Guard troops, and the Pentagon activated 700 Marines who arrived in Los Angeles the following day.

While the world was focused on the escalation of the unrest in L.A. and the fact that Trump had usurped Governor Newsom's authority to command the Guard, we missed something critical.

Paul Eck, Deputy General Counsel in California’s Military Department, provided a declaration in Newsom v. Trump (filed June 9, 2025) which sheds light on what has happened.

Eck’s background matters. He served as an attorney with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), later becoming a Peace Officer and Chief of Investigations. He understands California’s fire infrastructure from the inside.

In his declaration, Eck states:

14. I am aware that all 2,000 of the National Guard members deployed as a result of the DOD June 7 Order are members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, which include a large number of guard members who serve in Taskforce Rattlesnake, the State’s specialized fire combat unit. These service members have specialized training in wildland fire mitigation and prevention and direct fire suppression, and would be highly difficult for the State to replace.

16.As further described below, these deployments will impair the California National Guard’s ability to perform critical functions for the State of California, including providing urgent responses to natural disasters and wildfires and drug interdiction, among other imperative missions.

What Eck’s declaration makes clear is that all 2,000 National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles came from the single unit California depends on to fight wildfires. Many of these troops serve in Taskforce Rattlesnake — a specialised, embedded wildfire crew trained in fire mitigation, prevention, and direct suppression.

The crews of Taskforce Rattlesnake are not general-purpose fire crews. According to the Department of Defense, these are specialised units within the California National Guard, built to address the increasing scale and intensity of the state’s wildfires. They are fully embedded within California’s firefighting system. They train, deploy, and operate alongside Cal Fire, and work year-round.

To be clear — these are not soldiers temporarily assigned to fire duty. Their core job is wildland firefighting. They clear dense brush, construct fire breaks, and carry out direct fire suppression on the front lines. Much of their work is done by hand, with chainsaws and axes, in steep and hazardous terrain. They open paths that allow bulldozers and larger equipment to advance. They are also trained to deploy fire shelters — the last-resort option if they are overtaken by a blaze.

The training these crews go through is specific and demanding.

Candidates must complete a tough, ten-day academy that screens for physical endurance, mental adaptability, and their ability to operate in fast-moving, unpredictable fire conditions. The training is run jointly by the California National Guard and Cal Fire. The crews are expected to meet the same operational standards as professional wildland firefighters.

But the training doesn’t end when they join. Even during the off-season, they are continuously building and maintaining fitness. They start each shift with group physical training. They routinely hike steep terrain carrying 35-pound packs to prepare for deployment. And their day-to-day work matters — cutting fire lines, clearing brush, and staying physically conditioned to undertake long shifts in high-heat, high-risk situations. It is common for them to work 24-hour shifts and remain deployed for days at a time.

The strength of Taskforce Rattlesnake comes from their combination of military discipline, specialised firefighting training, and a deep familiarity with the fire-prone landscapes of California. Many task force members also bring additional skills from their civilian work — from mechanics to electricians — which often prove useful in the field.

What they have created, by all accounts, is a unique level of trust: Cal Fire crews rely on them as equal partners on the firelines. In short, this taskforce is a core part of California’s ability to manage fire risk, suppress active fires, and reduce the conditions that allow fires to spread.

When Trump federalised the Guard and redeployed these troops to Los Angeles, he removed this capacity. He could have deployed troops from Guard units not involved in wildfire operations. He did not. The order specifically drew from the personnel California depends on for its wildfire response.

The effect was immediate. California’s wildfire taskforce was reduced to 44% capacity. And although many people think the Trump Administration is run by idiots, this looks like a highly strategic move.

The order to federalise the Guard was given on June 7, as the protests escalated. The wildfire policy was changed through Executive Order on June 12. That’s just five days after these firefighting troops were redeployed to Los Angeles. And if you read the Presidential Memorandum that outlines the order, the duration of duty is set for 60 days — though that's at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense.

We are now 25 days into that deployment. That’s 25 days in which 56 percent of California’s wildfire crews have been held in Los Angeles — off the fire lines, and away from the fuel reduction and prevention work they would otherwise be doing. These are the weeks when that work is most needed, and it’s one of the most effective tools California has to reduce wildfire risk.

The absence of nearly 60 percent of Taskforce Rattlesnake during this window is not a minor administrative delay. It is a direct loss of operational capacity. It interrupts the crews’ training cycles, eroding fitness and team cohesion — gaps that are not likely to be immediately closed. Wildfire crews rely on their physical conditioning, their field rhythm, and their ability to work together in steep, hazardous terrain for long hours under extreme conditions.

The task force would normally be preparing terrain in partnership with Cal Fire. They would be positioned to deploy quickly as new fires break out. Instead, fires will now be burning into landscapes where some of the critical risk reduction never happened, and that time cannot be recovered. And the fire crews themselves remain in Los Angeles, where they are tasked with supporting the security response to protests.

This is a direct loss of capacity at the start of California’s fire season — not only in numbers, but in physical condition, crew cohesion, and operational rhythm. The knock-on effects are real — missed mitigation work, lost endurance, reduced capacity to hold the line when fires break out — and will likely alter the level of readiness the state can bring to the next major fire. And the decision to pull these specific crews, with no plan to rotate or replace them, has compounded that loss.

When Trump deployed the California Army National Guard to L.A. he had approximately 54 units to choose from, including infantry, aviation, engineers, sustainment, military police, intelligence, and more. That’s a wide selection. But he chose to pull from the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team — the one unit that houses Taskforce Rattlesnake, California’s wildfire crews.

That 1 in 54 selection doesn't look random. It’s statistically unlikely to be accidental, especially when other units were locally available that had no connection to the state’s wildfire response. He could have drawn from the 40th Infantry Division headquarters, the 1st Battalion of the 144th Field Artillery Regiment, the Combat Aviation Brigade, the Sustainment Brigade, or even military police units.

Instead, they pulled from the one brigade that would immediately degrade California’s wildfire readiness. Five days later, the Trump administration issued the wildfire Executive Order.

Coincidence? You tell me.

When I wrote — less than a week ago — about how the Trump administration is using wildfire policy to redraw American federalism, I said the next phase would move quickly. It looks now like it already had.

If you missed that post, you can read it here. It lays out how wildfire, hurricane, and flood response may all be used to reshape the balance of power between states and the federal government — not in theory, but in real time, under the cover of emergency management.

It now appears the Executive Orders I wrote about may already be shaping what’s happening on the ground — not just shifting policy on paper.

Wildfire-prone States Overview

What’s unfolding is still in motion, and is likely to grow if no one pushes back. If you live in one of the medium-to-high wildfire-prone states shown above — or know people who do — I encourage you to share this. I’ve made it free to all readers, because of the urgency. The more people who are watching, the greater the chance to act in time.

Tomorrow, I’ll publish the steps that can take us from watching to action.

— Lori

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