• Though the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law reportedly gave thousands of wildland firefighters a pay boost, the threat of their mass exodus looms as a potential pay cut could take effect in a few months. Al Jazeera (LR: 2 CP: 1)
• The law saw wildland firefighters receive pay raises of either $20K or a 50% increase of their base pay. However, as the funding expires at the end of September, their pay may revert to its previous mark, which was less than $15/hr for some. Government Executive
• While the US Forest Service (USFS) has about 10,775 firefighters, the Interior Department — which manages federal and tribal lands — employs over 5.4K personnel. According to the USFS, the loss of the firefighting workforce due to pay cuts would be "pretty catastrophic." Newsmax
• Meanwhile, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema introduced a new bill — the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act — on Thursday to make the increase in pay for federal firefighters permanent. Arizona Daily Sun
• The development comes after the Biden admin. recently announced a $185M investment to support special pay supplements and training opportunities for federal wildland firefighters. DOI
• According to a recent study, federal firefighters make 40.5% less than their counterparts from state agencies, even though they reportedly work an average of 12 days more during wildfire season. Al Jazeera (LR: 2 CP: 1)

Narrative A:

• In 2022, nearly 69K wildfires burned more than 7.5M acres of land across the US. However, the brave men and women in the federal firefighting services received little compensation for working tirelessly to combat these disasters. It's high time they received significant pay bumps and other benefits — or they may walk away and find more lucrative careers elsewhere.
  Reckon

Narrative B:

• While $15/hr is certainly not enough for wildland firefighters, the issue may not be a lack of funding but a corrupt and bloated federal firefighting regime. It's the result of the fire-industrial complex — a mix of government agencies and private contractors profiting from failed fire suppression tactics, which usually do little to prevent fires but make the USFS a lot of money in the logging business.
  Slate (LR: 1 CP: 3)