“Firefighter I - Crew will now require SFT Fire Fighter 1C: Wildland or the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) equivalent and the new Fire Protection Orientation Course. This combination will replace the Fire Crew Firefighter Course.”
Calfire has now officially aligned with OSFM SFT for Wildland Fire Training 1C. The NWCG courses equivalents are S130 & S131.
The hemorrhaging of employees will accelerate. Calfire is staffing 16 additional crews with 40 FF each in California before June 30, 2022. These positions start at $15/hr, are a 72hr work week ($1017.50 week before unplanned OT) and includes full medical, dental, vision and a retirement plan.
There are rumors of an additional 16 crews(32 total) after July 1st.
Hoss you need more than what you stated in NWCG courses you also need S190, L180, and FFS&S Level 1
Correct.
However perm/temp Federal Emoyees will have all the prerequisites except WS&S LV1 1 and the orientation class as Federal Employees.
Good to see the Forest Service acknowledge what the law requires related to pay and when the pay will arrive. She needs to make that goal a reality.
Some stats I came across. Wondering if anyone can validate.
Forest Service in Cali has between 210-240 planned 7-day staffed engines.
Using that total number of engines, between 70-85 are only going to be staffed 5-day.
Using that total number of engines between 25-35 will not be staffed at all.
Can this be accurate?
R5 has 272 engines. After the Captains group call last month, your numbers are very optimistic. I would expect 50% or more of the engines to be staffed 5-day. Almost every Forest had at least 1 engine planning to be unstaffed, most were probably 3-4 engines unstaffed. I didn’t write down the numbers and a few Forests weren’t on the call, but other than the ANF, everyone seemed to be in a pretty dire position.
Copy that. Thanks. I did notice no report from some forests, which makes sense with your 272.
25-35 not staffed at all is low you think?
That might be about right for unstaffed going into the season, but I could see it ending up higher than that. Especially once DIVS and TFLD Captains start getting ordered up, a lot of engines will end up effectively downstaffed. The main number I think is off is the number of 7-day engines, I think 210-240 is much higher than the staffing levels I’ve seen and heard can support. I heard a lot of Forests on the call talking about 2-3 engines 7-day, 9 5-day, 3 unstaffed, as a guessed average.
The letter. Randy how about you do something?
Maybe the chatter is causing additional folks to look at the bill? You’d think that with 13 co-sponsors that someone would ask about it actually moving along. I know it is about optics, they can tell their constituents that they support it even though no one is moving it down range.
H.R.5631 - Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act (117th Congress)
Sponsor: Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2] (Introduced 10/19/2021)
Has changes in:
-
Cosponsors (2 new, 13 total)
- Cosponsor: 05/10/2022: Rep. DelBene, Suzan K. [D-WA-1]
- Cosponsor: 05/10/2022: Rep. Smith, Adam [D-WA-9]
What have you done today to spread the message? Tell the public, tell your representatives, tell EVERYONE! LIKE, SHARE, WRITE!
Why are the agencies going silent now? We need them to show us their cards. Come on USFS and DOI, what are going to do in this already busy fire season. Tell your employees so we can retain them and not loose them. Speak now, before you dig the grave deeper. It is already bad and probably only going to get worst.
I concur with this Desertrat. If my calculations are correct it’s been 181 full days since the signing of the infrastructure bill into law. The classification among other important items were supposed to be finihed and published for all the eyes to see yesterday.
I am eager to see what this week brings. It seems almost too quiet on the front of congress, our leaders and grassroots. I will say this, something needs to pan out soon as it is looking dire in the world of retention.
Some aren’t going to hold their breath much longer. Probably a good time to write once again to our politicians. Let’s get this done. There’s a lot riding on the next 2 months.