BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 2022 A5
LOCAL & STATE
Some federal firefighters still await pay raise
BY JOE DAVIDSON
The Washington Post
Federal firefighters still ha-
ven’t received a pay boost ap-
proved last year.
It’s not known which em-
ployees will get the money
once it is implemented. In
some high-risk areas, the U.S.
Forest Service has only half the
staff it needs.
Meanwhile, the number
of acres burned as of June 1
was 112% higher than the 10-
year average, according to the
government’s wildland fire
outlook. Drought, heat and
wind are creating additional
fire hazards.
Yet the nation risks losing
wildland firefighters because
a pay hike, signed into law by
President Joe Biden in Novem-
ber as part of his massive in-
frastructure act, has not been
delivered. Under the law, that
boost would only apply to fire-
fighters in “a specified geo-
graphic area in which it is diffi-
cult to “recruit or retain” them.
It provides for increasing an-
nual pay by $20,000 or 50% of
base pay, whichever is less.
Officials say they are still
studying recruitment and re-
tention data to decide where
to deliver the raises — but fire-
fighters say those challenges
apply everywhere, and so
should the pay boosts.
“All federal wildland fire
agencies are experiencing
some hiring, recruitment and
retention challenges in loca-
tions where state and private
firefighter wages are out-com-
peting federal firefighter
wages, housing costs are not
affordable, and positions are
in remote locations, especially
with our temporary (seasonal)
Dean Guernsey/The Bulletin, File
Firefighter Rick Ontiveroz takes a minute to breathe while battling the Grandview Fire near Sisters in 2021.
Some federal firefighters are still waiting for pay raises promised last year by President Biden.
firefighters,” the Forest Service
said in a statement. “Maintain-
ing our ability to hire and re-
tain firefighters as we see the
complexity of the firefighting
environment grow exponen-
tially is a challenge that we take
seriously.”
In testimony to a Senate Ap-
propriations Interior subcom-
mittee hearing last month, For-
est Service Chief Randy Moore
said his agency’s staffing levels
are at 90% overall. But “it’s as
low as 50% in some areas,” he
added, citing Oregon, Washing-
ton state and California.
“Fifty percent sounds a little
scary,” replied the subcommit-
tee’s chairman, Sen. Jeff Merk-
ley, D-Ore., whose home state is
in deficient territory.
Recruitment and retention,
along with pay, are scary chal-
lenges not just for the Forest
Service and the Interior Depart-
ment’s firefighting components,
but also for the individuals who
risk their lives beating flames.
“Congress appropriated this
money months ago, and yet,
federal wildland firefighters
have still not seen a dime of it,”
National Federation of Federal
Employees President Randy
Erwin complained in a letter
Wednesday to top Biden ad-
ministration officials. “Congress
intended this money to move
quickly into the hands of wild-
land firefighters, a very large
percentage of whom experience
significant difficulty making
ends meet on their current sal-
aries.”
Aana Kulaas and her hus-
band, Chad Bresnahan, are For-
est Service firefighters in Wash-
ington state. Although she has
a bachelor’s degree in natural
resource science and 23 years of
Proposals
The main work day is Sat-
urday, June 18. Sizer said
maintenance will include
cutting small trees out of the
trail, trimming back bushes
and clearing rocks.
“The point is to get folks
out and have a good time,”
Sizer said. “We can find some-
thing for anyone to do.”
And it’s OK to enjoy the
view.
“Take breaks, enjoy the
scenery, have fun doing trail
work,” he said.
Sunday, June 19, includes
breakfast, cleaning up camp,
and an after-party.
For more information, or to
register, go to www.gowildusa.
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He said AMR’s ambulance
has been the first on-call
ambulance to maximize the
number of runs the com-
pany responds to, making it
easier for it to reimburse the
county for part of the cost.
Yencopal said the county’s
attorney, Kim Mosier, ad-
vised county officials not to
publicly release the propos-
als from Metro West Ambu-
lance and Victory EMS until
the commissioners approve
a notice to award a contract
to one of the companies.
