A scorching summer of wildfires out west has brought the issues of firefighters who battle them to the forefront on Capitol Hill.
The National Federation of Federal Employees penned a letter to President Obama on Sept. 16 to ask for a speedy implementation of the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act. Obama signed that law on Aug. 7, opening eligibility for vacant federal positions to temporary seasonal employees, including wildland firefighters. However, the urgency of the wildfires makes it important to implement the law quickly, wrote NFFE president William Dougan.
“Now, we are waiting for action by your administration to put this new law into effect,” Dougan said in the letter. “I’m told the routine rule-making process could delay implementation by up to a year or more.”
Related: Read the letter here.
The law is awaiting agency guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, but to prevent further delays, the letter requests that The White House compel OPM to implement the law quickly.
The request is not without precedent, as the letter notes that Obama had OPM fast-track a 2012 rule change that allowed temporary employees to be eligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, a process that took six days.
“Further delay would mean many long-serving ‘temporary’ firefighters who have already waited many years because of flawed regulations would have to wait another year for their opportunity,” he said. “Further delay would mean that hiring agencies would not have access to these skilled, experienced applicants. Further delay is unacceptable.”
The new law is not the only recent bill to address the role of firefighters,.Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R.-Calif., introduced the Federal Wildland Firefighter Recognition Act on July 29, which proposes designating wildland firefighters as a separate and distinct occupation under OPM rules.
The bill, in addition to several wildfire funding proposals, have been backed by the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the state has experienced more than 5,200 fires, covering almost 218,000 acres since the start of the year. The Obama administration, on Sept. 15, directed another $250 million, on top of $450 million already allocated, in funding to fight wildfires out west.
