OREGON
Thursday, June 23, 2022
The OBserVer — A7
Wildland firefighters get hefty pay raise for next 2 years
More than 16,000
federal firefighters
affected by increase
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON —
President Joe Biden has
signed off on giving federal
wildland firefighters a hefty
raise for the next two fiscal
years, a move that affects
more than 16,000 fire-
fighters and comes as much
of the West braces for a dif-
ficult wildfire season.
Pay raises for the fed-
eral firefighters had been
included in last year’s $1
trillion infrastructure bill,
but they had been held up
as Biden administration
officials studied recruitment
and retention data to decide
where to deliver them.
The White House said
the move announced
Tuesday, June 21, is
intended to set “federal
agencies on a path to con-
tinue working with stake-
holders towards an updated,
competitive, and equitable
pay structure, along with
a support system that will
address the many chal-
lenges that have plagued
our wildland firefighter
workforce for decades.”
The legislation stipu-
lated that the $600 million
in the infrastructure bill
to increase pay for wild-
land firefighters should go
to all those firefighters pro-
vided that they are “located
within a specified geo-
graphic area in which it
is difficult to recruit or
retain a federal wildland
firefighter.”
The Biden adminis-
tration in the end decided
on a raise for all the fed-
eral wildland firefighters
over the next two years,
according to a senior
administration official who
spoke on the condition of
anonymity ahead of the
formal announcement. The
official said the infrastruc-
ture bill offered enough
money to provide across-
the-board raises but the
administration was looking
to work with Congress to
provide a long-term fix on
the firefighters’ pay.
“I will do everything
in my power, including
working with Congress to
secure long-term funding,
to make sure these heroes
keep earning the paychecks
— and dignity — they
deserve,” Biden said in a
statement.
The infrastructure law
also authorized agencies to
increase the base salary of
federal wildland firefighters
by $20,000 per year or 50%
of their current base salary,
whichever is lower, through
2023. The firefighters will
receive back pay for the
raises, dating to October
2021.
The National Federation
of Federal Employees union
had been urging the Biden
administration to inter-
pret the statute as broadly
as possible, as firefighters
across the country were
struggling to make ends
meet.
Forest Service Chief
Randy Moore told a Senate
subcommittee last month
that his agency’s staffing
levels are at 90% overall
but as low as 50% percent
in some areas, including
Oregon, Washington state
and California.
The issue of recruitment,
retention and low pay for
wildland firefighters had
been on Biden’s radar since
early in his administration.
Last June, before the
infrastructure bill was
passed, the Democratic
president signed an exec-
utive order temporarily
raising pay for federal fire-
fighters to ensure that no
one was making less than
$15 per hour.
Biden said he had been
dismayed after learning
that the starting pay for fed-
eral firefighters was sig-
nificantly lower than that
at many local and state fire
agencies. Pay for new fed-
eral firefighters had typi-
cally started at $11 per hour
to $14 per hour, and they
were overtime-eligible.
steven Mitchell/Blue Mountain Eagle, File
Wildland firefighter rappel crews participate in Forest Service
recertification training at the Grant County Regional Airport on
Thursday, May 5, 2022, in John Day.
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