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mission Chairman Bill Har-
vey said on June 1.
Yencopal said the coun-
ty’s initial timeline called for
commissioners to approve a
notice of intention to award
a contract for ambulance ser-
vices by June 29.
But he said the county
might try to accelerate that
schedule, in part because
staffing shortages in the city
fire department — the de-
partment has three openings
for firefighter/paramedics —
prompted commissioners on
May 24 to declare an emer-
gency.
The county hired Amer-
ican Medical Response
(AMR) to have an ambu-
lance available in Baker City
and Baker County from
May 27 to June 6. Yenco-
pal said the county has ex-
tended that contract to June
10, and it possibly could be
extended again.
AMR has brought two
ambulances to Baker City,
but only one is staffed,
Yencopal said.
Both ambulances are
parked at Second Street and
Valley Avenue. The second
ambulance is a backup in
case the other ambulance
has a mechanical issue.
The county is paying
AMR $3,700 per day.
Yencopal said the com-
pany will reimburse the
county up to $500 per am-
bulance run.
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base pay is $19.68 hourly, not
including overtime and haz-
ard pay. The main thing that
keeps him on the job is his time
off the job. Firefighting is sea-
sonal work, giving Franta four
months free. “If I had to do
this job year-round,” he said, “I
never would have stayed in it
past a couple, few years.”
Biden pledged a short-term
firefighter pay increase last year
and “more than 11,300 fire-
fighters received an additional
$24.3 million in pay in 2021,”
according to the Forest Service.
Officials “are working diligently
with the Office of Personnel
Management on the increased
payments for our employees,”
the agency said. “Our goal is
to have these payments into
paychecks by this summer.”
A statement from the Bureau
of Land Management said the
“pay increases require a more
detailed analysis of recruitment
and retention to fulfill the goals
of the legislation.”
No lengthy study is needed,
argues Erwin, the union pres-
ident.
“In truth, there should be no
complex analysis to do. Every
geographical area in the coun-
try has a proven recruitment
and retention problem,” he
wrote to Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack, Interior Secretary
Deb Haaland and Office of Per-
sonnel Management Director
Kiran Ahuja.
“Our wildland firefighters
need pay raises to take effect
immediately. Every single fed-
eral wildland firefighter is sub-
stantially underpaid regardless
of their location,” Erwin’s letter
pleaded.
“The time for you to act is
now.”
BACKED BY A YEAR-ROUND
N
Trail work
The trail work will be facili-
tated by members of the Wal-
lowa Mountain Hells Can-
yon Trail Association, which
started in 2017.
“Our mission is to help the
Forest Service maintain the
trails,” said Mike Hansen, ex-
ecutive director.
2
Continued from Page A1
The association works
with the Forest Service to
identify “deferred mainte-
nance trails.”
“Those are the ones they
haven’t gotten to in three
years or more,” Hansen said.
So far, he said the group
has worked on about eight
projects since March in the
Hells Canyon area.
The Go Wild excursion
will continue work they’ve
already started.
“Any help his group can
give us is really welcome,”
Hansen said.
He said the association
has members from Wallowa,
Union and Baker counties.
Membership is $20 per per-
son, $30 per family, or $10
for students.
Some projects take just a
day, and may include a yearly
check on a familiar trail.
“Some members have a
favorite trail they do every
year,” he said.
Multiple days are required
to access the backcountry.
“It takes a day of hiking for
some of them,” Hansen said.
To learn more about the
association, visit the website
at www.wmhcta.org.
RD
Trail
TH
Wallowa Mountain Hells Canyon Trails Association/Contributed photo
Go Wild: American Adventures is combining their catered camping
trips with trail work on June 17-19 in a partnership with the Wallowa
Mountain Hells Canyon Trails Association.
The difference over the
past several years has aver-
Continued from Page A1
aged around $700,000.
