An article by Pew Charitable Trusts’ Stateline section combined their data with information from the Associated Press to present a bleak picture of hiring and retention among wildland firefighters in the Forest Service’s California Region.
Below are excerpts from the article published July 14, 2021:
The Forest Service’s California region had filled 3,820 of 4,620 planned permanent and temporary positions as of early July, agency spokesperson Regina Corbin wrote in an email to Stateline.
Thirty-one of California’s 44 hotshot crews are fully staffed, Corbin said.
Almost two-thirds of vacancies at the end of spring hiring were for senior firefighters on engine crews, the data reviewed by Stateline shows.
The agency sought to fill 781 vacant permanent positions in California during spring hiring this year, according to the data. But it ended the hiring period with 725 vacancies. That’s a net gain of just 56 employees.
In June 2015 the region’s leaders expected 96% of engines to be fully staffed, for instance. In June 2020, the share was 59%.
In a different article published the same day at Reuters, still another disturbing fact came to light about wildland firefighter vacancies:
20% of the federal government’s full time firefighting positions are currently vacant, according to Kelly Martin, president of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.
This large number of vacancies, including hundreds of senior positions, can severely degrade the effectiveness of the Federal government’s ability to suppress wildland fires, which is a Homeland Security issue.
Just FYI, I have 26 years of experience (GS-9 to 12) and I just found out that I don’t have enough experience for a GS-7 position, seriously the same exact job I did for 20 years! Good luck to everyone looking for a job at the NPS/FS!!!
Now there something is truly wrong, right there
I agree w/ much that has been said here to be sure. And I do agree that change is needed, ie. Health benefits for entry level Fed FF and maybe a real bump in pay across the board say 20-25% for all GS and I mean all GS-1-15, why not.
Now to address the hiring concerns, first just let me say that R-5 is a real big deal, it has always been so, but it’s not everything, the other regions matter just as much as well, I have worked in R-5 and R-8 and both are great not to mention I have fought fire in all the others.
Money will not fix every thing, not even close, it will certainly help, just maybe there are not enough people who would maybe enjoy working in the great out of doors to go around these days….just maybe.
The last thing I would want to have around are those that are just there for the money, granted kinda rare in the fed to see that.
When I first started we had the YACC-Young Adult Conservation Corps and I believe it produced many recruits, myself being one of them, had it not been for this program I would have never found the FS and had a great career in fire
Leadership has always been an issue, you will have your greats and not so greats, It is what it is and nothing more.
I truly believe that Cal Fire is one of the best fire organizations in the world they just are, however the feds have their own identity and I would truly like to see that identity preserved, just be careful is all I am saying, my first year in fire was with CDF.
The feds need to go back to entry level hiring, hire kids right out of HS and raise them right and they will stick around, go back to basics, keep it simple.
It’s never been easy, high turn over has always been an issue , some folks just don’t like it…..period, and no amount of money will ever change that….
I know I am an old guy that still thinks it’s a privilege to work for the feds, I used to say to my folks, the USFS owes me nothing “Nothing” yet I owe the FS everything “Everything” I road for the brand, my attitude has softened a bit over the years…..lol…..Peace…….
I can’t say I’m surprised when CalFire is on a hiring spree since they can’t use as much free inmate labor anymore. Why work for the feds when you get double the pay and a better pension in literally any other agency in the state? The high cost of living there almost makes it a necessity unless you want to live in government housing forever.
Something has to be done!
Ages ago when I was a young California State Park Ranger a group of “activist” (I can’t come up with a correct term) Rangers pursued, among many issues, unionization. State Park Rangers were Peace Officers. As an “old school” Ranger I was against it. I didn’t want to be greedy for more because I had a wonderfully satisfying job and because the maintenance side of State Parks would not be included. It took a few years to get it right but it happened and decades later, long retired, I continue to reap the benefits. The impact on salary, benefits and retirement once unionization took hold was and is astonishing.
So, having done no research into this, is a federal workforce permitted to unionize? If not, can that change? It would be a great thing for Wildland Firefighters. Unionizing will give them the power to grab the appropriate controlling bodies by their collective balls and start squeezing.
Is it possible?! LR
Tom, I agree with you 100%!!!
