Trump, again, threatens to withhold California wildfire aid if elected

For the second time in as many months, former President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal wildfire aid from California if he is elected for a second term.

Trump echoed the threat on Saturday during a campaign rally at Coachella Valley. The candidate, an hour into his rally, said he’d fix the state’s water issue without providing details about how he’d do it.

“We’re going to take care of your water situation, and we’ll force it down (Governor Gavin Newsom’s) throat,” Trump said. “And we’ll say, Gavin, if you don’t do it, we’re not giving any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the forest fires that you have. It’s not hard to do.”

Line Fire burning on Sept. 10 near Keller Peak. Credit: ALERTCalifornia / UC San Diego

Trump’s previous threat on Sept. 15 sparked backlash from California’s wildland firefighting force, namely from California Professional Firefighters President Brian K. Rice.

“Trump expressed that he would play with [Californians’] lives and their homes if he doesn’t get what he wants,” Rice said in a statement posted on Twitter. “He would rather watch our state burn in the name of his political games, than to send help if he were to become president again…It is a disgrace to our great nation and to every Californian that this man has a platform to threaten our livelihoods, safety, families and our state.”

The union did not share thoughts on Trump’s second threat, as they were among a gathering of hundreds of firefighters and families in Sacramento for the 2024 California Firefighters Memorial Ceremony. The names of 36 California firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2024 were added to the memorial wall, which already includes more than 1,500 names.

Denying disaster aid to California is a tradition for Trump. The then-president initially denied a California request for aid in 2020, during what would become its most disastrous wildfire season on record.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ‘Watch our state burn’: Trump’s threat to withhold California wildfire aid angers state’s firefighting force

USFS facing wage theft accusations from wildland firefighters

USFS Chief Randy Moore shared what some called a tone-deaf Labor Day celebratory press release the day after a federal employee union accused the agency Moore runs of continuing ongoing wildland firefighter wage theft.

“We commemorate the struggles Labor Movement activists undertook to provide all workers across our nation with a more fair, just and equitable workplace,” Moore’s post said on the USFS website.

The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) said it’s facing one of those labor struggles under Moore’s leadership. The union saw the agency’s adoption of a new occupational series for wildland firefighters as a chance to end a decades-long tradition of wage theft, but numerous requests by the union went unanswered by the Service.

Grassroots Wildland Firefighters

“After nearly three years of engagement…NFFE has determined it will not endorse the launch of the new series in its current form,” the union’s statement said. “Employees who volunteer to opt-in to the new series will still be performing duties without equal pay for substantially equal work in violation of law, rule, and regulation.”

Numerous aspects of wildland firefighter positions have either been misclassified or not included/graded by service administration, with the Forest Service not accurately calculating time-spent training for or performing major duties on the job, the union said. NFFE requested union employee representation to review and correct errors within the classifications, along with proper representation of EMT duties increasingly performed by wildland firefighters and adopting a career-ladder progression up to Grade 7.

NFFE said USFS failed to correct numerous errors in the new series, including:

  • Hotshot (IHC) Squadboss: Error in grading factor, Uncorrected.
  • Engine Assistant: Deceptive acronym used to hide supervisory duties.
  • Handcrew Assistant: Crew organized improperly to meet stated goals.
  • EMT: Major grade-controlling duty ignored.

Click here to see a full breakdown of each of NFFE’s issues.

Moore, in his Labor Day statement, specified that one of the labor movement’s pillars is fair pay for equitable labor while affirming some USFS employees still fail to meet that standard. He said Service leadership continues to work with Congress to “iron out a long-term solution for a permanent, competitive pay structure,” but NFFE’s recent statement makes it clear the union believes more needs to be done.

Wildland firefighters on the Spring Creek Fire in Colorado on July 2, 2023