If Congress fails to pass a measure to protect a salary hike, thousands of federal wildland firefighters may put down their tools and walk.
A bipartisan measure to prevent that -- The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act -- was introduced last week in Congress.
The pay increase wildland firefighters received when President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is set to expire at the end of the fiscal year -- Sept. 30.
The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) applauded the introduction of the bill to keep the increase intact for the firefighters on the front lines.
“It is critical that Congress passes this legislation as soon as possible. If the provisions within this law do not pass by September 30, federal wildland firefighters will endure a pay cliff of a 50% cut to their base pay up to $20,000,” NFFE National President Randy Erwin said in a statement
He added that measure includes incident response pay to reflect the 24-hour, seven days per week commitment that wildland firefighters endure while deployed to incidents such as fires, floods, and other catastrophes.
On July 2 -- National Wildland Firefighter Day -- Biden lauded the sacrifices of the women and men in the forests across the nation and in Canada.
"I have directed my Administration to do everything possible to ensure wildland firefighters receive the wages, benefits, and other investments for health and wellness that are necessary to support and grow this critical workforce. We will continue work with Congress to get it done."
He added: "I have also directed my Administration to work proactively with private sector partners to spur technological innovations and ensure we are investing in further research and development of wildfire protective equipment and response, detection, and suppression tools. We owe nothing less to our brave firefighters and their loved ones."
Sen. John Tester (D-MT) supports the measure that in addition to protecting paychecks, allows firefighters to take additional time off between deployments.
“This fire season, these brave men and women are our first line of defense against disaster, and they’ve earned the right to be fairly compensated for the dangerous work they do—including for adequate recovery time after a tough fire. Our bipartisan bill will make that compensation permanent, and I’ll be fighting to get it across the finish line in Congress,” he said in a statement.
The chair of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, Tester was among a bipartisan group of senators who sent a letter to colleagues about the importance of passing the measure.
“Investing in our federal wildland firefighters is a matter of national security as critical infrastructure, homes, communities, structures, and natural resources are at grave and growing risk of catastrophic wildfires. Firefighters deserve fair pay, support for their mental and physical health, and time to recover from their dangerous work. In a future with increasingly catastrophic wildfires, Congress cannot wait to ensure that the federal government has the necessary workforce to protect communities. We are grateful for the bravery of our wildland firefighters. We look forward to working with you to advance permanent solutions to ensure they get the pay and benefits they deserve," the letter read.
The new bill requires the Forest Service and the DOI agencies to distribute daily pay supplements to employees when they are working on long-duration wildfires, working on prescribed fires, or deployed away from their duty station for pre-positioning. The daily pay supplement is determined by multiplying one hour of an employee’s basic pay by 4.5 and payments are capped at approximately $160 per day and $9,000 per year, Wildfire Today reported.
For former wildland firefighter Jonathon Golden, it wasn’t just the low pay, but the incredibly long weeks and months away from home.
“Waking up in the parking lot of the Ventura County fairgrounds Christmas morning thinking I could be with my wife and my then 3-month-old son, " Golden told News Nation. "Yeah, this isn’t what I have in mind for my future or his future in getting to know who his dad is."
