In 2021, wildland firefighter pay was temporarily increased by $20,000 or 50%, depending on location, as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Funding for that raise was initially set to deplete last year, but a series of continuing resolutions and a recent appropriations act are set to extend that pay raise until the end of this fiscal year.

Even still, the National Federation of Federal Employees is warning that if Congress does not make that pay raise permanent by passing the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act, up to half of all wildland firefighters may leave their jobs when their pay is cut, dramatically impairing the Forest Service’s ability to fight wildfires at a time when climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of those natural disasters.