WASHINGTON — Colorado Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper urged U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday to take action on permanent and advanced pay increases for federal firefighters before pay is cut in half for thousands of federal wildland firefighters.
Bipartisan efforts last year resulted in temporary pay increases of $20,000, or 50% percent of base salary, for the wildland firefighter workforce through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which included $600 million to increase pay and support.
The temporary pay increases affecting over 22,000 federal firefighters are set to run out on Saturday unless Congress intervenes. The federal government is the largest employer of wildland specialized firefighting services in the country.
In Colorado, the average entry-level federally employed firefighter makes $26,900 dollars a year compared to Colorado state-employed firefighters who make $44,460 dollars a year. Federal engine captains earn about 68% percent of what Colorado state-employed engine captains earn, according to the Grassroots Wildland Firefighter Committee.
Bennet and U.S. Representative Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) introduced in May the Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act to increase pay and provide benefits to federal wildland firefighters.
The letter presented to Schumer by 13 senators emphasized the importance of providing federally employed wildland firefighters with a living wage as climate change brings larger and more frequent fires.
“As we face a hotter and drier future, wildfires are not going to stop and fire seasons will only get longer,” Bennet said. “If Congress fails to act soon, we could lose the expertise of a generation or more of federal wildland firefighters.”
According to a project by the Federation of American Scientists, there were an average of 61,410 wildfires annually between 2013 to 2022. Four of the five largest wildfires in Colorado occurred between 2018 and 2020, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control. Many of the largest fires in Colorado have been concentrated in the Southwest part of the state.
“Firefighters deserve fair pay, support for their mental and physical health, and time to recover from their dangerous work,” the senators wrote in their letter. “In a future with increasingly catastrophic wildfires, Congress cannot delay and deny this critical workforce’s needs.”
whansen@durangoherald.com
