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The National Firefighter Registry is perhaps the most ambitious effort to better understand the link between firefighting and cancer.
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For now a third time, Congress has extended temporary pay increases for federal wildland firefighters with a continuing resolution. This time they go through just early March.
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Laura Daniel-Davis, the acting deputy secretary of the Interior Department, made the announcement at NIFC in Boise.
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The federal wildfire service has a gender-equity problem: in fiscal year 2021, 84% of firefighters were men. Federal land agencies have publicly committed to working on a number of diversity issues, and a relatively new crew for women in the southeast is part of an effort to attract and keep more women in the profession.
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Study: Pay, experience positively impact wildland firefighter retention; competing wages not so muchUsing a sizable dataset and an innovative methodology, researchers have just published a study looking at factors that influence retention for Hotshots, among the most experienced and highly trained workers on the fireline.
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Last week Congress passed another continuing resolution that includes an extension of temporary raises for wildland firefighters through early next year. Advocates say that’s better than nothing, but also that the lack of a permanent pay solution is having real effects on hiring managers and firefighter morale.
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A new paper analyzing the effectiveness of prescribed fire finds that they can substantially reduce the probability of high-intensity fires for as long as six years after the burn.
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The Nature Conservancy has been working with prescribed fire for years, often with federal agencies like the U.S. Forest Service. Leaders say a new multiyear agreement with the USFS and other recent developments will help get more beneficial fire on the ground, and could serve as a model for expanding prescribed fire efforts across the region.
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The move comes amid broader efforts to address longstanding working condition issues in the federal fire force.
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In recent years, wildland firefighters have organized to demand change – and have chalked up some notable successes. With longstanding pay issues still unresolved, spouses of firefighters are also starting to organize. Some of them recently formed the group Fired UP to help channel their grievances – and push for additional reforms.