Wildland Firefighter Entry Level Pay

General Discussion
#753

Another co-sponsor. The last ones signed on May 10th. Since then my front door had four coats of stain and sealer applied and dried, so “watching paint dry” is no longer applicable. Even “glacial speed during a cold winter” seems inadequate considering the coverage that has been floating around.

H.R.5631 - Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act (117th Congress)
Sponsor: [Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]](https://www.congress.gov/member/joe-neguse

/N000191?loclr=cga-member) (Introduced 10/19/2021)

Has changes in:

  • Cosponsors (1 new, 14 total)
    • Cosponsor: 06/17/2022: Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-20]
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#754

The June 16th update from the Deputy chief said

“Our goal remains to provide this increased payment to as many of you as possible nationwide…”

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#755

100% True. Down and dirty best way to say it. If it wasn’t For ADs I’m not sure there would be any Fed teams without vacant openings

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#757

Yes. Based on the pay period date they drop the funds in your account

#758

Nothing concrete, however I think chances are more likely than not it will be for all geographic areas. Sen Angus King will get what he wants.

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#759

Any word on a update from the forest service today?

Or same as the BLM and no info to report.

#760

Juneteenth holiday, not likely.

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#761
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#762
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#763
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#764

It’s a start. It’s a dam good start.

MHB

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#765

Well I suppose the Dozer guys will continue to fill the candidate pool for other agencies.

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#766

Very good start

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#767

A very good start indeed. The question moving forward on this. What happens on 1/1/23 when the minimum wage in California goes to $15.50/hr? What happens on 10/1/23 if a permanent fix hasn’t been implemented and the funding from the bill goes away?

The bottom line is this, until there is a fix in the Demographics, the staffing shortages ACROSS ALL TRADES will continue.

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#768

The nffe seems to think that we will be included in this pay bump. Going forward I’m wondering how the 0456 series will work with the Wage Grades

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#769

I hope so!

#770

All 6c retirement personnel are included in this

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#771

Do Forest Service dozer operators have firefighter retirement coverage in their position descriptions?

I should know that answer, but I don’t. Care toy share the position description?

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#772

Yes we do.
We are covered with primary fire retirement.
We just get routinely forgotten because we are few in numbers and HR has no clue how to deal with the Wage Grade system.

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#773

Yes, I don’t know too many details but we had the same age requirements and had to retire at 57 with the rest of the fire folks. If you worked in the engineering department and operated equipment they don’t have that requirement but also have a different retirement plan. I was only with the feds for 3 years and I hadn’t looked into the retirement since it was so far away at the time!