NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 66

REINFORCEMENTS
and conditions, including mental
health services, for federal wildland
firefighters. Federal firefighters will
receive a raise of $20,000 per year
to their base salary-or an amount
equal to 50 percent of the base salary,
whichever is less-and for the first
time will have a separate occupational
track within the Forest Service;
previously, all wildland firefighters
were considered " forestry technicians. "
The bill also stipulates that no
fewer than 1,000 seasonal firefighters
will be converted to permanent,
full-time employees, and their job
descriptions will include 800 mandatory
hours of mitigation work per
year. " There has never been a requirement
like that in the job description
before, " Gabbert said.
Observers hope these changes will
solve some significant workforce
retention issues, a situation that Christiansen,
the former Forest Service chief,
has described as " at a breaking point. "
On its website, the US Forest Service
claims that it has 10,000 wildland
firefighting positions; 5,000 additional
positions exist through four
federal land management agencies.
But a sizeable portion of
those positions remain
unfilled due to experienced
firefighters leaving for higher-paying
state and private
jobs, Gabbert said. " There
is a huge turnover in the
wildland firefighting ranks
because it's been extremely
difficult to retain those firefighters, "
he said. According
to Gabbert's sources, the
Forest Service last spring
had " hundreds and hundreds "
of vacant firefighting
positions across the country.
As a result, " dozens of
engines could not be staffed
because they did not have
the minimum number of
people required, and there
were hotshot crews that
could not be deployed
because there were not
enough members, " he said.
" Early in the season, there
were incidents of crews
combining forces into a
single crew so they would
have enough numbers. "
Steinberg of NFPA's
FUEL PROBLEM The new wildfire funding includes $1.7 billion for fuel mitigation work across a variety
of fire-prone habitats, including $500 million for prescribed burns (top) and another $500 million for
mechanical thinning and cutting of trees and underbrush. GETTY IMAGES
66 | NFPA JOURNAL * SPRING 2022
Wildfire Division said she
has heard similar stories of
federal wildland firefighters
moving on to work at state
agencies like CALFIRE,
where they can earn better
wages. " It only makes sense
to bring the federal wage
up to parity, " she said. " I
think there is a feeling that
the Forest Service just can't
afford to lose people in
those jobs right now. "
" I feel confident that raising
the salaries will make a
difference, " Gabbert said.

NFPA Journal - Spring 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - Spring 2022

Contents
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - Cover1
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - Cover2
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 1
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 2
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 3
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - Contents
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 5
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 6
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 7
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 8
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 9
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 10
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 11
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 12
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 13
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 14
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 15
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 16
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 17
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 18
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 19
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 20
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 21
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 22
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 23
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 24
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 25
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 26
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 27
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 28
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 29
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 30
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 31
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 32
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 33
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 34
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 35
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 36
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 37
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 38
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 39
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 40
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 41
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 42
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 43
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 44
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 45
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 46
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 47
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 48
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 49
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 50
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 51
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 52
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 53
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 54
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 55
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 56
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 57
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 58
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 59
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 60
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 61
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 62
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 63
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 64
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 65
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 66
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 67
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 68
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 69
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 70
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 71
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 72
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 73
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 74
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 75
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 76
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 77
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 78
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 79
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 80
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 81
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 82
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NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 84
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 85
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 86
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 87
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - 88
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - Cover3
NFPA Journal - Spring 2022 - Cover4
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