The Grassroots Wildland Firefighters (GWF) conducted a survey of spouses of wildland firefighters that are connected with the federal government. The 1,841 responses included in the analysis found disturbing trends among the work force that until now may not have been clearly documented.

The primary goal of the survey was to measure the impacts that a career as a federal wildland firefighter (WFF) has on both firefighters and their families. The GWF is asking that the systems of support grow with the demands of the fire seasons.

Here are samples of their findings:

• About half said they may have considered separating from their partner due to strain on the relationship caused by the job.
• Only 11 percent often or regularly feel confident if something were to happen to their partner while on duty, they would be taken care of by their federal agency.
• About 17 percent report partners have been injured at work resulting in a financial hardship.
• When those in a dual fire career relationship were asked if they’ve left or considered leaving their own fire career due to the difficulty of having children, 79 percent of respondents the questions applied to, reported yes.

Below are documents released today by the GWF.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/GRWFF-Highlights-of-Data-Summar2.pdf” title=”GRWFF Highlights of Data Summar2″]

The nine-page document below has detailed findings from the survey. (Look for the down arrow; hover or tap at the bottom to see more.)

[pdf-embedder url=”https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/WFF-Partner-Survey-Data-Summary.pdf” title=”WFF Partner Survey Data Summary”]