Wildland firefighters and their advocates pushed hard for permanent pay raises before Congress’ holiday recess. What firefighters got instead was yet another last-minute extension of temporary raises.
As a part of that campaign, thousands of federal firefighters and their supporters contacted their congressional representatives and put pressure on them to approve permanent raises instead of extending temporary raises funded by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Congress took the latter path, and those temporary raises are now set to expire in mid-March, weeks into the second Trump administration.
Andy Vanderhuel, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees’ Forest Service Council, was in Washington, D.C., when he got the news, and said he was demoralized at first. But he thinks a path to permanent raises remains.
“If I was to be honest with you, I think it's probably going to happen,” he said.
He noted that the reform enjoys significant bipartisan support – and that it was Republican Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson who got permanent raises into a budget bill earlier this year. Even so, he said all the uncertainty and stopgap measures are having consequences. He thinks there may be an uptick in departures among more experienced firefighters who have given up hope on a permanent solution.
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.
