Nevada Ruby Mountain Hotshot Fire Crew at the Dixie Fire in 2021
Photo credit: Joe Bradshaw, Bureau of Land Management
Sinema included language from her Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act– a permanent solution to fair wildland firefighter pay in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget
Sinema previously secured a temporary pay raise for wildlife firefighters while writing and negotiating her bipartisan infrastructure law
August 17, 2024 - WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved theFiscal Year 2025 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act which includes language from Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act – providing permanent pay raises to wildland firefighters.
“I’m proud to secure a permanent pay raise for Arizona’s brave federal wildland firefighters who risk their lives to keep our communities safe and secure,” said Sinema, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The appropriations legislation uses language directly from Sinema’s Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act to provide permanent pay raises to wildland firefighters. This raise provides fair pay to Arizona firefighters as they work every day to protect Arizona communities from dangerous wildfires. Sinema’s language was also included in the U.S. House of Representatives Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025, which passed the full House on July 24, 2024.
A 2022 GAO report found that the most commonly cited barrier to wildland firefighter recruitment and retention was low pay. Officials and stakeholders unanimously stated that the pay is too low and that the pay does not reflect the risk or physical demands of the work.
Earlier this year, Sinema spoke in a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies hearing about the importance of addressing forest restoration and firefighting needs in Arizona in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget. The Senator discussed with the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service Randy Moore about how the temporary pay increase she previously secured for wildland firefighters has improved recruitment and retention efforts – building and maintaining a force of highly-skilled firefighters to protect Arizona families and communities.
Source: Senator Kyrsten Sinema
