Federal wildland firefighters are bracing to lose their $20,000 retention bonuses if Congress does not act to prevent a government shutdown that would affect millions of workers before the Christmas holiday.
The firefighters have fought for years to establish a permanent pay fix for a job in which some earn as little as $15 an hour for dangerous, backbreaking work.
“It’s like crying wolf over and over again,” said Bobbi Scopa, with Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, an advocacy organization.
Follow along for live coverage
Their battle for higher pay is at risk as congressional leaders scramble to find a path forward before 12:01 a.m. Saturday when the government will shut down if a stopgap funding agreement is not reached.
Some 11,200 federal firefighters received a salary boost in 2021 of either $20,000 or 50% of their base pay under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Congress failed to make the pay increases permanent and instead extended the bonuses via seven continuing resolutions in the years since.
If Congress fails to pass another resolution this week, federal firefighters will not receive their bonuses.
“We will lose everybody,” said Steve Gutierrez, a member of an elite hotshot crew who left the U.S. Forest Service after 15 years to advocate on behalf of firefighters with the National Federation of Federal Employees. “These folks deserve a living wage. The future is going to be a tough road ahead.”
If Congress reaches a deal before the deadline, the boosted salary rates would be safe through mid-March.
The U.S. Forest Service did not respond to a request for comment.
With the administration of President-elect Donald Trump scheduled to take over in a month, firefighters and union leaders say their chance to reform the pay scale is slipping away.
During his first term, Trump clashed with Western state governors after catastrophic wildfires consumed millions of acres of public land, and he blamed the forest service for mismanagement. In 2018, he suggested California should do a better job of “raking” its leaves.
His new administration is already pushing for less government spending even as climate change stretches the fire season further into the year and makes fires deadlier.
In a recent op-ed published on Fox News, incoming Montana Senator-elect Tim Sheehy, a Republican who was the CEO of an aerial firefighting company, argued for “utilizing private resources, which are usually the quickest, most effective response option if we want to limit the size and scope of wildfire damage.
“The private sector always has and always will produce new innovations and better results faster and cheaper than the government,” he wrote. “The same holds true in wildfire response. We must embrace this truth.”
But even municipal firefighters say they depend on federal resources, especially in communities near national forests.
Federal firefighters undergo rigorous training that is a step above what private, state and local crews teach. Their expertise on the front lines makes them invaluable in the field and the most sought-after hires by civilian departments.
“Those are the best employees you can get. You know that they’re hungry. They’re amazing,” said Brian Fennessy, fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority in California and a former hotshot. “It’s sad to watch a once proud agency coming apart like this.”
Firefighters and their advocates have been trapped in a cat-and-mouse game with congressional leaders for decades. Many hoped a permanent solution would be achieved under President Joe Biden, but lawmakers repeatedly punted legislation.
Union leaders were momentarily hopeful when Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson, a Republican and chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, included a permanent pay fix in the House appropriations bill earlier this year.
In an August op-ed he co-wrote with Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., Simpson decried the current pay structures as inadequate and argued for including a solution in the 2025 fiscal year budget.
“As wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense, the brave men and women on the front lines of these catastrophic blazes are increasingly hailed as heroes,” the op-ed read. “Yet, federal wildland firefighters are frequently subjected to inconsistent compensation despite their essential role in protecting lives, communities, and wildlife. It is well past time to acknowledge their crucial contributions by bringing much needed certainty to pay.”
The House proposal directed $330 million for a pay increase to replace the expiring salary increase and would have included a permanent pay fix, which has since been nixed amid spending disagreements.
Instead, the best firefighters can hope for now is maintaining their current pay through the spring.
“They’re gone for months and they’re making poor wages and in dangerous situations and we’re screwing with these people,” Scopa said. “It’s just unacceptable.”
Frustrated by ongoing problems, federal firefighters have continued to leave the U.S. Forest Service for higher wages at state and local departments. This summer, dozens of federal fire engines remained unstaffed amid another wave of firefighter exoduses.
Advocates for firefighters have repeatedly warned that attrition rates could leave the agency, which protects millions of acres of public land across the country, bereft of its most experienced and skilled workers.
“It’s already pretty bleak,” Gutierrez said.