Pay raise of $2,500 requested for Florida wildland firefighters

7:46 p.m. EDT Sept 24, 2021

Florida Forest Service
Florida Forest Service photo.

Last week, Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried submitted a budget request for fiscal year 2022-2023 that includes a $2,500 pay increase for 932 firefighter and firefighter support positions within the Florida Forest Service.

A vacancy announcement for Forest Ranger, position #42002179 closing today whose duties include forest fire prevention, detection, suppression and pre-suppression shows a starting salary of $29,080 annually, which works out to $13.98 an hour (based on 2,080 work hours per year). This raise would increase it to $15.18 an hour.

Nikki Fried, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Nikki Fried, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

These numbers are similar to the pay for a federal wildland firefighter starting at a GS-3 in most of the United States. Their salary is being temporarily bumped up to around $15 an hour, but there is an effort to rebuild the pay system on the federal side, possibly with a more substantial permanent increase.

Applicants for the Florida job must swear that they have been a non-user of tobacco or tobacco products for at least one year immediately preceding application. They must live within 30 miles of the headquarters, in this case Chipley Florida, throughout employment in the position. Within 6 months of appointment they are required to obtain a Class A Commercial Driver License (CDL).

Over the last three years, Florida Forest Service personnel responded to an annual average of 4,672 fires that burned 147,169 acres, according to a press release from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

PBS interviews wildland firefighters about benefits, travel, health care, and pay

Laura Paskus, a reporter and producer for PBS of New Mexico, interviewed three wildland firefighters for an episode of Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present, and Future. They covered some of the pressing issues faced by wildland firefighters, including health care, benefits, extensive travel, and pay.

Seen in the video are Marcus Cornwell, federal wildland firefighter; Kelly Martin, president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters; and Jonathon Golden, former wildland firefighter.

CNN — pay disparity between Federal firefighters and other jurisdictions is “staggering”

Briefing on Springs Fire
Firefighters gather for a briefing on the Springs Fire on the Boise National Forest near Banks, Idaho, August 12, 2020. Kari Greer photo for U.S. Forest Service.

CNN has joined the chorus of news organizations covering the deteriorating status of Federal wildland firefighting crews. A lengthy article published today describes the pay discrepancy between federal crews and personnel in other jurisdictions as “staggering”.

pay disparity federal firefighters
From CNN

The CNN reporters interviewed several current and former federal wildland firefighters. Aaron Humphrey, who is known as “Hump”, quit after 25 years, leaving the position of Superintendent of the Eldorado Hotshots, becoming “just the latest mentally fried, underpaid hotshot veteran to leave, at a time when California wildfires are at their worst.”

From CNN:

I needed to be home with my family,” Hump told CNN. “The level of stress I was bringing home (from massive fires) — I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.”

Hump, a married father with three children — ages 12, 10 and 8 — now works for Pacific Gas and Electric, as a lead on the utility’s safety infrastructure protection team.

Hump says he’s paid at least $40,000 more annually than what he made before as a hotshot supervisor. The money comes with peace of mind, as he now attends all of his children’s events, even coaching some flag football.

CNN also interviewed a Captain on the El Dorado Hotshots, D.J. McIlhargie.

“I have five irons in the fire right now,” McIlhargie told CNN. “I’m looking for something that will work for my family more. And my wife knows that I’m tired of waiting for the Forest Service to give me a commensurate salary to what other departments pay.”

The father of two boys, 7 and 10, McIlhargie lives an hour outside Sacramento. He described feeling “wiped out” and “frustrated” by battling the recent streak of super fires.

McIlhargie, 39, says there are just not enough firefighters to take on massive blazes such as the ones that ravaged Northern California last year.

The article also states “15 California Interagency Hotshot Crews don’t have enough members to activate as a full firefighting unit. CNN obtained a CIHC document that confirms that number.”

Four Senators, Dianne Feinstein, Alex Padilla, Kyrsten Sinema, and Steve Daines, wrote a letter asking a subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to include language in its fiscal year 2022 funding bill directing the Office of Personnel Management to implement a plan to raise federal firefighter pay. They are requesting that the following language be included in the bill:

“The Director of the Office of Personnel Management ….not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, submit to Congress a plan to establish comparable rates of pay payable to wildland firefighters employed by the Federal Government, as compared to the rates of basic pay payable for similar work by wildland firefighters employed by State and local governments in each jurisdiction identified by the Departments of Interior and Agriculture…Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, fully implement any necessary regulation or OPM authorized changes to establish the new position classification and qualification standards—for employees across the Federal Government, the job responsibilities of whom involve wildland firefighting; which shall reflect the comparable rates of basic pay established in the plan submitted.”

Opinion

When CNN, NBC, LA Times, and USA Today point out that the pay structure of Federal wildland firefighters is far out of line with what it should be, maybe there is a problem that needs addressing. Senators write letters and ask softball questions of Forest Service officials testifying in hearings, but nothing is getting done to improve the working environment of Federal wildland firefighters.

They need a new Wildland Firefighter job series with pay commensurate with those in agencies and organizations that are poaching trained and experienced employees from the Federal land management agencies.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Richard.