The U.S. Wildland Fire Service celebrated what it called a “well-deserved win” for the nation’s firefighters after prescribed wildland fire duties were officially made eligible for hazardous duty pay.

The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday issued a final rule making the duties eligible for hazard pay for General Schedule employees and for Environmental Differential Pay for Federal Wage System employees. The final rule specifically authorizes a 25% differential for both classes of employees participating in the fireline during prescribed fires.

The rule will officially go into effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Officials originally submitted the proposed rule in April.

“This is the latest improvement to firefighter compensation, following the incident response premium pay and permanent pay reforms established last year,” the Service said in a social media post.

Hazard pay has historically not been eligible for GS employees when the “hazard” in question has already been taken into account in the position’s description, like firefighters fighting wildfires, according to the Office. That largely changed for firefighters in 2021 when a special exemption was added, allowing wildland firefighters working on a wildfire’s fireline to receive hazard pay. The rule change follows the same logic, allowing a GS or FWS employee working a prescribed fire’s fireline to receive hazard pay despite the classification of the employee’s position.

Previous research has shown that wildland firefighters conducting prescribed burns are often exposed to carbon monoxide, trace metals, and particulate matter at levels that exceeded the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s recommended exposure limit, which may cause both short-term and long-term negative health impacts. Some of the personal protective equipment that wildland firefighters use has been found to increase the risk of cancer, due to the equipment shedding carcinogenic compounds and harmful chemicals when exposed to high temperatures common on firelines.