"But I had to do what was right by my family and myself."Īccording to KNTV, the Forest Service has said it is working with U.S. It was the best job in the world," Humphrey said. The thrill of the job itself is enough to keep some firefighters in the position, but some fear if there isn't reform soon, there will be less and less firefighters. "I was dealing with a lot of just anger and depression and a lot of things that I needed to figure out about. "My family was suffering financially with me being gone 140 days a year," he said. Humphrey said he couldn't put in the effort he knew the job required when he was worrying so much about money. Grassroots Wildland Firefighters also said 20 percent of the Forest Service's permanent firefighter positions are currently vacant. "You can go get a job at some of those fast-food restaurants, and get paid better base wages than you do here," Humphrey added. The Grassroots Wildland Firefighters website demonstrated that federal-level firefighters are making about half as much as their Cal Fire counterparts. So the actual living conditions, coupled with the wages, it's pretty terrible."įederal firefighters and state firefighters, members of Cal Fire, have an unexplainable pay disparity as well. "Oftentimes the camps are in places that it's very smoky, very dirty and loud, so you don't sleep much. There's barely time to take showers if you get to take a shower and camp," he said. "We're not going to hotels for the most part. It's not an easy job either, as former hotshot firefighter Aaron Humphrey told KRCW that "these federal firefighters are sleeping in the dirt." Firefighters in California are quitting their jobs because of incredibly low wages and a lack of benefits as three major fires rage in California's Inland Empire, Central Valley, and the California-Oregon border.Įlite teams of wildland firefighters known as "hotshot" teams are growing sparse, and KNTV reported the starting pay for a hotshot team member is $13.45 an hour.Įmployed by the federal government, hotshot firefighters are best equipped to tackle large wildland fires on rough terrain, but firefighters are finding they can make more money on unemployment than they do while employed.
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