Members of the union
Guyer’s motion to not re-
that represents the city’s fire-
spond to the county’s request fighter/paramedics, however,
for proposals.
dispute Cannon’s claims.
Mayor Kerry McQuisten
They contend the city can af-
and Councilor Shane Alder-
ford to continue ambulance
son voted no. Councilor Jason service for at least the fiscal
Spriet was absent May 24.
year that starts July 1.
Guyer said during the
Both county commission-
meeting that “the city still
ers and city councilors have
has the possibility of stepping discussed the possibility of
back into” the ambulance
asking voters in May 2023,
service issue depending on
both inside the city and else-
what county commissioners where in the county, to ap-
decide after reviewing any
prove a tax levy or create a
proposals they receive.
new ambulance or ambu-
But Commissioner Bruce
lance/fire district that would
Nichols said on Monday,
serve as a new, long-term
June 6 that, with the county
source of revenue for ambu-
having received two propos- lance service.
als, he is skeptical that the
If Baker City does stop op-
city can reinsert itself into
erating ambulances, it would
the discussion.
lose about $1 million in an-
“I think they’ve burned
nual revenue. Ambulance
their bridge,” Nichols said.
runs also account for 80% to
“I think we’ve gone too far
85% of service calls for the
down the path. To me they
city fire department.
made it clear they’re not in-
The proposed city bud-
terested” in continuing to
get for the new fiscal year
operate ambulances.
— which the City Council
Nichols said the county
has to adopt by June 30 —
is not legally obligated to
includes reducing the fire
choose either of the two pro- department staffing from
posals it received, however.
the current 16.25 full-time
Under Oregon law, the
equivalents to 10.5.
county is responsible for en-
County to evaluate proposals
suring ambulance service
Baker County commis-
throughout the county.
sioners, during their June 1
Commissioners sent out
meeting, appointed mem-
the request for propos-
bers to a committee that will
als after the City Council,
evaluate the two ambulance
on March 22, notified the
county that the city intended proposals.
Committee members are
to discontinue ambulance
Tony Alexander, Wayne
service Sept. 30, 2022.
Endersby, Peter Johnson,
City Manager Jonathan
Debra Duggan, Pat Sulli-
Cannon has told councilors
van, David Richards, Loran
several times that he doesn’t
believe the city can afford to Joseph, Jeanne Peacock and
Randy Daugherty.
continue operating ambu-
“The task before them is
lances because the difference
to evaluate whether or not
between the cost to do so,
and the amount the city col- all of the bids are as we re-
quested, how well they fill
lects from ambulance bills,
the requirements,” Com-
will continue to grow.
experience, Kulaas, speaking as
a union official, said she earned
$23,023.52 last year. She had no
overtime pay because she had
to care for three children.
Her husband did earn over-
time pay. Without it, “we would
not be able to afford our mort-
gage or my medical bills,” she
added. “Our financial well-be-
ing is directly tied to how severe
the fire season is. The busier
the season, the more money he
makes . . . While the overtime
keeps us afloat, the downside is
all the family time and mental
and physical health that must
be sacrificed.”
To make matters worse, “we
work in an unsupportive envi-
ronment, so there is no rest and
recovery even during the brief
offseason,” Kulaas, 42, added.
“There’s just this constant cycle
of being chewed up and spit out
and the expectation to perform
at a high level.”
Eric Franta, 45, has fought
fires or worked to prevent them
in 16 states from Alaska to Flor-
ida. The 15-year Forest Service
veteran, speaking as a union
steward, said he has a “very
badly herniated disk” and a
burn scar on his back to show
for his efforts.
What he doesn’t have is a de-
sire to recommend his job to
others.
“In the last couple years, I
have begun dissuading folks
from pursuing this as anything
other than a short-term pursuit
of a ‘life experience’ if they de-
sire any semblance of a ‘normal’
life,’” he said by email. What
firefighters must do “to make
the money juice worth the
squeeze, is beyond most folk’s
tolerance.”
Franta, of La Grande, said his
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