Wildland firefighter advocates are celebrating the permanent pay raises included in a larger funding bill passed by Congress late last week.
For several years, federal wildland firefighters have regularly and anxiously watched Congress to see if legislators would pass permanent raises – or simply extend temporary raises again. But with the passage and signing of a continuing resolution last week, the Groundhog Day-like situation came to an end.
And the raises will be substantial: as large as 42% jumps in base pay for those lowest on the federal pay scale, along with up to $9,000 annually in incident response pay.
“This is huge,” said Riva Duncan, a retired Forest Service firefighter and vice president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, which has fought for the raises and other reforms for years.
The Government Accountability Office has cited low pay as a key factor in the federal fire service’s recruitment and retention problems.
“We're really hoping that this helps significantly,” Duncan said.
But she’s also worried about the implications of the mass firings of federal workers, including many at public lands agencies that play key roles supporting wildfire response. Temporary reinstatements have been ordered, but Politico has reported that thousands more layoffs are likely at the Forest Service alone.
“If we can't support our firefighters, then is that going to affect retention in a negative way more than the pay increase affects it in a positive way?” Duncan asked. “That is unknown right now, but I don't see how it couldn't.”
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.
