Burn boss (trainee) monitoring radio traffic from the Incident Command Post on the Bureau of Land Management's Trout Springs Prescribed Fire in southwest Idaho. Image: DOI/Neal Herbert
By: FEDweek StaffThe Federal Employees Compensation Act program has set policies for special consideration of claims from federal firefighters, in response to a change in law creating a presumption that certain conditions are to be deemed work-related.
That provision, part of the DoD authorization law enacted late in 2022, expanded on a policy issued earlier last year requiring streamlined processing of claims from firefighters related to certain types of cancers, heart disease and lung disease. That reflects “an implicit recognition of a higher likelihood of illness related to such federal employment,” says FECA Bulletin 23-05.
The policy statement further simplifies the consideration of such claims if certain standards are met, including that “the diagnosis was found by a physician to be aggravated, accelerated, precipitated, or directly caused by work-related activities/exposure.”
The notice includes a list of the types of cancers that qualify, along with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and “a sudden cardiac event or stroke” during or within 24 hours after actively engaging in firefighting or emergency response.
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See also,
How Do Age and Years of Service Impact My Federal Retirement
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