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A delivery driver identified as “Johnny” says a dispatcher told him, “I know it’s not safe, deliver what you can,” after he reported smoke and wildfire danger along a route near Big Bear Lake and San Bernardino, California. The account, reported by Futurism on October 30, 2025, is serious—but it remains a worker’s allegation, not independently verified proof that Amazon corporate ordered a driver into an evacuation zone or maintains a policy of delivering through wildfires.
What the driver says happened
According to the Futurism report, Johnny reviewed his route in the Amazon Flex app and saw that it took him through an area near Big Bear Lake and the rural outskirts of San Bernardino. He says smoke and an active wildfire made the route unsafe.
Johnny reportedly contacted dispatch. The response he recalls was: “I know it’s not safe, deliver what you can.” The wording suggests that he was permitted to skip some stops, but it also indicates that delivery pressure continued despite the reported hazard.
Several important details are not established by the available reporting. It does not identify the wildfire, provide the exact date and time, publish dispatch recordings or messages, show the route on an official fire map, or establish whether the dispatcher worked for Amazon corporate, a Delivery Service Partner, or another dispatch layer.
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That distinction matters. The strongest supported description is that a driver interviewed for a Distributed AI Research Institute investigation says he was encouraged to complete deliveries despite an unsafe wildfire route. It is too strong to state as a proven fact that Amazon ordered him into an active fire.
Why the headline needs qualification
The original headline—“Amazon Tells Driver to Keep Delivering Packages Amid Raging Wildfire”—turns a reported recollection into a definitive corporate action. The available evidence does not support broader claims such as:
- Amazon has a formal policy requiring drivers to deliver during wildfires.
- Amazon sent all drivers into an evacuation zone.
- The driver was definitely inside an active fire perimeter.
- Amazon corporate, rather than a DSP, issued the instruction.
Those claims would require additional evidence, including the fire’s official name and location, evacuation and road-closure records, route data, dispatch logs, and a substantive response from Amazon and the relevant delivery company.
Amazon drivers usually work for third-party delivery companies
Most branded Amazon delivery vans are operated through Delivery Service Partners, or DSPs. These are independent businesses that hire and manage drivers while operating inside Amazon’s delivery network.
In broad terms, the arrangement separates formal employment from operational control:
| Part of the system | Typical role |
|---|---|
| Amazon | Provides much of the delivery infrastructure, software, performance standards, routing systems, and contractor framework. |
| DSP | Generally handles hiring, scheduling, payroll, supervision, discipline, and day-to-day management. |
| Driver | Completes routes and interacts with Amazon’s scanning, routing, camera, and performance systems. |
The legal question of who is an employer—or whether multiple companies share responsibility—depends on the facts and the law in the relevant jurisdiction. It should not be treated as settled by the wildfire account alone.
Labor Notes reported in 2024 that Amazon described its DSP network as involving about 4,400 partners and 390,000 drivers. That was a company figure reported at the time, not a current 2026 workforce count.
The technology behind the route and safety pressure
The DAIR interviews summarized by Futurism describe a collection of systems rather than one single “Amazon AI” tool:
- Amazon Flex: Used by drivers to view or manage routes.
- eDriving Mentor: Described as a GPS-based driver-safety scoring application.
- DSP Workplace: Part of the software environment used by DSPs and drivers.
- Netradyne cameras: AI-enabled vehicle cameras that can generate driving-safety events.
- Vehicle sensors: Including seatbelt and other onboard monitoring equipment.
- Rabbit or scanner devices: Used to scan packages and, according to the report, ask post-route questions about hazards.
Deployment and practices may differ between fleets and locations. The concern raised by interviewed drivers is not simply that cameras or scoring tools exist. It is that several systems can create competing incentives.
For example, a driver may be flagged for hard braking even when braking sharply was the safest response to a pedestrian, animal, fallen branch, stalled vehicle, smoke-obscured obstacle, or sudden road closure. A camera may record an event, while a separate route system continues to measure delivery progress. Without meaningful human review, the resulting score may treat defensive driving as poor performance.
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Reported complaints about automated monitoring
Drivers interviewed for the DAIR project reportedly described several recurring problems:
- Hard-braking events allegedly caused by unavoidable road hazards.
- “Distracted driving” alerts that drivers believed were inaccurate.
- Difficulty understanding what behavior would prevent an automated infraction.
