NFFE Applauds Bipartisan Efforts in House to Permanently End Wildland Firefighter Pay Cliff

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Matt Dorsey
Phone: 202-550-6987

June 28, 2024

Washington, D.C.. – Today, the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) applauds the inclusion of Wildland Firefighter Pay Protection Act (WFPPA) language to codify permanent pay increases in the House Interior Subcommittee Appropriations bill that was marked up and reported favorably this morning.

“The vibrant, bipartisan support for federal wildland firefighters demonstrated during the subcommittee session this morning was incredible to see,” said NFFE National President Randy Erwin. “Put simply, Republicans and Democrats stood together to prevent a major blow to the nation’s federal wildfire services.

Chairman Mike Simpson, Ranking Member Chellie Pingree, and bipartisan members of the subcommittee supported the inclusion of a permanent solution to end a devastating wage cliff that concerns all wildland firefighters, their families, and those in the communities they protect.

If passed into law, the bill would make permanent a new pay scale for federal firefighters, based on an emergency pay increase authorized by a 2021 law. Without this permanent solution, firefighters would take a pay cut up to 50% of their base salary, up to $20,000. The bill also includes a change in salary regulations that recognizes the 24/7 work schedule of wildland firefighters who are deployed for weeks at a time on fires, floods, search and rescue, prescribed burns, etc., mainly in remote areas.

“With wildfire seasons becoming more intense, as a country we cannot afford to lose experienced firefighters to state and local fire departments because their pay becomes unsustainable,” Erwin continued. “It should be obvious to every member of Congress that the wildfire crisis is not slowing down anytime soon, so a permanent solution to wildland firefighter pay must be found and it must be passed very soon.”

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