Federal wildland firefighters have enjoyed substantial temporary raises for several years. But they’ve only been kept in place by a series of stopgap measures from Congress, and now advocates are hoping to get a permanent fix before President-elect Trump takes office.
The stopgap measures, known as continuing resolutions, have kept in place annual raises as large as $20,000. The latest expires in mid-December.
The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) is one of several groups asking supporters to push their representatives to support a couple of measures that could make raises permanent: An emergency funding request to Congress from the White House, or another continuing resolution that funds them.
“Having multiple vessels is fantastic,” said federal firefighter Warner Vanderheuel, the vice president of NFFE’s Forest Service Council.
“People would love to get it done now to not have to go through the transition, the first 100 days, all of that very complex political stuff that's about to happen.”
He said he’s seen the impact on the fireline of prolonged uncertainty over pay on staffing, and fears even more widespread departures if the raises go away, but said even with their approval the problem “is not going to be fixed overnight.”
“If the pay goes away, it's going to get really bad,” he said. “But if the pay gets passed, I think we're going to breathe a sigh of relief. But I do believe the land management agencies have three to five years of rebuilding, if not longer.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
