In less than three months, federal wildland firefighters face a substantial pay cut 鈥� that is, unless Congress acts. With a recently-launched petition, firefighter advocates are raising pressure for action.
In 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided funding for temporary pay raises for those firefighters. But at the end of September, that money runs dry. There are several for making those raises permanent, but Riva Duncan, executive vice president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, said inaction could have serious consequences.
鈥淥n October 1, we're going to see a pretty big exodus of folks looking for other work that's out there,鈥� she said.
Her group, which has been pushing to improve the working conditions of wildfire workers, started a last week calling on Congress to 鈥減ass a permanent pay solution.鈥�
鈥淲e're hearing there's good support, but again, there hasn't been any action,鈥� Duncan said. 鈥淎nd even if legislation passed tomorrow, implementation of anything is going to take time.鈥�
As of last Monday afternoon, nearly 8,000 signatures had been added, according to an update from Duncan. Many shared their reasons for lending their name to the demand.
鈥淔irefighters put their lives at risk every day to protect everyone,鈥� one signatory wrote. 鈥淚f they aren't there, what happens then?鈥�
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