r/Wildfire • u/smokejumperbro USFS • Feb 19 '25

News (General) Hiring freeze of firefighters could be deadly, Forest Service captain warns

https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/wildfires/hiring-freeze-firefighters-deadly-forest-service-captain-warns-rcna192494

Great one!

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94

u/realityunderfire Feb 19 '25 edited Feb 19 '25

As I’ve been watching all this unfold for the past 29 days my main thought has been: this season is going to be dangerous. Especially if it’s an active season.

My prediction is massive lack of leadership presence Massive lack of funding for anything Massive shortage of work force

Any other predictions I missed?

-16

u/pessimist_and_proud Feb 19 '25

Who’s to say firefighting wont turn to the private sector? Supply and demand, no?

13

u/rockshox11 :hamster: Feb 19 '25

If you think every fed firefighter will go contract, you don't know firefighters. I don't know at what ratio feds will go contractor, sooner state and county once they realize they're on the hook for IA. It'll just defer the tax cost elsewhere. 

10

u/wimpymist Feb 19 '25

Plus no fed firefighter is going to take a step backwards pay/benefits/respect and go contract. They will just go into a different field entirely.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '25

I certainly wouldn't be interested in being a contract firefighter stuck on some god forsaken hillside to save a timber company a few dollars.  Suppression for profit is like being a mercenary in a failed war for me.   Might be convinced to go on a burn crew and do RX in the southeast though.  

1

u/Far-Drive26 Feb 25 '25

Curious how much is fed firefighter pay for a entry level firefighter who just got his red card? I know ya'll get benefits and stuff we don't but, we make $26 an hour base pay and then almost $5 health and wealthfare that just gets added into our paycheck so $31 total, and then time and a half for overtime. The most I've ever made in a 14 day roll with getting mostly 16's as a plain FFT2 was around 5 grand. Now I know ya'll get guaranteed 40 hr paychecks during season even when not on fire, but do ya'll really make that much more than us? Cause I always see ya'll talk about how contractors get paid so much less and how no one wants to work for contractors, but I'm curious do you guys actually get better pay than us, cause guys on my crew that switched from fed to contractor have quite the opposite to say about Fed pay. Also why is it a step backwards respect wise, yes obviously we don't have as elite of crews like shots and jumpers, but our standard hand crews are no less capable than fed hand crews.

1

u/YOLO_Bundy Feb 19 '25

Have you checked to see what contractors pay lately? It is definitely not worse than the feds.

1

u/wimpymist Feb 19 '25

Not if you include, benefits and retirement. It's way worse for a career