# Why are flags at half staff today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943 "2015-08-26T13:36:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/1 "2015-08-26T13:36:33Z")
Noticed it when I drove by the Washington Monument on the way to work. Hard to miss–the WM is ringed by a dozens of flags (my Italian friend saw that and said Americans are megalomaniacs). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/2 "2015-08-26T13:40:11Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Noticed it when I drove by the Washington Monument on the way to work. Hard to miss–the WM is ringed by a dozens of flags (my Italian friend saw that and said Americans are megalomaniacs). I have no idea. [This](http://halfstaff.org/) is where I usually go to find out and it says flags should be at full staff. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/3 "2015-08-26T13:43:59Z")
That site says, “The United States flag is flown at half-staff until sunset on July 25, 2015 honoring the victims of the tragedy in Chattanooga, Tennessee.” So perhaps someone forgot to raise the flags this morning? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/4 "2015-08-26T13:50:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > That site says, “The United States flag is flown at half-staff until sunset on July 25, 2015 honoring the victims of the tragedy in Chattanooga, Tennessee.” So perhaps someone forgot to raise the flags this morning? A month later? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/5 "2015-08-26T14:02:50Z")
Sorry. I saw 25 and thought that was yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/6 "2015-08-26T14:17:05Z")
[Found it](http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/08/25/flags-half-staff-firefighters-killed-washington-state/) > [@](#): > > Flags around the Washington Monument will remain at half-staff until late Wednesday in honor of three firefighters killed fighting wildfires in Washington. > > Mike Litterst, spokesperson for the National Park Service, tells WNEW it is not nationwide. The flags will remain at half-staff until sunset on Wednesday. > > Litterst says the Secretary of Interior and Secretary of Agrigulture ordered the flags be lowered. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/7 "2015-08-26T15:24:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Mike Litterst, spokesperson for the National Park Service, tells WNEW it is not nationwide. The flags will remain at half-staff until sunset on Wednesday. This is inaccurate. The flags are at half-staff nationwide at all Forest Service offices and locations (from Puerto Rico in the east to Guam in the south Pacific). ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/8 "2015-08-26T16:08:03Z")
“Nationwide” is intended as a descriptor meaning all government locations, not simply geographically. Flags are half staff at all Forest Service locations, but not necessarily all government locations. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/9 "2015-08-27T01:49:36Z")
Makes sense, the Mall is a national park. I guess that somehow or other falls under Forest Service. Although I thought the flags were supposed to be lowered to indicate that the nation is in mourning, not just one agency. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/10 "2015-08-27T02:09:05Z")
When I see flags at half-staff and don’t know why, I often stop at any police station or fire station (or possibly a library) I happen to pass and ask why. Very commonly, it’s in honor of some local or regional law officer or fire fighter who died in action. Or, sometimes, I’ll just turn on the news radio. If it’s some major nationwide event, I’ll hear about it soon enough. If I don’t hear about it soon enough, then it’s time to ask at the local police station or fire station. One day, some years ago, I saw flags at half-staff, and I hadn’t heard anything in the news about it. Turning on the radio, I found out: There was this space shuttle that had fallen out of the sky, incinerating itself and all aboard. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/11 "2015-08-27T03:13:19Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Makes sense, the Mall is a national park. I guess that somehow or other falls under Forest Service. Although I thought the flags were supposed to be lowered to indicate that the nation is in mourning, not just one agency. They’ll lower them for local or state issues, too. I remember the flag being lowered at my school when a beloved coach died of a heart attack. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-flags-at-half-staff-today/728943/12 "2015-08-27T03:37:46Z")
The U.S. Forest Service is part of the Dept. of Agriculture, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management are under the Dept. of Interior. (The reasons for this split are long and complicated). The Washington state fires are burning across both USFS and BLM lands and the dead firefighters were likely part if an [inter-agency task force](https://www.nifc.gov/). The Mall also is under Interior (NPS I think) Hence the half-staff flags. Probably all divisions of Ag and Interior are under the half-staff order.