There have been articles published in recent months describing the working conditions, miserable pay, and dangers to the mental and physical heath of federal wildland firefighters. Some of the attention is due to the efforts of the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters who have been reaching out to politicians and the media.
The fact that hundreds of federal firefighter positions are vacant across the nation is a product of the inability to compete in the job market with public and private organizations that actually pay their employees a living wage without requiring them to be away from home for up to 120 days each year. It is a complex subject that few understand and is difficult to summarize quickly.
The best article I have read that describes the plight of federal firefighters was published this week in Grist by Zora Thomas. I implore you to read it and pass it along to someone who NEEDS to understand. It also has excellent photos taken by Ms. Thomas and other firefighters.
Below is an excerpt — how the article ends.
…The day after the blowout on the Bear Fire, one of our leads was hit by the top of a tree. He was on his own, down in a steep drainage, orchestrating a handful of helicopters to cool down a leading edge of the fire and give the rest of us time to prepare a road to burn off. He didn’t see the dead top of the tree, or hear it fall. He’s lucky to be alive.
The piece that hit him was large enough to be fatal, but decomposed enough to break on impact. It smashed him down the steep hill he was working on, filling pockets on his pack with rot and woodchips. He’s been in wildland fire for most of his adult life and has had plenty of close calls, but this one was enough to make him call his mom, just to say hi.
On our way back to camp that evening, after he hiked out of the ravine and rejoined the crew, he mentioned the incident so casually that it took me a moment to register what he was saying. Tree strikes are killers, the stuff of nightmares, and he spoke with the blasé manner of someone describing how he’d been cut off in traffic.
As he told the story, we laughed and joked, glad he was OK. But the exchange left me sobered and bewildered. After a decade of experience, the accumulation of innumerable specialized skills, and the consistent risk of his life and his health, he still only merits the title of “forestry technician,” and an hourly pay rate comparable to a senior barista at my local Starbucks. There’s a damaging disconnect between the lionized figure of the firefighter and the reality of the men and women who fight more fire than anyone.
The sub-headline is a quote from Ms. Thomas’ article.
Thank you Chief Gabbert for the many articles you have presented concerning Federal Firefighter wages and condition. I support better wages and benefits,but I find, among other issues, the constant comparisons to the federal firefighters and state and municipal fire depts, such as CalFire. The article is very well written, but it states that CalFire and PG&E are “ perhaps the closest analogues to the feds in terms of day-to-day work”. I have to respectfully disagree with this example in this article and others that have been presented. I agree that wildland fire has its challenges, but does not compare to the responsibilities of a state of local govt dept. They respond to vehicle accidents, structure fires, medical aids, fatality accidents , haz mat incidents and wildland fire. I could go on and on. That type of commitment deserves the commensurate pay and benefits.
That is not the mission (unless this has changed since I retired in 2003) of the federal wildland fire agencies. I find it hard to justify salaries equal to theirs just because they do. There has to be another standard that can be a reasonable compromise, such as portal to portal.
Some useless trivia: I stared on the Angeles NF in 1969 as a GS-2 at $2.10 an hour. I was hired as a Fire Control Aide. After I got my GS-4 two years later I was a Fire Control Technician. The District Fire Chief was the Fire Control Officer. No overtime, all straight time after the first 8 hours. Sometime in the early 1970s, that all got changed to Forestry Technicians. Didn’t give it much though then, but it was accepted that we were wildland firefighters at the time.
To Tall Tree, The FS says we are part of a family. 1) You don’t treat family this way. 2) I didn’t feel the bond until after I was fired. Actually, it was after the Women’s Working Group Meeting with Vicki Christainsen, when I realized how many other men and women were victimized. 3) I’m glad you experienced great brotherhood and sisterhood, but what is that worth when you can’t pay your mortgage? You can’t pay for childcare? You can’t pay for the doctor’s bill’s? How fair is it that a man and a woman do the same job, but a woman makes half? Why should women have to worry if they are going to get roofied at a meeting, training or a fire? Why should a woman have to worry if she is going to be attacked at work during a pack test or at a a hotel? All I’m saying is, it’s not worth it. This is a bandaid fix to a much larger problem. The NPS use to say you get paid in sunsets and rainbows…I say that doesn’t put food on the table. That doesn’t pay the bills!
To Old DRHS’ daughter, Do not become a fed wildland FF. It is not safe for you and other women right now. You will be sexually harassed, assaulted, raped or even gang raped and when you report it, you’ll be fired. They will ruin your life and your career. Being a fed wildland FF is not worth it right now. It’s not a safe place to work. I know if someone had told me that 26 years ago I would have laughed in their face, but now going through it and surviving it, I realize I need to warn you and other women. I need you to understand the dangers. Please find another career that will give you the same joy and happiness that fighting fires would give you. I wish you all the luck in the world.
To SR-
I was a female wildland FF for many years and experienced great brotherhood and sisterhood with my fire family. A bond that has lasted for many years and more to come.
Outlines the problems VERY WELL !
Time will tell if Kamala will remember where she came from and what she stood for then !
Our public will be the ones that loose if change does not come quickly!
Estimated, the average engineer at the Google Data Center makes $150K. I was going to say $200K but that’s more of a Bay Area salary adjusted for housing prices.
The firefighters protecting the Data Center in The Dalles, Oregon … looks like they are winding up a fire project … I have a hunch that they are not making as much as the employees whose infrastructure they are protecting.
Pay fire-fighters Silicon Valley wages, if they’re protecting Silicon Valley properties.
Come work for the forest service, live paycheck to paycheck in decrepit federal housing until you get your perm. Sacrifice your mind and body for the privilege to be a wage slave in a western town you’ll never be able to afford a mortgage in.
Then continue living paycheck to paycheck once you get that perm, but now live without the ease of that cheap albeit gross subsidized housing… and now also enjoy the newly added responsibilities and unpaid hours of work and stress, all for that measly $1/hour increase! And with these new “benefits” your paycheck is suddenly much less than before you were a perm – and you still wouldn’t dare take a half day off work to drive two hours to the nearest dentist for a teeth cleaning, that’s unAmerican!
Yes indeed, he nailed it, I truly hope that change is coming. My daughter is determined to become a fed wildland FF in spite of my best efforts to discourage her from doing so. Soon i will have to support her 100%. She says Dad just a season or two and then I will get back on track with my master plan, but I know better she will do it for the rest of her working life and she will be great at it, it will be very hard for me to watch her go thru all the crud.
IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE, IT’S TIME TO PAY THEM AND PAY THEM WELL……
She sure did nail it! Best written article on the topic by far. Great job Zora!
Please advise her to talk to real current firefighters before making the decision. If what she sees on Instagram is her motivation, she will be crushed by the reality.
Really well done.
Well written.