The BulleTin • SaTurday, June 26, 2021 A3
TODAY
LOCAL, STATE & REGION
Firefighters could get pay
hike, switch to year-round
BY KEITH RIDLER AND
MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho— U.S. wild-
fire managers are consider-
ing shifting from seasonal to
full-time firefighting crews to
deal with what has become
a year-round wildfire season
and making the jobs more at-
tractive by increasing pay and
benefits.
There’s a push in Congress
to increase firefighter pay and
convert at least 1,000 seasonal
wildland firefighters to per-
manent, full-time, year-round
workers, furthering a shift in
their ranks over the past de-
cade as fires have grown more
severe.
It comes as fires raging in
Western states parched by se-
vere drought 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 tes-
tified Thursday before the U.S.
Senate Committee on Energy
and Natural Resources that
firefighters need to be paid
more in recognition of the
growing workload.
The year-round firefighters
could also remove brush and
other hazardous fuels when
not battling wildfires. French
said the Forest Service treats
3 million acres annually, but
to make progress would need
to treat two to four times that
much in the 193 million acres
it manages.
Jae C. Hong/AP file
Firefighter Raymond Vasquez on Oct. 26 battles the Silverado Fire, in Irvine, California.
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 an in-
frastructure bill sponsored by
West Virginia Democratic Sen.
Joe Manchin. “We must ad-
dress it at the scale of the prob-
lem, and bring long term relief
to our firefighters, our com-
munities and our forests.”
The challenge has grown in
recent decades as more homes
are built where urban and
wildland areas meet, forcing
wildland firefighters to protect
the structures.
President Joe Biden recently
called for an increase in fire-
fighter pay from $13 an hour.
“That’s a ridiculously low
salary to pay federal firefight-
ers,” he said.
Firefighters can often boost
pay by working overtime, a
regular occurrence in bad fire
years.
Still, officials at the National
Interagency Fire Center in
Boise said they face a poten-
tial shortage of firefighters this
year because the $13 starting
wage isn’t enough.
“There’s not technically a
shortage of firefighters be-
cause we always overprepare,”
said Jessica Gardetto, a fire
center spokeswoman with the
U.S. Bureau of Land Manage-
ment and a former wildland
firefighter. “But it’s a concern
right now. We’re seeing people
taking jobs at local businesses
that pay the same or more than
starting fire positions.”
She also said the length of
time firefighters spend in the
field has been increasing. That
can be a problem for seasonal
firefighters who are college stu-
dents and need to get back to
class.
“In the past we had fire sea-
sons; now we have fire years,”
she said.
Officials at the center on
Tuesday raised the national
preparedness level to 4 on a
1-5 scale, the second earliest
dating back to 1990. The pri-
mary reason is the drought will
likely make it harder to put out
fires and strain firefighting re-
sources.
As of Friday, the National
Interagency Fire Center said
almost 9,000 firefighters are
battling fires across the U.S.,
including 43 large fires.
About 80% of wildfires an-
nually are started by people,
often while enjoying outdoor
activities or using fireworks.
It’s Saturday, June 26, the 177th
day of 2021. There are 188 days
left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
In 2013, in deciding its first cases
on the issue, the U.S. Supreme
Court gave the nation’s legally
married gay couples equal federal
footing with all other married
Americans and also cleared the
way for same-sex marriages to
resume in California.
In 1483, Richard III began his
reign as King of England (he was
crowned the following month at
Westminster Abbey).
In 1917, the first troops of the
American Expeditionary Force
deployed to France during World
War I landed in St. Nazaire.
In 1919, the New York Daily News
was first published.
In 1945, the charter of the United
Nations was signed by 50 coun-
tries in San Francisco.
In 1948, the Berlin Airlift began in
earnest after the Soviet Union cut
off land and water routes to the
isolated western sector of Berlin.
In 1968, President Lyndon B.
Johnson announced his choice of
Abe Fortas to succeed the retiring
Earl Warren as chief justice of the
United States. (However, Fortas
later withdrew in the face of stiff
Senate opposition).
