News and opinion about wildland fire
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Smoke and air quality, August 21, 2021 
The map above shows the air quality, PM2.5 and PM10, at 6:32 a.m. PDT Aug 21, 2021.
The map below is the forecast for the distribution of wildfire smoke at 3 p.m. PDT Sunday August 22.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized7 Comments on Wildfire smoke and air quality maps, August 19, 2021 
Smoke from wildfires will have serious impacts Thursday in California, Washington, and eastern Canada. The smoke forecast for 10 p.m. PDT is above.
The map below depicts the air quality at 7:26 a.m. PDT Aug. 19, 2021, by AirNow.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized13 Comments on Many federal firefighters to receive one-time monetary awards In recognition of their inadequate pay
It has become widely known in the last eight months that federal wildland firefighters are embarrassingly underpaid. Numerous articles in national publications (and Wildfire Today) have been pointing this out. If the Senate version of S.2377 – Energy Infrastructure Act also passes the House, it will be a major step forward to fix this. But until then, the five federal land management agencies that underpay firefighters are going to provide pay awards to fire personnel up to the GS-9 level ranging from $1,300 to 10% of six months of their base pay. It’s not huge, but I’m sure they will take it.
A joint press release from the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Agriculture (Forest Service) gave a few details:
The pay increase will go into effect immediately, and wildland firefighters will receive a minimum of $15 an hour with a backpay date of June 30, 2021. To ensure the pay increase happens immediately, the Departments will provide pay awards to all frontline firefighters that earn less than $15 an hour to ensure their pay will meet that minimum. In addition, all temporary frontline firefighters will receive a $1,300 award and all permanent frontline firefighters up to GS-9 will receive an award equal to 10% of six months of their base pay.
Here is the way it was described in a memo sent by the US Forest Service’s Northeast Region office:
…It is important to note that the incentive awards firefighters in the categories below will receive this year are one small, but immediate step to achieve fair compensation. It is just the first step to acknowledging our firefighters. We know there is more that needs to be done longer-term around pay, benefits, title, series and mental health and well-being. The Agency is not delaying on these other important steps, but they take more time and more help from other parts of the Federal government.
In the meantime, incentive awards will be coming in the following ways:
—Temporary (1039) Seasonal Fire Employees GS-9 and below, and WG-8 and below– Temporary (1039), primary/secondary-covered positions for wildland firefighting, GS-9 and below and WG-8 and below, will receive an Achievement cash award of $1300 (resulting in an after tax amount of $1000).
—Permanent Full-Time and Permanent Seasonal Fire Employees GS-9 and below, and WG-8 and below– Permanent full-time and permanent seasonal, primary/secondary-covered positions for wildland firefighting, GS-9 and below and WG-8 and below, will receive an Achievement cash award equivalent to 10% of your base salary for 1040 hours (based on step 5 of your grade and the locality pay for the “rest of the United States”).
—All GS-3 employees earning a basic rate of less than $15 per hour– Permanent and seasonal GS-3 employees who earn a basic rate of pay of less than $15 per hour will receive additional compensation in their Achievement cash awards equal or more to the difference between their current rate and $15 per hour for a tour of 1040 hours, regardless of actual tour. This has been calculated to be an additional $1,612.
In the DOI and the FS the pay increases and awards will appear in firefighter paychecks around August 23 or 24, 2021.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Ben and Kelly.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized14 Comments on Wildland firefighters’ silent crisis 
Today The Guardian published a well-researched article written by Daliah Singer about stresses the 20,000 wildland firefighters face on the job, including mental health issues. Here is an excerpt from “Burning out: the silent crisis spreading among wildland firefighters.”
“ ‘The exposure to human suffering in the last three years is not something you’d see at a typical day of work at firefighting – entire communities destroyed, loss of human life, loss of wildlife, loss of the landscape that we treasure. That’s not what wildland firefighters signed up to do, but it’s what they’re exposed to,” says Nelda St Clair, who worked in wildland fire for 40 years and is now the national critical incident stress management program manager for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
“Mental struggles can become more acute in the offseason, when firefighters lose their connections to their crews and transition from rigorous schedules to quieter lives.
“ ‘[Wildland firefighters] have more risk than the average firefighter because of social disconnection,” says Thomas Joiner, a psychology professor at Florida State University and one of the country’s foremost experts on suicide. A recent study by his team included a sample of wildland firefighters – just 20 individuals – and found that 55% of them reported clinically significant suicidal symptoms compared with 32% of non-wildland firefighters.
“Dr Patricia O’Brien, a clinical psychologist and former hotshot – an intensely trained firefighter working directly on fire lines – expanded those results with a survey of more than 2,500 current and former wildland firefighters. Her early data, which is not yet peer-reviewed or published, shows that rates of self-reported probable depression, generalized anxiety disorder and PTSD, as well as past-year suicidal ideation, past-month binge drinking, heavy alcohol use and smokeless tobacco use were all two to 10 times more prevalent among wildland firefighters than the general public.”
(end of excerpt)
The article refers to research conducted by former hotshot Dr. Patricia o’Brien. Here is an excerpt from the abstract of her work.
“Wildland firefighters in the sample reported relatively high rates of probable depression (17.3%), probable generalized anxiety disorder (12.8%), probable PTSD (13.7%), past year suicidal ideation (20.1%), past-month binge drinking (57%), heavy alcohol use (22%) and smokeless tobacco use (36.9%). These rates were 2-10 times higher than rates typically seen among the general public. Further, data showed a disparity between the prevalence of depression and PTSD identified by the study screening measures and the rates at which participants reported having been diagnosed by a healthcare provider. Finally, wildland firefighters in the study reported exposures to a variety of stressful events. Results of the study provide preliminary research data suggesting that wildland firefighters may be at greater risk of developing mental health conditions than the general public, and that a significant proportion of those conditions are under-detected and under-treated. Findings highlight the need for health surveillance and evidence-based health promotion and illness/injury prevention program development for wildland firefighters, particularly in psychological and behavioral health domains.”
Help is available for those feeling really depressed or suicidal.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on Satellite photo shows Oregon and California fires spreading east 
This photo taken by the GOES 17 NASA satellite at 6:41 p.m. August 16 shows strong winds pushing smoke from the wildfires in California and Oregon to the east.
The areas with the worst air quality and smoke Sunday will be Northern California, Southern Oregon, Northeast Washington, Idaho, Northern Utah, Northern Nevada, Northwest Wyoming, and Montana — basically the northwest quarter of the country.
Above is the air quality in the Western United States (ozone, PM2.5, and PM10) at 8:01 a.m. PDT August 15, 2021. By AirNow.
Below is the forecast for near-surface wildland fire smoke at 1 p.m. PDT Sunday August 15, 2021.
In case you missed it, read, Smoke linked to thousands of COVID-19 cases on West Coast.
To see other articles on Wildfire Today tagged “smoke”, including the most recent, click HERE.
