Agreed! Talk about us is better than no talk! Keep on the grind. Keep the pressure on them. Spread the word
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Promise me you all will make sure the congressman is educated on the skill set required to be a Wildland Firefighter.
Typical Q’er. @RepMcClintock
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U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, whose Congressional District Four includes the Mother Lode and all of the 1,400-square-mile Stanislaus National Forest, placed the blame largely on enhanced unemployment benefits as part of a COVID-19 relief package that he opposed.
What a dou…In his eyes, everything has been hunky dory with retention and other issues in the USFS up until this year. MHB, unfortunately the only way you’ll educate this type of representative is at the ballot box. I’m not up on all the requirements of a hotshot crew, but without their skill to make appropriate decisions you can easily wind up with hurt or dead firefighters. Sorry for the rant…
- Skilled labor refers to highly trained, educated, or experienced segments of the workforce that can complete more complex mental or physical tasks on the job.
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What a Tool he can be! This is not the first time he has shot off his pie hole. I live in his district, will fire off an email to his office. Just shows you how out of touch they really are. And he should know better having had some large damaging fires in his district. This type of attitude does not sit well with me at all. Red, Green or LG this is a slap in the FACE.
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I also live in his district as do a lot of FFs, but he doesn’t LOL
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I too live in his district. I have written several editorials about some of his policy ideas that could kill me or my back country “shovel in the dirt” friends. He doesn’t care about anything but money to his pocket.
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I got to thinking and remembered the volunteer rates from the feds used to “value” the work by Back Country Horsemen. I looked them up and here are 2021 rates from Back Country Horsemen of America
You are more critical and valuable than what we do. More fodder for your quest?
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Sorry Folks, now I’m a lot pissed. If we were not skilled fire fighters all their precious Wineries would be burnt to HELL!. Why doesn’t McClintok work 40 days in a row like my sons did last year. He should put his butt in the front seat of an engine on something like the Creek Fire. Not only my sons but most on shift are making life saving decisions everyday. Why doesn’t he step up and go look at training records or better yet go to some training evolutions. I have a couple in mind like hiking American Camp with all your gear on down to the Stanislaus River or the Bomb off the Parrots Ferry bridge. Run a few med aids, Structure Fire then get an Out of Country dispatch to a going fire. When you arrive they stick you on a 24 because you’re fresh meat. Sorry Mods I had to vent. I will understand if you take this off.
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Well said ffviking.
Thank you
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Like my wife just stated when McClintok shows up nobody says "Thank God Your Here!!! "Let that sink in.
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Email sent. Spread the word.
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Good to see @RepMcClintock get lit up on twitter tonight by firefighters.
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Here’s a quote from the Investigation report on the Inaja Fire in 1956 where 11 firefighters lost their lives:
“The investigators pointed out that in general, although not related to the Inaja Fire, present Government salary and wage rates make it difficult to obtain and hold competent fire control personnel. Controlling mass forest fires is difficult and highly technical job. The specifications for these positions should be further reviewed with appropriate Departmental and Civil Service Commission officials”.
So here we are still having these same discussions 65 years later and nothing of significance has changed. The changes that many of us are proposing have a direct effect on the safety of our personnel. Having all the vacancies that we have create an environment where people move up too quick and don’t have as much experience as the person that created the vacancy by going to another agency. All of these quick promotions in a time where fires are burning hotter and faster than ever recorded raises many red flags for me. Decisions made on the fire line are hard enough for experienced personnel. Our current attrition rates don’t line up with our so called safety culture or life first initiatives. We need to see the following changes in order to stop the mass exodus of our firefighting ranks:
Minimum 25% pay raise through all GS levels of the fire program that effects your retirement
Temp buy back time allowed
Hazard pay on prescribed burns or incorporate Haz pay into base pay permanently
Portal to portal pay while on incident or 16 hour minimum
Full time workforce year round to allow more flexible work schedules and more fuels work getting done.
Firefighter series once and for all
Basically implement what the Grassroots is proposing or something very similar. If we make these changes our agency will have people lining up to come back and our IMT’s will be hard to get a slot on. I don’t ever recall seeing as much momentum as there is now. EVERYONE needs to contact there congressional leaders ASAP and let their voices be heard. Ranting on websites is good for venting and sharing our concerns but congressional leaders that have the ability to make change need to hear our stories or nothing will ever change.
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Dam good post. Thanks.
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But being an elected politician is a highly skilled function to society…All you have to be as a politician is the most popular kid in school. Yet I’m sure the salary we pay him is no where near minimum wage. His statement is not just an affront to the federal agencies, it’s an affront to us all. To all my state brothers and sisters, if you’re not paying attention to the struggles our federal brothers and sisters are facing, now is the time to open your eyes. This is what our elected officials think of our skillsets and background. Get in the fight and start helping our federal partners out.
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@RepMcClintock
Twitter, FB, Instagram or email direct which you do, keep reminding him.
Hammer.
Sometimes we all say stupid things, he might just apologize. However that will never happen without your blow back.
With the focus on firefighters lately, this could get picked up by media outlets and go from there
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One post from early this week related to fed 24 Hour staffing patterns. Mostly down south, but now starting to see ordered stand by staffing used in other places for staffing throughout the region and at least on other fed agency. This local decision is not only beneficial to protect land, people and property, it helps the fed firefighter monetarily.
Ordered stand by at fire stations and during an emergencies as portal to portal pay needs to be expanded nationally.
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Ordered standby is great for a starter, but I remember it having some issues. Are troops getting the ordered stand by on incidents??
The one issue that I remember is that I was making more money sitting at the station on 24 hour staffing than the engines on the campaign fire on the forest were getting, because they were only making 16’s with H.
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I appreciate all the hard work you put in MHB! I hope everyone listens to your advice. Politicians do pay attention if you hound them enough! I send an email daily to the president, vice-president and congressman. Feinstein is my senator and whatever you may feel about her, she is pushing our demands and is on the right side of this. Do you have a template you recommend for emailing politicians? It might make it easier for some people to contact their leaders if they have something easy they can cut and paste into a contact form.
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Portions of the KNF are on 24s
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