Wildland Firefighter Entry Level Pay

General Discussion
#1259

California is currently running a $25+ billion dollar deficit. About half of that is structural in nature and will continue to get worse.

65% of general fund revenues into California comes from Capital Gains Taxes and are paid by less than 10% of the population.

Under current economic conditions (inflation, interest rates) California’s budget will continue to get worse.

We all have our political opinions, but under the current division of power in Washington DC AND the spending priorities(or lack there of) from Sacramento. I will continue to encourage my Federal Brothers & Sisters to seek greener pastures, take their careers into their own hands taking additional classes and pushing themselves outside of their personal comfort zones when it comes to this career.

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#1260

I respect yours and the other comments, you all have valid points to be sure. Yes money is a real factor, it was when I worked on the BDF raising a young family it was hard even with 1000+ OT. When fast food is paying way more per HR than our entry level FF’s make, that’s insulting…I am done, I have said enough…I wish you all the very best…Really I do…back to retirement…

#1261

I do the best I can to bring my A-game to these things, but it’s hard to resist the tongue-waggy stuff that leads to passing arguments and assertions that completely fall apart under critical examination and are basically just gossip.

However, if opposing viewpoints, held by people who have some cachet on the issues, are not at least occasionally brought to light, then what looks like a slam dunk policy argument is, really, just an echo chamber. I write things I would like to take back, at times. Sometimes, I take them back. Sometimes, I don’t.

We really need this thing to happen, now.

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#1262

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-23/us-wildfire-fighters-are-hitting-a-pay-cliff-at-the-worst-time

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#1263

Any thoughts on furlough potential- time frame ect?

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#1264

Senate bipartisan CR draft includes federal wildland firefighter pay. Unknown on the timing of the vote. After this passes in the Senate, it’s unknown if McCarthy allow a vote.

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#1265

Bullet point #2 includes the Poison Pill.

This is sad & should show where one party’s priorities are😡

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#1266

Wondering what the upper management of the FS would have said if i went into my programs workplan and tried to make 1 line item out of war fighting abroad AND helping our taxpayers on the homefront. Heck, can you imagine what a local purchasing officer would have done if i tried stuffing two clearly separate funding needs into one line item and calling it “general supplies”. Everyone in congress has promoted beyond their peter principal! #Fact. #GTFO!

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#1267

It’s bullet point #2 that just chaps my ass to no end. We have given Ukraine hundreds of Billions of money we don’t even have
While we have added over $5 trillion to the national debt in the last 2 years alone. Yet, we can’t pay our Federal FF what they deserve and they go and attach the WFF pay fix to a “Must Pass” CR that will be DOA in the House and ensure a federal government shutdown.

You are 100% correct. They ALL need to #GTFO😡

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#1268

Wrong (though too long to explain here)

Wrong (importantly Debt/GDP has gone down in the last 2 years after increasing about 25% in the previous 4)

What chaps my a** is that we’ve given billion$ in permanent tax breaks to mulit-millionaires and billionaires and unless something changes my taxes were reduced for only 5 years. That certainly tells you where one parties priority is. Continuing pay for Fed FFs were initially not included in the houses bills, the ones the majority party can’t even pass.

There’s one reason there will be a shutdown, the are 25 or so nutters in the house who say unless everyone agrees to everything they want were not passing anything. Even members of their party are pi**ed at them. Lay blame where it belongs.

BTW, there is no “poison pill” in the Bipartisan Senate CR bill. It advanced 77-19.

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#1269
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#1270

That top article was a great fact and numbers based report. It explains in depth the dire straights the current wildland firefighter community is living in. The question now, will congress listen or even have time to read the 340 page document.

Thank you for sharing these @Flyron. If you open the document and search the word “wildland firefighter”, it is a great way to skim thorough the most pertinent information and their recommendations, which are spot on of what we need. Keep this train rolling, it’s gonna get a bit bumpier before it gets better.

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#1271
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#1272

Today the house majority party put up a bill to partially fund the government (the stuff they like). However it actually contained a poison pill amendment insisted upon by the nutters. This poison pill was so onerous that the house majority couldn’t even get their members to pass/vote for it. I guess McCarthy loves to lead with his chin.

Blame where blame belongs. Remember this when you are forced to work without a paycheck.

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#1273

There is a poison pill. It won’t pass the house. As for spending, the President keeps saying he’s cut the deficit $1.7 trillion, while actually increasing it. The CBO rates Biden’s debt as record breaking. Under Biden’s current FY 2023 budget, the debt would be allowed to grow by $16 trillion over 10 years. In the 1st 9 mths. of 2023 his deficit grew $1.4 trillion. He’s flat out lying to the American people. First, we need to “close” Biden’s open borders. How much money are we dumping into non-citizens while our own citizens, and FF’s, go without? Inflation has sped back up and increased once again. A recession is around the corner, if we’re not already in it! When is enough, enough? We know one party is destroying America, purposely. That party also had both the House, Senate, and the Presidency from 2020 until 2022. Why weren’t Federal Firefighters a priority then to that party? Just like minorities, they use unions for endorsements and votes and then go silent until the next election. It might just change things for the better to stop giving endorsements and votes away and actually support the opposite from usual. It might actually make them fight for your support the next time and actually do something positive, like pay raises! Just say’in!

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#1274

Add a dollar to the debt it’s record breaking…yawn…

the debt would be allowed to grow by $16 trillion

Part of that is because one party made millionaire and billionaire tax breaks permanent (when they were in control of President/Senate/House) while having my and other FFs “tax breaks” expire after 5 years

A recession is around the corner

Been hearing that since the current admin took over…yawn…

We know one party is destroying America, purposely

I hear this stated by the nutters in the House…

Why weren’t Federal Firefighters a priority then to that party?

They were, however the minority party in the senate filibustered legislation to help them. Much to some people desires, government is not run by fiat, it takes collaboration. Currently the majority party in the house can’t even collaborate with themselves.

Sound bites might sound good, but they don’t get legislation passed. That takes work and cooperation. Currently the house majority party priority is not pay raises, they’re concentrated on impeaching the President over…something, they’re not sure what yet. When “one” party had majority control in '20-'22 house/senate/president they got legislation passed, they didn’t get everything they wanted (i.e. pay raises) but they did not threaten shutdowns when the senate minority party said no to that. Why? Because shutdowns harm a whole heck of a lot of people other than FFs.

Just sayin…

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#1275

I’ve been writing longer, I hope more thoughtful, pieces here lately, but I feel like I’ve lost the plot. My understanding is that the intent for the topic is to, in effect, help lobby for better wildland firefighter entry level pay (and title). As a person who has not done wildland firefighting for decades, I’ve stayed out of technical discussions and tried to contribute in a supportive way, because I have an interest in public safety and positive outcomes from disaster response. I’ve also accepted discipline about priorities. I don’t think balancing the Federal budget, establishing foreign policy objectives and investigating the crime of genocide* is within the scope and competency of this forum, even though most all of us care deeply about these things, and so, I caution against appeals to authorities outside the scope of the discharge of duty.

(*) as alleged by attaching “destroying America, purposely” to a list of published grievances against a particular bill, or it’s timeline.

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#1276

Will the pay increase continue if the CR passes?

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#1277
#1278

SEC. 132. Amounts made available by section 101 for ‘‘Department of the Interior—Department-Wide Programs—Wildland Fire Management’’ and ‘‘Department of Agriculture—Forest Service—Wildland Fire Management’’ shall be available for the Federal wildland firefighter base salary increase provided under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of Public Law 117–58 and may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to continue to fund such base salary increase.

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