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NBC News: smokejumper seriously injured on the job, diagnosed with cancer

Bill GabbertSeptember 24, 2022UncategorizedBen Elkind, cancer, firefighter health, injury, presumptive disease, Tim Hart7 Comments

Ben Elkind was seriously injured during a training parachute jump on May 15. During his ninth year as a smokejumper (with six years before that on a hotshot crew) he sustained a dislocated hip and pelvic fracture during a hard landing. During surgery at the hospital they found six fractures and placed three plates and 10 screws to repair the damage.

While Ben is unable to fight fires for an extended length of time, he will not be able to supplement his base income with the usual 1,000 hours of overtime each year which in the past he has depended on to support his wife and two small children.

And then during a full body CT scan a nodule was discovered on his thyroid — meaning, cancer. Ben told Wildfire Today the cancer was caught early and is very treatable.

We have written about Ben previously, but that was before we were aware of the cancer. And the other reason we’re bringing it up now is that yesterday NBC News published a nearly four-minute video story about Ben and other similar examples of injured wildland firefighters.

For more than the last year Ben has been very involved working to improve the working conditions of federal wildland firefighters, being proactive in educating the public and other firefighters about what they can do to improve the pay, classification, health, well-being, and processing of worker’s compensation claims (see photo below). In 2021 he wrote an article that was published in The Oregonian and Wildfire Today. And now he finds himself as one of the examples of what can happen on the job to a wildland firefighter that can seriously affect them and their family.

NFFE meets with Secretary of Labor in Washington, DC, March 16, 2022. L to R: Max Alonzo (NFFE), Bob Beckley (NFFE), Hannah Coolidge (USFS Hotshot), Marty Walsh (Sec. Of Labor), Dane Ostler (USFS – Prevention), **Ben Elkind** (USFS – Smokejumper), Randy Erwin (NFFE – President), and Jeff Friday (NFFE).

There has been some progress during the last year in establishing a list of presumptive diseases for firefighters.

Pending legislation would create the presumption that firefighters who become disabled by certain serious diseases, contracted them on the job, including heart disease, lung disease, certain cancers, and other infectious diseases. The bipartisan Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, H.R. 2499, passed the House in May and is now in the Senate.

In April the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), in FECA Bulletin No. 22-07, established a list of cancers and medical conditions for which the firefighter does not have to submit proof that their disease was caused by an on the job injury.

Consider telling your Senators and Representative to pass the Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act, H.R.5631. The name of the bill honors smokejumper Tim Hart who died after being injured on a fire in New Mexico in 2021. (More about the bill.) And ask your Senators to pass the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, H.R. 2499.

You may want to make a donation to the gofundme account set up by the Redmond Smokejumper Welfare Organization to assist Ben and his family.

The Staging Area, September 24, 2022

Bill GabbertSeptember 24, 2022UncategorizedThe Staging Area10 Comments

Staging area at the Valley Fire near Pine Valley, CA, Aug. 22, 2022. CAL FIRE photo.

This weekend we are continuing an occasional weekend feature we started a few months ago. This post can serve as the beginning of an open thread where our readers can talk about issues that we have, or have not, gotten into yet. This is literally an off-topic thread. You have the floor.

The usual rules about commenting apply. And remember, no personal attacks or politics, please.

Let’s enjoy a wide-ranging conversation!

Legislation could lengthen allowed federal wildland firefighter retirement break in service

Bill GabbertSeptember 23, 2022September 23, 2022Uncategorizedlegislation, retirement24 Comments

It also addresses in a very limited way the rental rates of government housing

Firefighter bucks burning log. Northwest Area Coordination Center photo. 2022.

A bill to be introduced in the Senate would ensure that a federal wildland firefighter would not forfeit previously made contributions or eligibility for firefighter retirement if they have a voluntary break in service of less than 9 months. Some employees have been surprised after returning to their firefighter job after having to take care of children or other family members, to learn that the break in firefighter retirement coverage reset the clock. Their previous work as a firefighter no longer counted toward firefighter retirement and their 20-year period of covered work began again. It could be argued, why is there any limit on the break in service. Or, why couldn’t it be 5 years or 10 years?

