Wildland Firefighter Entry Level Pay

I have not looked at a map, but quite certain the Stanislaus n.f. falls within Stanislaus co, the sierra n.f. falls within Merced co., not sure about calaveras

Most of the Stanislaus NF is in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, Stanislaus county is in the Central Valley.

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Although I can’t confirm this will occur, it appears we have a real chance that those three counties will go into the San Francisco locality pay area in a few weeks.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/06/28/2023-13621/general-schedule-locality-pay-areas

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That’s a good thing for them. The northern district of the Sequoia now receives fresno co. Cola, big raise. However, the district just south is still under rest of U.S. pretty big difference in pay

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When YNP moved from Fresno to SF pay locality, I wanna say it was around 10% jump.

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YNP is currently in the “rest of US” locality scale, will hopefully be moved to the new Fresno-Madera-Hanford locality scale soon.

There have been attempts to switch to the SF scale for years, but it never happened.

Could WG and GS be in different locality pay scales out of the same geographical location? I was a YNP Red carded WG when we moved.

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I can’t speak to GS vs WG locality pay differences (I’m sure someone else here can shed some light on that)

But I can confirm YNP Fire folks (GS) are in the “rest of US” right now

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10-4, YNP WGs got moved to the Stockton scale pre 2010. Not Sf as I mentioned. Sounds like the GS getting moved there this January

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Yeah it’s weird.
I’m located in the Los Angeles GS locality but as a WG am in a separate Wage area weird thing Santa Barbara wage area is lower by about $2 per hr than most of CA

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Federal employees, including Wildland Firefighters in Calaveras and Merced counties are now in the San Francisco pay area. Roughly a 25% + pay raise. Executive Order was signed yesterday. Pay tables at the link.

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Next CR expiration date for USDA is Jan 19th.

Should be Feb 2.

Could be, there are two different dates. My impression is that the one affecting Agriculture, and thus FS, is Jan 19th.

On November 14 the U.S. House voted 336-95 to pass a two-part, or “laddered,” Continuing Resolution (CR; H.R. 6363) to extend Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 spending and avoid a government shutdown. The following day on November 15 the U.S. Senate voted 87-11 to clear the stopgap measure, sending the bill to the President’s desk for signature.

  • What does this mean? A “laddered CR” would have two separate expiration dates for two groups of annual spending bills:
    • Deadline #1: Agriculture-Rural Development, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Energy & Water, and Transportation-HUD are extended through January 19, 2024
    • Deadline #2: Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Financial Services & General Government, Homeland Security, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, and State & Foreign Operations are extended through February 2, 2024
  • Of note to counties, the CR extends the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through February 2, 2024 and extends the 2018 Farm Bill reauthorization through September 30, 2024.

As key intergovernmental partners, counties applaud the U.S. Congress for acting in a bipartisan manner to avoid a federal government shutdown and urge our federal partners to quickly pass FY 2024 appropriations.

Access counties’ Fiscal Year 2024 spending priorities here.

U.S. Congress passes second, “laddered” Continuing Resolution to avoid government shutdown | National Association of Counties (naco.org)

Maybe it’s Interior, not Agriculture.

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From what I understand we fall under the interior part of it. Either way it’s coming up quick so get to bugging your reps!

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I see two options over the next 30 days. With the Defense bill passing a couple weeks ago, a shutdown for the remaining federal agencies or a year round CR. The 3rd option is another short term CR, however they haven’t even passed legislation to begin negotiations between the House and Senate, so another short term seems unlikely or a waste of time?

The year round CR option will most likely continue the BIL retention payments and not likely to have the new pay scale with other talked about emergency response incentives, although anything is still possible. It’s unknown if Mikes Johnson can keep his job if he goes with option 2 or 3, however I think he will if for nothing else to give them some small hope to hold onto the House in Nov, 2024.

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The dedication and patriotism of federal wildland firefighters should not be used to prove they are politically naive. These are not ordinary political circumstances.

Maybe, the Congress think they are dealing with their own gardeners and landscapers.

They are going to discover that a thick pall lies over the land and they are on The Line; the sky is an inferno, the saws are singing and the troop moves as one, face to face with the dragon.

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Does anybody know an estimate of how long retention bonus is set to be retained? Hearing conflicting reports, one that it is set to expire at end of fiscal year, another that it will expire unless extension is included in the c.r. or budget actually passes? Preparing for an even larger mass exedous to occur…

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It’s currently funded until the end of the current CR, which is early March.

Hard to say what the future holds, however I my guess is it won’t end until the new ffer pay scale is in place. However if anyone tells you they know with 100% certainty what’s going to happen is lying to you.

A lot could depend on the election or what can get done before the election might be a better way to say it.

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So much uncertainty. Meanwhile California minimum wage will go up another $0.50 on 1/1/25. With fast food minimum wage going to $20.00 an hour on 4/1/24.

Johnny & Sally McBurger flipper with ZERO experience, training and a safe working environment will make more than an experienced, trained FF who risks their life and spends day, weeks, and months away from home and family.

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