firefighters

Nearly every member of the Vedauwoo Volunteer Fire Department resigned over the recent firing of their chief. The area is still being served by another nearby department.

Wildland firefighter advocates are celebrating the permanent pay raises included in a larger funding bill passed by Congress late last week.

Wildland firefighters have been pushing for permanent pay raises for years. A stopgap funding measure approved by the U.S. House of Representatives and now heading to the Senate would do just that.

Researchers are working to better understand the toxic exposures faced by the firefighters who responded.

That decision by the Department of Labor was based on a review of evidence that concluded that “female firefighters, more likely than not, face heightened risks for breast, uterine and ovarian cancers… due to the toxic exposures they face in their work.”

Wildland firefighters and their advocates pushed hard for permanent pay raises before Congress’ holiday recess. What firefighters got instead was yet another last-minute extension of temporary raises.

Researchers pored over roughly four dozen papers that assessed exposure to various carcinogens on the fireline. They identified 31 carcinogens – including asbestos, volatile organic compounds like benzene and crystalline silica.

County firefighters are taking stock and sharing lessons learned after this year’s massive wildfires. The state saw about 2,000 wildfires, with over 850,000 acres burned.

Federal wildland firefighters have enjoyed substantial temporary raises for several years. But they’ve only been kept in place by a series of stopgap measures from Congress, and now advocates are hoping to get a permanent fix before President-elect Trump takes office.

Wildland fire has a diversity problem: in 2022, the Government Accountability Office reported that the federal firefighting force was 84 percent men and 72 percent white. This inequitable situation has been identified as one of the key barriers to recruiting and retaining a workforce capable of confronting the wildfire crisis.