- Pressure to complete large routes quickly.
- Privacy concerns about cameras inside delivery vehicles.
- Problems getting hazard reports or customer-safety complaints resolved.
These are reported worker experiences, not independently measured error rates for every Amazon vehicle, DSP, or camera system. They nevertheless point to a practical safety question: can a driver challenge an automated event before it affects training, hours, discipline, or continued employment?
What happens when a route becomes dangerous?
Wildfire conditions expose a weakness in preplanned delivery systems: a route can be technically available when generated and become unsafe minutes later. Smoke, wind, road closures, emergency traffic, falling debris, and evacuation orders can change faster than an app refreshes.
Several situations can produce conflicting instructions:
- A route is near a fire but outside the current evacuation zone.
- The route is safe at the start of a shift but becomes dangerous later.
- Some stops are reachable while others are blocked.
- Cellular service fails and the app cannot update.
- A dispatcher says to continue while emergency officials order people to leave.
- A DSP manager tells a driver to return while the delivery system still lists packages as undelivered.
- A driver refuses a stop and later worries about attendance or safety-score consequences.
An app route is not proof that a road is legally open or safe. Official evacuation orders, road closures, and emergency instructions should take priority over delivery targets.
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Futurism’s account describes two reporting channels. Drivers could answer a post-route question on their scanner about problems or dangers. The report also describes Project Cheetah as a webform for escalating complaints involving drivers and DSPs.
Interviewees said they saw little follow-up, that Project Cheetah did not reliably work, or that issues remained unresolved for months. Those statements are attributed to the workers interviewed; the available material does not establish whether the system is still active, how it is currently staffed, or what response times apply.
The central accountability questions are therefore unanswered:
- Who receives a report about a wildfire or evacuation zone?
- Can dispatch immediately cancel or reroute a stop?
- Can a driver refuse an unsafe delivery without discipline or lost work?
- Are safety escalations preserved and reviewed?
- Can drivers see the evidence behind an automated safety event?
- Are DSP managers protected from financial or performance penalties when they suspend a route?
What the incident says about contractor accountability
The DSP model can make responsibility difficult to trace. Amazon may control the software, route expectations, and contractor relationship, while a DSP controls the driver’s schedule and employment decisions. A driver may hear instructions through an Amazon-branded system without knowing which company’s representative is speaking.
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Labor Notes has also reported labor disputes involving Amazon and DSP contractors, including allegations related to surveillance and organizing, as well as union activity among Amazon delivery drivers. That context is relevant to the broader debate over control and accountability, but it does not prove the wildfire allegation or establish that Amazon is legally the joint employer in every case.
What drivers can do during an immediate hazard
This is general safety information, not legal advice. Drivers facing a wildfire or other immediate danger should:
- Follow official evacuation orders, road closures, and emergency instructions rather than relying on the delivery app.
- Move away from immediate danger and seek emergency assistance when necessary.
- Contact dispatch or the DSP when conditions permit and clearly state which stop, road, or area is unsafe.
- Document the time, location, route information, dispatch contact, and any official closure or evacuation notice, provided it is safe to do so.
- Keep records of later safety warnings, score changes, discipline, or missed-route explanations.
Employment protections vary by state, employment status, contract, and circumstances. A worker facing discipline or injury should consult a qualified employment or workers’ compensation attorney or an appropriate labor agency.
What remains unproven
The available reporting supports a serious safety allegation and a broader examination of algorithmic management. It does not independently verify the precise wildfire conditions or establish a companywide directive.
To verify the incident more fully, reporting would need the fire’s official name, date, evacuation status, road-closure records, delivery timestamps, route screenshots or GPS data, dispatch communications, the identity of the DSP, accounts from other drivers, and a detailed response from Amazon.
The DAIR project referenced by Futurism is available at DAIR’s Driven Down project page. The available evidence here supports describing its work as interviews about algorithmic management and workplace surveillance, but not making additional claims about its methodology or sample size without reviewing the project directly.
Bottom line
A driver says a dispatcher acknowledged that his wildfire route was unsafe but told him to deliver what he could. That account raises legitimate questions about emergency routing, contractor accountability, automated safety scoring, and whether drivers can refuse dangerous work without consequences. It does not, by itself, prove that Amazon formally ordered a driver into a wildfire or that delivering through active fires is company policy.
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