In 1977, 42 people were killed
when a fire sent toxic smoke pour-
ing through the Maury County
Jail in Columbia, Tennessee. Elvis
Presley performed his last concert
at Market Square Arena in India-
napolis.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton
announced the U.S. had launched
missiles against Iraqi targets be-
cause of “compelling evidence”
Iraq had plotted to assassinate for-
mer President George H.W. Bush.
In 1996, the Supreme Court
ordered the Virginia Military In-
stitute to admit women or forgo
state support.
In 1997, the first Harry Potter nov-
el, “Harry Potter and the Philoso-
pher’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling, was
published in the United Kingdom;
it was later released in the United
States under the title “Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court
struck down a handgun ban in the
District of Columbia as it affirmed,
5-4, that an individual right to gun
ownership existed.
Ten years ago: New York City’s
gay pride parade turned into
a carnival-like celebration of
same-sex marriage as hundreds
of thousands of revelers rejoiced
at the state’s new law giving gay
couples the same marital rights as
everyone else.
Five years ago: Fourteen people
suffered stab wounds, cuts and
bruises when fighting erupted
outside the California state Capitol
in Sacramento between more
than 300 counterprotesters and
about 30 members of the Tradi-
tionalist Worker Party, a white
nationalist group. Fireworks ex-
ploded as a huge Chinese-owned
container ship made the inaugural
passage through the newly ex-
panded Panama Canal.
One year ago: After protesters
in Washington, D.C., attempted
to pull down a statue of Andrew
Jackson, President Donald Trump
signed an executive order to
protect monuments, memorials
and statues. Seattle Mayor Jenny
Durkan met with demonstrators
who had thwarted the city’s
effort to dismantle an “occupied”
protest zone. (The zone would be
dismantled five days later.) Texas
and Florida reversed course and
clamped down on bars as the dai-
ly number of confirmed coronavi-
rus infections in the U.S. surged to
an all-time high of 40,000.
Today’s Birthdays: Jazz musi-
cian-film composer Dave Grusin
is 87. Rock singer Georgie Fame
is 78. Actor Clive Francis is 75.
R&B singer Brenda Holloway is
75. Actor Michael Paul Chan is 71.
Singer-musician Mick Jones is 66.
Actor Gedde Watanabe is 66. Rock
singer Chris Isaak is 65. Rock singer
Patty Smyth is 64. Singer Terri
Nunn (Berlin) is 62. U.S. Bicycling
Hall of Famer Greg LeMond is 60.
Rock singer Harriet Wheeler is 58.
Rock musician Colin Greenwood
(Radiohead) is 52. Writer-director
Paul Thomas Anderson is 51. Ac-
tor Sean Hayes is 51. Actor Matt
Letscher is 51. Actor Chris O’Don-
nell is 51. Actor Nick Offerman
is 51. Actor Rebecca Budig is 48.
Retired MLB All-Star Derek Jeter is
47. Country singer Gretchen Wil-
son is 47. Rock musician Nathan
Followill (Kings of Leon) is 42. Ac-
tor-musician Jason Schwartzman
is 41. Actor Aubrey Plaza is 37. Ac-
tor-singer Jennette McCurdy is 29.
Actor-singer Ariana Grande is 28.
— Associated Press
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Pronghorn Resort is growing and we are hiring! Apply online at
PronghornResort.com/careers or contact our Recruiter for more
information at 541.693.5394 or molly.michel@pronghornresort.com.
Join our team and learn hospitality skills that will last a lifetime!
Save the date!
This Sunday from 1 to 3pm, Pronghorn Resort is holding a
Food & Beverage Front of House hiring event.
Whether you are interested in servers, bartenders, bussers,
hosts, food runners, baristas, banquet set up, or banquet
servers there’s a position for you!
$15 to $21 per hour with summer stipend plus tips and
incentive bonuses! Pronghorn Resort will be holding on the
spot interviews at this hiring fair.
Find more information and apply online at
www.PronghornResort.com/careers.
This Sunday 1 to 3pm, become a part of the team at
Pronghorn Resort.
65600 Pronghorn Club Dr., Bend, OR 97701