The Forest Service is steeped in tradition, so much so that it has failed to change when it is needed most, basically since the beginning of this century. Rewards, promotion etc. are given to those that get with the program and don’t rock the boat. In entry level Fire positions you were expected to do your time and then maybe you could move up a pay grade or better yet into a non-fire Forestry Tech position, probably have to relocate, get some training or go back to school if you wanted to advance. This system simply no longer works in the 21st century, but FS Leadership has failed to see it or do anything about it, and they just keep punching their tickets, moving up and out. I know this may sound harsh, but I was a product of this system, gs 5 to 13 in 35 years, with some wage grade jobs thrown in because driving trucks and heavy equipment paid more. I had to move 6 times. Promoting R5 Regional Forester to Chief isn’t going to cut it, with all due respect to Randy Moore, he’s a fine leader, its time throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water and reorganize the USDA Forest Service from the top to the bottom if it is to survive much longer. Not too long ago the FS was the employer of choice in backwoods USA, this is no longer reality.
Yep, don’t look to Randy Moore to change anything. So called leadership in the FS has mostly been about achieving consensus rather than leading change. I don’t think our current crop of leaders are up to the task.
As I said before, it’s the way the FS post their positions. Last year, many fire classes were not provided because of COVID, if you worked for the FS then you were exempt, if you didn’t work for the FS you were not exempt. So, when people outside the agency apply for these positions they don’t qualify. So, the FS can post a position for the public, but in really the only people who will qualify are people who work for the FS. The other problem with the hiring process is that the FS has biases based on a person’s national origin, race, color, religion, disability, sex, and familial status. That’s illegal!!! If you don’t believe me apply for a job, once the job is closed call them and ask about the position…the answer will surprise you. In some regions, they will not hire you if you are African-American and some regions they will not hire you if you are a woman, and good luck if you are an African-American woman! One last comment, the FS black balls certain people. Again, if you don’t believe me call HR and ask. They’ll use words like red or black list. I called and Jesse Standridge told me point blank that they were black balling me. I’m not writing this comments in anger, I’m writing this comments so that you are aware of what is going on in HR. I was for centralized hiring process, but now that I see how a select few have a lot of power, how a select few can discriminate, and how a select few can slow down the hiring process. I’m not sure if de-centralizing the hiring process will fix this (but I would enjoy the debate). But, I am sure, that if some people were fired/replaced in HR, then the process would be much better, much faster.
“This large number of vacancies, including hundreds of senior positions, can severely degrade the effectiveness of the Federal government’s ability to suppress wildland fires, which is a Homeland Security issue.”
If we can’t get FireHire squared away or the infamous ABQ “Service Center” of which I have received a few rejections….
What makes one think that transferring Wildland FFTR and its abomination of classification, under Homeland Security is going to make the hiring process that much faster????
Many ideas have been floated here to put Fire Aviation under HS , also.
Then then idea of putting Fire Aviation under FAA, which would make more sense, has been floated also.
WE in the aviation world already know the limitations and the REACH of the FAA. Limitation as in funding and personnel hire has been somewhat of an issue.
Like the Aviation Staffing at the USFS with its pilots and mechanics, of which probably needs more, but there other jobs other than the Fed to be working in this field, maybe Fire and Aviation management need to be separated as two entities or pulled out entirely out of the land management world into a solely aviation environment……..
The Good Idea Fairy is riding again…..let’s see if it stay long enough in Washington DC t0 become law after we get the Forestry Technician classification redesignated Firefighter series like 0018
I hope they get the pay up for Wild land firefighters but there is a lot of people wondering and questioning while there is a lot of single resources heavy equipment setting that has contracts tenders and engines that they could be calling to help with the shortage of fire personnel.
So the entire Fire Hire Program brought on just 56 positions in California when there were 780 available? Nice. I know the Redding Smokejumpers hired 5 permanent employees and 3 or 4 had left within a few months…
It not rocket science. But I wonder how much the Fire Hire program costs to run? Maybe junk it and start paying some bonuses for employees? Or offering special pay rates in GS system like many other forest service positions get?
It’s pretty simple economics
Hopefully this will ring some serious alarms in the hallowed halls of the WO. Time to get serious about pay and compensation. We can send billion$ in foreign aid to countries that kick us in the ass. Put some of that money into the workforce.