The deadline to prevent steep, across-the-board pay cuts to federal wildland firefighters is now just weeks away.
Some members of Congress are pressing Senate leaders to back a bipartisan bill that would avoid what some advocates have termed the “firefighter fiscal cliff.”
Federal infrastructure funds gave firefighters a temporary pay raise in 2021 of $20,000 a year or 50%.
But that funding is set to dry up Oct. 1 unless a permanent pay raise is approved by Congress.
Officials fear the cuts could cause mass resignations and deepen recruitment and retention challenges in the 19,000-person workforce.
Low pay and longer working hours during increasingly extreme fire seasons has strained firefighter ranks and caused many to find work elsewhere.