Firefighters at work on Pioneer Fire, located in the Boise National Forest near Idaho City, ID in July 2016, having consumed 96,469 acres at the time. Image: U.S. Forest Service
By: FEDweek StaffA bill pending before Congress to continue higher rates of pay for some 13,000 Agriculture Department wildland firefighters and about 4,500 of the Interior Department would benefit them in ways beyond their basic pay, according to a Congressional Budget Office Analysis.
A continuation of the higher basic pay rates will be pushed for early attention after Congress returns after Labor Day from its current recess, since funding approved last year for the higher rates will expire September 30 and rates otherwise would revert to their previous levels. The White House recently asked for additional money as part of a budget supplement request but the timing and fate of that request on Capitol Hill is uncertain.
In the meantime, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has sent to the Senate S-2272, to continue the higher rates, ranging from about an additional 40 percent to 2 percent, decreasing with higher grade levels.
Further, the bill would create a daily pay premium of 4.5 times the regular hourly rate for the firefighters and related employees responding to long-duration wildfires, working on prescribed fires, or deployed away from their duty station to pre-position in an area at high risk of fire. Those payments would be capped at about $160 per day, or $9,000 annually.
The bill also would require the two departments to jointly develop and implement policies for maximum length of deployment, maximum hours worked, and minimum periods of rest between deployments. The departments also would have to assess the impact of the higher pay rates and would be authorized to make further adjustments if needed.
A companion bill (HR-5169) has been offered in the House but has not advanced there.
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