Heinrich & Bipartisan Colleagues to Schumer & McConnell: Pass Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act to Keep Our Communities Safe

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined a bipartisan group of senators in urging Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to avoid mass resignations within the wildland firefighter ranks by ensuring the prompt passage of the bipartisan Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act.  

 

Heinrich is a cosponsor of the bipartisan Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act, which permanently raises base pay for federal wildland firefighters after the temporary pay increase that he helped secure in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law expires. If the legislation does not pass, and Congress does not authorize a permanent pay increase, we risk facing a mass resignation that will leave the workforce unprepared to keep communities safe. 

 

“Due to the dangers that wildfires pose to our forests and communities, a lack of action to ensure the fair treatment of our Federal wildland firefighting workforce would jeopardize national security. Therefore, we request that you take all possible actions to ensure this critical legislation passes into law before the end of the fiscal year,” wrote the senators.

 

Due to funding limitations, pay is set to revert to previous levels beginning on October 1, 2023. Given the lower pay and grueling nature of the work, there is great concern about the ability to meet the staffing and labor levels required to adequately respond to wildfires across the country. The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act would prevent these dramatic pay cuts from taking place. 

 

The letter outlines how a recent report conducted by GAO found that the most commonly cited barrier to wildland firefighter recruitment and retention was low pay. Officials and stakeholders unanimously stated that the pay is too low and noted that the pay does not reflect the risk or physical demands of the work. 

 

The Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act supports federal wildland firefighters by creating a special pay rate to permanently raise their pay after the funding that Heinrich helped secure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law runs out. It also introduces incident response premium pay to account for the 24/7 nature of the work that firefighters do while they are deployed at qualifying incidents. The legislation helps ensure the federal government can recruit and retain a sufficient wildland firefighting workforce, and that these brave men and women feel supported as they protect and keep New Mexicans safe from wildfires. 

 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law also made historic investments in wildfire mitigation and recovery – including directing the federal government to create a new occupational series for wildland firefighters.  

 

The letter was led by U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema and in addition to Heinrich was signed by U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.). 

 

Find the letter here. 

 

On June 11, 2022, Senator Heinrich led a letter to the Biden Administration urging them to swiftly implement the supplemental pay increase that was included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Less than two weeks later, the Biden Administration announced the rollout of that supplemental pay increase that kept mass resignations within the workforce at bay. However, we are now facing a mass exodus of wildland firefighters from federal agencies if that pay increase is not made permanent.   

 

In June of this year, Heinrich joined a letter led by Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee urging them to consider legislation that would authorize a long-term solution to increase wildland firefighter recruitment and retention.   

 

In July, Heinrich voted to advance the FY24 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. Included in the bill’s accompanying report was a commitment by the Committee to provide the resources required to implement the pay increase once the authorizing legislation becomes law. There are multiple avenues to ensure that the funding to enact these changes is available to U.S. Forest Services (USFS) and DOI. The Chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), has stated that he is committed to making sure that there is no lapse in increased pay for wildland firefighters and would look forward to considering a near-term supplemental funding package to do so.   

 

In August, Heinrich welcomed President Joe Biden’s FY24 supplemental funding request that includes $60 million to continue current wildland firefighter pay levels before short-term pay increases are set to expire on September 30th.