-If they called them firefighters, they’d have to pay
them like firefighters.” That’s the aim of union organizer Kenny
Harrell of the Sacramento-based California Professional
Firefighters. Harrell wants better pay for federal wildland fire
crews, now called “forestry technicians.” Under that title, federal
firefighters are paid less than municipal workers and then only
while battling flames. The Agriculture Department says the title
indicates the range of duties performed by its fire personnel, but
to Harrell it’s a way of forcing firefighters down the pay scale.
The average wildland firefighter makes an hourly wage of $7.21,
Harrell says, while other Civil Service employees at the same grade
earn $10.34, and municipal firefighters earn about $12.34. As a
result, Harrell says, wildland fire crews push themselves harder,
working longer hours to make up for the lower pay scale. “In
effect, they are killing themselves. We’re going to have wildfires
again. And they are going to start dying again.” Harrell’s solution
is “portal-to-portal” pay, which would start the clock for federal
firefighters from the time they arrive on the fire and include time
spent eating, sleeping or resting. “Shea
Andersen
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Higher pay for hotter jobs?.
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