US firefighters face pay cuts as El Niño fuels wildfire threat

• Money for pay rises in infrastructure law runs out
• Uncertainty prompts firefighters to consider leaving
• More intense fire season expected this year

RICHMOND, Virginia – Potential wage cuts, paralysed federal politics, and poor morale among firefighters could leave the United States massively under-equipped to combat wildfires in 2024, even as the El Niño phenomenon makes blazes more likely, firefighters say.

On top of these challenges, millions of dollars meant to reduce the risk of wildfires starting in the first place - and to cover the cost of fighting them - are being diverted to shore up wages and encourage skilled personnel to stay in their jobs. 

That is because some $600 million earmarked by the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden in 2021 for firefighter salaries and temporary pay increases has been spent or allocated, raising fears of pay cuts of up to $20,000 per year for those on the frontlines of the climate emergency.

"We're going to run out of money," said Jonathon Golden, a former wildland firefighter.

"If we have a typical fire year, we'll definitely run out of funding for the pay" and other priorities, he said. "If you've got to wonder whether the next pay period's payroll is going to have that supplement there or not, that causes a lot of uncertainty."

Federal wildland firefighters are already paid less than many of their state and city counterparts, and the uncertainty over wages is weighing on a workforce already stretched thin.

Exacerbating the problem is near-paralysis in the federal budget process. In January, Congress approved another stopgap bill to fund the federal government through early March and avert a partial government shutdown.

A handful of federal agencies are funded through March 1 and others are funded through March 8. The stopgap legislation, which has been rolling over since October, authorised the Biden administration to continue the elevated pay levels with other funds but firefighters want a more permanent solution.

"Congress doesn't seem to be taking it seriously," said Luke Mayfield, president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, an advocacy group. 

"Everybody's in the red right now in terms of salaries and expenses no matter what region you look at, and the money (needs) to be appropriated if we're taking this problem seriously."

Response capacity diminished?

The majority of the United States' roughly 17,000-strong federal wildland firefighting force works for either the U.S. Forest Service or the Department of the Interior.

More than 5,450 Interior Department wildland firefighters have received the pay supplements since 2022. Additionally, some 12,800 firefighters from the Forest Service could have their pay cut by about $20,000 per year if Congress fails to act, according to a Forest Service spokesperson.

Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2021 after criticizing what he called firefighters' "ridiculously low" salaries. It included temporary pay increases of up to $20,000 or 50% of firefighters' base salary, whichever was lower.

After the infrastructure law money had been exhausted, funds were pulled from other streams to keep those increases going. 

The Forest Service expects to have diverted about $55 million of suppression money - used for wildfire response - for the pay increases by March 8, a Forest Service spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the Interior Department is expected to have diverted $22 million in preparedness funds - which can be used for training personnel or managing equipment and resources - by that date to keep the raises going, according to a department spokesperson. 

But even if Congress continues to grant authority to spend other money on boosting firefighters' pay, the Interior Department might need to use "alternative funding sources" to "ensure that wildfire response capacity is not diminished during this year's peak fire season," the spokesperson said.

The Forest Service is already stretched thin for 2024, according to a memo this month from Chief Randy Moore.

It is facing "gaps in funding for our salaries, information technology needs, and other expenses," Moore said. "We will manage any attrition strategically, focusing hiring on meeting highest priority needs."

Ben McLane, a federal firefighter, said uncertainty over how long the pay increases could continue is an added strain.

"The stress of perpetually facing a $20,000-a-year (cut) ... facing that kind of pay cut, you can imagine what that makes you feel like as someone who's a breadwinner for a family," he said.

Some firefighters are not sticking around to find out what will happen.

"I have been hearing not only are vacancies at an all-time high, but application pools are at an all-time low," said a wildland firefighter based in Washington state, who requested anonymity for fear of professional consequences.

A major concern is not only the attrition rate, but that those with the most experience are the ones leaving, including members of highly regarded Hotshot crews who work on particularly strenuous or dangerous assignments, the firefighter said.

"They're still getting out there and doing good work, but they don't have the highest-qualified, most experienced people on their teams anymore because they're moving on to greener pastures or just getting out of fire altogether."

Previewing the 2024 fire season

Though smoke wafting into the U.S. - and across the Atlantic Ocean - from massive wildfires in Canada and devastating blazes on Maui in Hawaii dominated headlines in 2023, a damp winter helped lead to a relatively quiet year for wildland fires overall in the United States.

There were 56,580 wildland fires and about 2.7 million acres burned in 2023, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. That's below averages from the prior 10 years of about 61,400 fires and 7.1 million acres burned per year, according to Context calculations. 

But researchers say this year could be different, noting that El Niño, which involves unusually warm ocean temperatures, helped fuel historic wildfires in Chile already this year.

Mayfield said he expects a "large fire season" in 2024 given a relative lack of snowfall and moisture across the west.

"In my time in wildland fire, we haven't had three slow fire seasons, and it's pretty rare. We're just not in a time where I see that happening," he said. 

Regardless of the severity, there are only so many resources to go around.

"Whether it be because of uncertainty or realised loss of compensation, there will be less capacity of the federal wildland fire branch to respond to wildland fire emergencies, as well as manage the nation's wildland fire crisis," said firefighter McLane.

Lawmakers have introduced more comprehensive legislation on firefighter pay and benefits over the last few years, but the most ambitious proposals have not advanced to Biden's desk.

"Hopefully we'll see a permanent fix beyond March 8th," Mayfield said. "Otherwise, we're not doing anything to improve the retention and recruitment rates of the federal workforce if there's not a permanent solution in some way, shape or form."

(Reporting by David Sherfinski; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile.)