When it comes to fighting wildfires, hotshot firefighters are the elite and most daring.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, the hotshot crews were formed in the 1940s to handle blazes in the Cleveland and Angeles National forests. The term “hotshot” was coined because they were tasked to work on the hottest part of wildfires.
Almost 80 years later, hotshot crews are not only working in the hottest areas of wildfires, they are working in thick forests and on remote hillsides – wherever fire engines and regular crews can’t go.
In the western US, where fire season is almost a year-round event, hotshot firefighters are needed more now than ever before. But there are fewer available than in recent years.
Former hotshot Luke Mayfield told KNX In-Depth Thursday that the pay for discrepancy for federal hotshots and other agencies is causing hotshots to quit the U.S. Forest Service and sign on with other jurisdictions.
“The entry-level employees start off at $13.45,” said Mayfield, who worked 18 years as a U.S. Forest Service firefighter, 12 of those years as a hotshot.
“When I resigned, I was an Assistant Hotshot Superintendent and I believe my salary was at or around $23 an hour and it took 18 years to get to that level. That’s roughly three times less than what some of our state counterparts are making at an entry level position.”
In a May 21 hearing questioning then-U.S. Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein said US Forest Service hotshots are making $38,000, while state-run Cal Fire is paying $70,000.
Mayfield, currently the vice president of the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters, said part of the problem with hotshots receiving adequate compensation is that approach the U.S. Forest Service takes to wildfires and staffing.
“The job was historically - and I think is still is - built on the premise of an expendable workforce and fire season being a season,” Mayfield said. “Fire seasons have turned into fire years and the working environment just hasn’t caught up with the need for federal wildland firefighters on a year-round basis.”
Christiansen said the gap in pay was “acute in California,” and expressed a need for a year-round workforce.
The issue with hotshots leaving the U.S. Forest Service is a lack of manpower and flexibility to hand wildfires. In the hearing, Feinstein said California saw four million acres burned in 2020.
“The federal system is built on national response, fluidity and flexibility. So everything is meant to be moved to respond to the highest needs and the biggest threats.” Mayfield said. “Now that we’re losing those personnel, we’re losing the capacity to respond on a national level.”
The hotshots are a tactical unit, with ability to be deployed throughout across state lines. State agencies are either unable or unwilling to fill the gaps, Mayfield said.
“As we’re seeing these heat waves we’re going through right now, it’s harder to get (agencies) who are willing to let their folks go to ongoing incidents,” he said. “There’s been a lot of ‘unable to fill’ orders just because you can’t let folks go when you have such a heightened fire danger at your home unit.”
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