Another provision will place a cap on a Federal wildland firefighter’s rent when they are required to occupy government housing. The maximum limit would be 40 percent of the person’s pre-tax salary. This is thought to affect a limited number of federal wildland firefighters, primarily in the National Park Service. The legislation says this change would be implemented “notwithstanding OMB Circular No. A-45R” which states, “rents and other charges may not be set so as to provide a housing subsidy, serve as an inducement in the recruitment or retention of employees, or encourage occupancy of existing Government housing.”

The rent for federal government housing is required by the OMB Circular to be “based upon an impartial study of comparable private rental housing.”

Nationally, rents rose a record 11.3 percent last year, according to real estate research firm CoStar Group.

The bill was announced Wednesday by U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and Chair of the committee Joe Manchin (D-WV). It is titled “Promoting Effective Forest Management Act of 2022.”

The Grassroots Wildland Firefighters played a part in getting these provisions into the proposed legislation. Kelly Martin, President, said she looks at them as placeholders or starting points.

There will be opportunities as it is being considered to modify the language, perhaps for example, to eliminate the break in service restriction for firefighter retirement coverage, and determine a method for setting housing rental rates that GS-3 firefighters making about $2,200 a month can afford, whether or not the employee is required to stay in government housing.

With difficulties in recruiting and retaining federal wildland firefighters, and hundreds of vacant positions, it may be time to modify the OMB Circular to allow rental rates to “serve as an inducement in the recruitment or retention of employees.”

The bill has not been introduced in the Senate yet and could be subjected to changes and amendments if it makes it that far through the process. It has several provisions that could garner votes from Republicans, such as quadrupling mechanical thinning targets, streamlining environmental reviews, and increasing grazing. Half a dozen organizations associated with logging submitted statements supporting the bill.

Other provisions in the legislation:

The FS shall develop a program that provides incentives for employees to grow in place without relocating.
The FS will be required to reduce the number of relocations of line officers, in order to increase the period of time that they work at a duty station.
The FS and the BLM are required to double their mechanical thinning targets by 2025 and quadruple them by 2027.
It allows counties and local governments to intervene in lawsuits intended to stop wildfire prevention projects on nearby National Forests.
It places a $100,000 cap on employee relocation expenses.
Job applicants will be solicited in a manner that does not limit eligibility to current Forest Service employees.
The FS shall work with States to develop a universal, tiered program to train people to enter the logging workforce, and to examine ways to facilitate apprenticeship training opportunities.
Within three years of passage of the legislation, every FS and BLM unit must use at least one of six streamlining methods for environmental review on a forest management project.
The Forest Service and the BLM are directed to develop a strategy to increase the use of grazing as a wildfire mitigation tool.

Firefighter dies on Moose Fire

Bill GabbertSeptember 22, 2022WildfireIdaho, lodd, Moose Fire5 Comments

Near Challis, Idaho

On Thursday September 22 the Forest Supervisor of the Salmon-Challis National Forest released a statement about the September 20 death of Gerardo Rincon who passed away while assigned to the Moose Fire in Idaho:

It is with immense sorrow that we share the news of the passing of Gerardo Rincon of North Reforestation Inc. Gerardo suffered a medical emergency during the early morning hours of September 20th. He was a crew boss of a Type 2 crew that was assigned to the Moose Fire.

Gerardo served as a wildland firefighter since 1994. During his 28-year career he was a Type 2 firefighter, engine captain, and crew boss. He was highly recognized for his performance by his employers and crew members enjoyed working for him during many fire assignments.

Tragedies of this nature serve as a reminder of the honorable work and sacrifices made by women and men like Gerardo. They commit themselves daily to supporting and protecting communities around the country.

