Editing United States Forest Service (section)

=== National Forest System ===
[[File:106mm Recoilless Rifle.jpg|thumb|Forest Service team uses a 106&nbsp;mm [[recoilless rifle]] for [[avalanche control]] at [[Mammoth Mountain]] in the [[Inyo National Forest]] in [[California]]. Note the [[Minarets (California)|Minarets]] in background.]]

The {{convert|193|e6acre|km2}} of public land that are managed as national forests and [[grassland]]s are collectively known as the [[National forest (United States)|National Forest]] System. These lands are located in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the [[Virgin Islands]] and comprise about 9% of the total land area in the United States. The lands are organized into 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The mission of the National Forest System is to protect and manage the forest lands so they best demonstrate the sustainable multiple-use management concept, using an ecological approach, to meet the diverse needs of people.

Wildfire management and suppression is a significant subdivision of the National Forest System. [[Wildfire suppression]] and prevention programs comprise nearly 50% of the Forest Service’s overall budget and, during the peak fire season, it employs approximately 10,000-15,000 wildland firefighters. Wildland firefighters are often deployed on an [[National Interagency Fire Center|interagency basis]] alongside firefighters from other federal and state land management agencies often with support from local and county structure fire departments. Additionally, Forest Service employees who are not normally full time firefighters are regularly called upon to respond to wildfire incidents in administrative, support, security, and even direct firefighting roles. For both primary fire and supplementary employees, fire assignments usually last 2–3 weeks at a time for each individual employee during which they typically work 16 hours on and eight hours off while sleeping in tents. After an assignment ends, the employee is granted three days of R&R before either returning to their day job or going on another assignment.