r/Wildfire • u/smokejumperbro USFS • Feb 06 '25

News (General) Sens. Padilla, Sheehy propose new wildfire agency

https://www.semafor.com/article/02/06/2025/sens-padilla-sheehy-propose-new-wildfire-agency

Here we go folks

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u/ZonaDesertRat Feb 06 '25

Cause FMOs and the type have never screwed anyone over??? Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. I've seen it far too often, folks you thought would never turn on "the brotherhood" do a 180 the min they get into management. While I despise them for doing it, I also know that it is how it is... Management is always, ALWAYS there to protect the agency, not the worker!

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u/smokejumperbro USFS Feb 06 '25

Feels like you're making a false equivalence. "Well these guys are bad too!"

Most FMOs are great and we can't get bad individuals out completely. But currently we have a bad SYSTEM. And that system needs to be changed.

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u/retardanted Feb 06 '25

The current system in which no one is motivated to move above FMO to district ranger because they would be changing out of fire retirement, but must be overseen (and increasingly so) by these people in upper management is not good. Basically no one works any serious amount of time in fire makes it to those high level positions in the USFS and DOI. But now the USFS puts these folks with no fire experience in charge of fire hire and are the AAs telling teams how to manage fire

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u/Fetterflier Feb 07 '25

Once you hit 20 years in federal fire as a perm, don't you basically just switch over to regular FERS after that anyway?