Our condolences go out to the entire Rincon family, their co-workers at North Reforestation Inc., and the firefighting community, their friends, and all those who knew and loved them. We are beyond grateful for their years of dedication and service to the wildfire community.

The Forest is working closely with the incident management team and the Wildland Firefighter Foundation to return Gerardo to his home in Oregon early Saturday morning, September 24th. There will be a procession from the Jones and Casey Funeral Home though downtown Salmon and to the Lemhi County Airport beginning at 9:00 am.

A viewing is scheduled for Wednesday, September 28th at the Farnstrom’s Mortuary in Independence, Oregon from 5-8 pm. A funeral mass will occur on September 29th at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church followed by a burial at Hilltop Cemetery.

/s/ Charles A. Mark
Forest Supervisor

(end of statement)

North Reforestation wrote on their Facebook page that Mr. Rincon’s remains will arrive on Flight 802 at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Corvallis Municipal Airport, 5695 SW Airport Ave, Corvallis, OR. They wrote, “If anyone wants to be part of the procession on this Saturday as Gerardo arrives in Oregon, it will start at the airport and end at Farnstroms.”

North Reforestation is based in Monmouth, Oregon, just west of Independence.

The Moose Fire which started July 17, received rain Wednesday and Thursday. It has burned more than 130,000 acres northwest of Challis, Idaho.

Our sincere condolences go out to the family, friends, and coworkers of Mr. Rincon.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom and Pete.

Forest Service needs help identifying thieves who stole Osbourne Fire Finder

Bill GabbertSeptember 22, 2022September 22, 2022Uncategorizedlookout tower, Missouri3 Comments

From a lookout tower near Bunker, Missouri

The Mark Twain National Forest needs your help in identifying individuals seen in photos and videos stealing from the Marcoot Lookout Tower near Bunker, Missouri in 2021. They are suspected of removing the Osborne Fire Finder, an essential device which assists lookouts in pinpointing the exact location of smoke cross referenced with a map. They are historical items and are very difficult to replace.

Example of Osbourne Fire Finder — Example of an Osbourne Fire Finder.

If you have any information that can help catch these thieves, please call the Mark Twain National Forest’s Patrol Captain Casey Hutsell at 573-341-7463.

Several videos of the thieves are posted on the Forest’s Facebook page in the comment section of the post about this incident.

After photos were posted about a burglary at a lookout tower in Oregon in August, one of the suspects was arrested and later indicted by a Grand Jury. In that case the thieves stole batteries, electronic equipment, and solar panels used to power the tower’s fire detection camera.

California’s Proposition 30 could add up to $1 billion to CAL FIRE’s budget

Bill GabbertSeptember 21, 2022Uncategorizedbudget, California14 Comments

On November 8 California voters could approve a proposition that would add up to $1 billion to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection budget.

Proposition 30 would create an additional 1.75% state tax on personal income above $2 million that would used for zero-emission vehicle subsidies; zero-emission vehicle infrastructure, such as electric vehicle charging stations; and wildfire suppression and prevention programs.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office expects the measure would would raise $3.5 billion to $5 billion annually, growing over time. Of that, 20 percent would be spent on wildfire response and prevention activities. In general, the state would have to prioritize spending to hire, train, and retain state firefighters. The rest of the money could be used for other wildfire response and prevention activities. The proposition would increase state funding for wildfire response and prevention activities by $700 million to $1 billion annually. The state typically spends about $2 billion to $4 billion annually on wildfire activities, mostly on firefighting.

The other 80 percent of the additional revenue would be used to help households, businesses, and governments pay for part of the cost of new passenger zero emission vehicles, as well as electric vehicle charging stations at apartment buildings, single-family homes, and public locations.

In other news about California’s spending on its wildfire program, Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed $800 million over the next two years to implement various efforts to improve forest health and make communities more resilient to future wildfires.

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