At the end of the week, federal wildland firefighters could take steep, across-the-board pay cuts without action from Congress. Advocates and officials fear it could trigger mass resignations within the workforce.
The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act included temporary pay raises for federal firefighters. But at the end of this month those funds expire, forcing pay cuts of $20,000 or 50% of the salary for the 19,000 firefighters in the departments of Agriculture and Interior.
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has sponsored a bill to make the raises permanent and wants it included it in the next congressional budget.
"As we’re heading into the end of fire season it’s incredibly important that these wildland firefighters stay on the job to do the mitigation and prevention work that helps us prepare for next fire season," says Sinema.
U.S. Forest Service officials estimate that between a third and half of wildland firefighters could resign if the cuts go into effect.
Advocates like the group Grassroots Wildland Firefighterscall it the “firefighter fiscal cliff” and say the cuts would be catastrophic for the workforce and the country’s deepening wildfire crisis.
A possible federal government shutdown could complicate efforts to avoid the pay cuts.
It comes as firefighting nationwide faces recruitment and retention challenges due to low pay and the physical and mental toll of more extreme and longer fire seasons.
