WASHINGTON, D.C. – With Utah’s summer fire season already in full bloom, Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) has joined congressional colleagues in forwarding legislation to better protect and compensate federal firefighters.
The bipartisan Support Our Firefighters Act was introducted into the 119th Congress on June 11. It would provide federal wildland firefighters dedicated rest and recuperation leave following extended deployments to major wildfire incidents.
The bill also aims to improve workforce well-being, reduce burnout and help agencies retain the experienced personnel required to respond to increasingly complex wildfire threats.
“As Utah and other Western states face increasingly challenging fire seasons, we need to ensure our dedicated firefighters have the support they deserve,” according to Curtis.
As of early June, officials of the U.S. Forest Service reported that they have more than 11,500 federal firefighters standing by to combat wildfires nationwide.
Even combined with state and local firefighters, they acknowledge that force isn’t sufficient to address the continuing wildfire crisis, but it is all they are able to support with limited current infrastructure, funding and other resources.
As wildfire seasons grow longer and more severe across the West, Curtis’ staff in Washington explain, federal firefighters are increasingly spending weeks away from their families and communities while protecting lives, property and public lands.
Here in Utah, for example, state officials have already recorded more than 230 fires this season, with two fires exceeding 1,000 acres. Like the most recent Ensign Peak fire in Salt Lake City, the majority of those blazes so far have been human-caused.
The Support Our Firefighters Act would establish a formal rest and recuperation leave program for eligible wildland firefighters employed by the U.S. Forest Service and Department of the Interior after lengthy assignments on qualifying wildfire incidents.
To plan for potential new wildfire activity, firefighters and equipment are often strategically moved around the country for prolonged periods.
This pre-positioning relocates firefighters away from one area, as its potential for new wildfires drops, to another area where wildfires are increasingly likely to occur.
As fire years become longer and more intense, the need for such collaborative fire management with state and local officials is more important than ever, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Specifically, the Support Our Firefighters Act would require the Departments of Agriculture and Interior to develop uniform policies for rest and recuperation leave for federal fighters; address firefighter workforce retention by recognizing physical and mental demands of prolonged deployments; and permanently extend existing waivers of overtime pay caps for federal firefighters.
“Providing time to rest and recover after extended deployments is a commonsense step that will help strengthen recruitment, retention and readiness across the federal firefighting workforce,” Curtis adds.
The Support Our Firefighters Act is being co-sponsored by Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Tim Sheehy (R-MT).