TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A7
THE WEST
U.S. seeks to bolster firefighter Heat wave
obliterates
ranks as wildfires increase
■ Proposals in Congress to make at least 1,000 seasonal firefighters year-round
By Keith Ridler and
Matthew Brown
Associated Press
BOISE — U.S. wildfi re
managers are considering
shifting to more full-time
fi refi ghting crews to deal
with what has become a
year-round wildfi re season
and making the jobs more
attractive by increasing pay
and benefi ts.
There’s a push in Congress
to increase fi refi ghter pay
and convert at least 1,000
seasonal wildland fi refi ghters
to year-round workers, fur-
thering a shift in their ranks
over the past decade as fi res
have grown more severe.
It comes as fi res raging in
Western states parched by se-
vere drought and record heat
have burned more than 2,000
square miles this year.
That’s ahead of the pace in
2020, which ultimately saw
a near-record 15,000 square
miles burned as well as more
than 17,000 homes and other
structures destroyed.
U.S. Forest Service Deputy
Chief Christopher French
testifi ed Thursday, June 24
before the U.S. Senate Com-
mittee on Energy and Natu-
ral Resources that fi refi ghters
need more pay in recognition
of the growing workload.
The year-round fi refi ghters
could also remove brush and
other hazardous fuels when
not battling wildfi res. French
said the Forest Service treats
3 million acres (4,700 square
miles) annually, but to make
progress would need to treat
two to four times that much
in the 193 million acres
(301,500 square miles) it
manages.
He called for a “paradigm
shift” in forest management
to address the impacts of
climate change.
“We have a crisis,” French
said while testifying on a
infrastructure bill sponsored
by West Virginia Democratic
Sen. Joe Manchin. “We must
address it at the scale of the
problem, and bring long-term
relief to our fi refi ghters, our
communities and our forests.”
The challenge has in-
creased in recent decades
as more homes were built
outside cities and towns, forc-
ing wildland fi refi ghters to
protect the structures.
President Joe Biden this
week called for an increase in
fi refi ghter pay from $13 an
hour.
“That’s a ridiculously low
salary to pay federal fi refi ght-
ers,” he said.
Firefi ghters can often boost
pay by working overtime, a
regular occurrence on bad fi re
years.
The Forest Service and
Department of Interior com-
bined employ about 15,000
fi refi ghters. Roughly 70%
are full-time and 30% are
Eric Paul Zamora/Fresno Bee-TNS
Calfi re fi refi ghters proceed up a cleared hill after burning downed dead trees and
brush along Sugarloaf Road on Feb. 10, 2021, near Meadow Lakes, California.
hundreds of requests for help
went unfulfi lled as agencies
scrambled to get enough
fi refi ghters, aircraft, engines
and
support personnel.
— Christopher French, deputy chief, U.S. Forest Service
Firefi ghters from across
the U.S. and other countries
seasonal. Those fi gures used the fi eld has been increasing. including Canada and Israel
to be reversed, said Forest
That can be a problem for
were summoned to help fi ll
Service spokesman Stanton
seasonal fi refi ghters who are the personnel shortage.
Florea.
college students and need to
Idaho offi cials have
Increased pay and more
get back to class.
struggled to retain state
full-time fi refi ghters were
“In the past we had fi re
wildland fi refi ghters who
included in infrastructure
seasons, now we have fi re
are sometimes poached by
legislation sponsored by Man- years,” she said.
federal agencies after gaining
chin, the chair of the energy
Offi cials at the center on
on-the-ground experience.
and natural resources com-
Tuesday raised the national Starting pay for an Idaho
mittee and a key swing vote preparedness level to 4 on a wildland fi refi ghter is $12.55
in the evenly divided Senate. 1-5 scale, the second earliest an hour.
He was among a bipartisan
dating back to 1990. The pri-
As of Friday, June 25 the
group of 10 lawmakers who mary reason is the drought
National Interagency Fire
announced a deal Thursday will likely make it harder
Center said almost 9,000 fi re-
with Biden on a pared-down to put out fi res and strain
fi ghters were battling wild
version of the administra-
fi refi ghting resources.
fi res across the U.S. About
tion’s plan.
