More than two years ago, Congress passed a pay-bump requirement for wildland firefighters of $20,000 or 50% of their salary, whichever came first.
Federal firefighters like Warner Vanderhuel of Oscoda, who represents wildland firefighters as the general vice president of the National Federation of Federal Employees Forest Service Council, says these pay requirements need to be made permanent.
He says the Forest Service is bleeding employees and struggling to offer competitive wages.
"We're just not able to hire right now, because they're taking jobs elsewhere, outside of land management. The middle level leadership we have now they're all bailing," Vanderhuel said.
The bill now waits for a Senate vote, where it's likely to pass and will avoid a partial government shut down.
