As wildfires grow in intensity and frequency, it is important that federal agencies can recruit and retain wildland firefighters to do the work of protecting communities. To ensure adequate rest and recuperation, this legislation would require downtime following fire deployments.

Further, federal wildland firefighters are subject to an annual compensation cap. During peak fire season, many federal wildland firefighters work extensive amounts of overtime while assigned to an incident. This often leaves our firefighters with an impossible choice: continue working to fight fires and protect communities or get paid. This legislation would lift the arbitrary and unfair pay cap.