“We don’t know what kind 80% of wildfi res annually are
Montana Democratic Sen. of support we’re going to be
started by people, often while
Jon Tester, also in the group, able to get from other agen-
enjoying outdoor activities or
said the package would
cies,” said Sharla Arledge,
using fi reworks.
contain money for address-
spokeswoman for the Idaho
ing wildfi res but was unclear Department of Lands, which
whether raises were includ- is responsible for protecting
ed. If not, Tester said raises
state and some federal land.
would be addressed in next
“It’s a tinderbox out there.”
year’s federal budget.
More than 90% of the U.S.
“This is dangerous work,
West is in drought. Fore-
folks need to be paid for it.
casters expect the drought
We’re going to need to hire
will persist at least through
people to do this work,” he
September across most of the
said.
region.
Still, offi cials at the
The nation’s wildland fi re-
National Interagency Fire
fi ghting system is a network
Center in Boise said they
of local, state and federal
face a potential shortage of
agencies, and in Idaho in-
fi refi ghters this year because cludes a unique program
the $13 starting wage isn’t
where ranchers are trained
enough.
and given equipment to keep
“There’s not technically
wildfi res small until help
a shortage of fi refi ghters
arrives. The vast majority of
because we always overpre- wildfi res are put out within
pare,” said Jessica Gardetto, days, but some grow to
a fi re center spokeswoman
thousands of acres and draw
with the U.S. Bureau of Land hundreds fi refi ghters.
Management and a former
Major blazes that raged in
wildland fi refi ghter. “But it’s Oregon, California, Washing-
a concern right now. We’re
ton and other states in 2020
seeing people taking jobs at revealed how stretched thin
local businesses that pay the the ranks of fi refi ghters have
same or more than starting become. By September, with
fi re positions.”
more than 30,000 fi refi ght-
She also said the length
ers deployed, there were
of time fi refi ghters spend in so many fi res burning that
“We have a crisis. We must address it at the scale of the
problem, and bring long-term relief to our fi refi ghters,
our communities and our forests.”
Oregon records
PORTLAND (AP) — Intense. Prolonged. Record-
breaking. Unprecedented. Abnormal. Dangerous.
That’s how the National Weather Service described
the historic heat wave hitting the Pacifi c Northwest,
pushing daytime temperatures into the triple digits,
disrupting Olympic qualifying events and breaking all-
time high temperature records in places unaccustomed
to such extreme heat.
Portland reached 112 degrees Sunday, June 27,
breaking the all-time
temperature record of
108, which was set just
Sizzling State
a day earlier.
Oregon’s three biggest
In Eugene, the U.S.
cities each set an all-
track and fi eld trials
time high temperature
were halted Sunday
record on Sunday, June
afternoon and fans
27.
were asked to evacu-
ate the stadium due
PORTLAND
to extreme heat. The
Sunday high: 112
National Weather Ser-
Previous record, 108 (set
vice said it hit 110 in
the day before; prior
Eugene, breaking the
to this heat wave, the
all-time record of 108.
all-time record was 107,
Oregon’s capital city,
set in 1965 and matched
Salem, also recorded
in 1981)
the highest tempera-
ture in its history on
SALEM
Sunday: 113, breaking
Monday high: 115
the old mark by fi ve
Previous record, 113 (set
degrees.
the day before; prior
But that record,
to this heat wave, the
much like Portland’s,
all-time record was 108,
was short-lived. On
set in 1941 and matched
Monday, June 28,
in 1981
Salem soared to 115
degrees.
EUGENE
The temperature
Sunday high: 111
hit 104 in Seattle. The
Previous record, 108, set
NWS said that was
in 1981
an all-time record for
the city better known
for rain than heat and
was the fi rst time the area recorded two consecutive
triple digit days since records began being kept in 1894.
Records were being broken across the region, and the
sizzling temperatures were expected to get even hotter
Monday before beginning to cool Tuesday.
There were also some power outages. Portland Gen-
eral Electric said about 3,000 customers were without
electricity in the greater Portland area Sunday after-
noon. Puget Sound Energy reported 3,400 customers
down in the greater Seattle area.
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