In 1986 about three million acres of land burned due to wildfires. Nearly 40 years later, the amount of land burned during wildfires more than tripled, amounting to over ten million acres. Between 1980 and 2023, the U.S. experienced 22 wildfire events that caused more than $1 billion in physical damage, eighteen of which occurred following the turn of the century. Yet, a job at McDonald’s or Starbucks is currently more secure and higher paying than that of a wildland firefighter. The United States’ nearly 11,000 Federal Wildland Firefighters, despite being responsible for managing blazes across nearly 730 million acres of land, an area nearly the size of India, are perpetually underpaid, underinsured and under-resourced.
Take the story of Ben Elkin, a wildland firefighter for the US Forest Service—the federal agency that directs the majority of the nation’s wildfire prevention and management operations—for over 14 years. Elkin was one of 450 licensed smokejumpers at the time of his service. As a smokejumper, Elkin jumped out of planes and parachuted into remote areas to combat early-stage wildfires. Elkin never earned an hourly wage of more than $15. “I made decisions that can cost millions of dollars with lives hanging in the balance, yet I was paid more like a teenager working a summer job rather than a highly experienced professional.” In 2021, Elkin made about $43,000 over the course of a seven-month fire season. Elkin’s base pay made up less than half his total income. Most of his salary, in fact, came from his over 700 hours of hazard pay, which involved multi-week shifts away from home. While training a group of Seattle firefighters, Elkin was stunned to learn that his students, novel firefighters employed by the city of Seattle, earned more in two weeks than he did in a six-month fire season for the federal government.
Unfortunately, 2021 was Elkin’s last full year as a smokejumper, following a career-ending injury, for which the federal government offered little to no support. Elkin ultimately chose not to file a formal compensation request with the Department of Labor because caseworkers are notorious for failing to understand how to properly file wildland firefighters’ injury claims, given the geographically diffuse nature of their roles. In fact, a recent survey found that half of Forest Service employees who suffered an on-the-job injury did not report it. While Elkin completed his rehabilitation and could return to work, his injury prevented him from qualifying for hazard pay, leaving him with an annual salary of about $20,000. With a young and growing family, Elkin decided to quit his job as a smokejumper for a new role that was permanent, lower-risk and higher-paying in the Forest Service. “I like my job,” he said. “It’s just difficult to justify it with a family.” Elkin currently occupies a non-active fire role in the Forest Service and trains the next generation of wildland firefighters, as an assistant captain on a handcrew.
The unstable, high-risk and low-paying job of a wildland firefighter has led to a retention crisis. “The ship is sinking,” says Abe Martinez, a former Forest Service engine captain and current National Fire Chair for the National Federation of Federal Employees, the union that represents wildland firefighters. A 45% attrition rate, over the past three years, among full-time employees created many vacancies within the Forest Service’s ranks, which, according to some experts, constitutes a “national security crisis.” The Northwest, a hotspot of wildfires, has already lost three of its ten Type-II Incident Management Teams, the go-to line of defense for regional fire suppression.
The Trump administration, in looking to jumpstart a “renewed emphasis on federalism” within the Forest Service, threatens to further deplete the size, and consequently the quality and morale, of an already disillusioned wildland firefighting force. A source at the Forest Service completely rebuked the Trump administration’s federalist ideals, which involve decentralizing the role of the federal government and increasing the responsibilities of the states, “How many, out of our 50 states, actually have a budget surplus. Of the states with a budget surplus, their excess revenue is very marginal. And very little of their current budget is going toward some of the things we just mentioned (wildfire prevention and management activities). So, when you want to give responsibility to the state, what are you talking about? Are you subsidizing the states? I’m not saying that this (Federalism) is impossible, but you must have the funding, people, and infrastructure, which does not exist at the moment.”
Despite the objects of many experts, the administration, in January, issued a federal hiring freeze, preventing the hiring and onboarding of seasonal firefighters, who, last year, composed a third of all federal wildland firefighters. The administration has also attempted to eliminate the jobs of permanent Forest Service employees. In early February, the administration issued an executive order that fired (and was subsequently forced to rehire) 3,400 probationary employees, about 10% of the Forest Service’s workforce.
Due to labor shortages, off-season fuels management activities were forced to a halt, which will likely lead to more frequent and stronger wildfires this fire season. Firefighting crews, moreover, are forecasted to be severely understaffed this summer, placing firefighters and fire-prone communities at even greater risk.
The Trump administration claimed its firings targeted “non-fire personnel.” But according to Steve Gutierrez, a former Forest Service wildland firefighter, these “non-fire personnel” are critical to fire prevention and management operations. “They’re all part of this logistical machine that helps support fire,” he said. “They’re either ecologists, they’re mechanics, they’re pilots, they’re water systems operators, they’re grants and agreements folks, they’re land management, minerals and geologists to help recovery efforts from the aftereffect of fire…They support all of what happened before fire, during a fire, and after a fire.” Many of these “non-fire personnel” hold dual jobs and serve as secondary firefighters. Lanny Flaherty, a botanist for the Forest Service, who was affected by February’s executive orders, estimated that in the past five years about 40-50% of his job involved directly fighting wildfires. “When a fire breaks out, we’re out there like everybody else getting into the fray.” The instability caused by the Trump administration has scared too many long-tenured Forest Service “non-fire” employees into participating in one of the two deferred resignation programs, creating significant brain drain and, once again, limiting the agency’s ability to successfully respond to deadly wildfires.
The job of wildland firefighters is to combat wildfires. They should not have to fight the Trump administration for reasonable pay and benefits, fully staffed and well-resourced teams, and logistical support from critical “non-fire personnel.” This man-made fire in the US Forest Service must be put out before it creates more real-world damage.