How The Elite U.S. Forest Service Hotshots Battle Wildfires

[@alluvialfan]

Current member on a hotshot crew here. This piece mentioned the Infrastructure Bill being passed. I can tell you that as of June 7th, 2022, NONE of that funding has made it to Wildland Firefighting resources.

[@Graham.556]

joe biden, everyone...

[@yucatansuckaman5726]

@@Graham.556 yup

[@icedfrogg2.0]

Hi. I wanna join the hotshot crews? How do I do that?

[@larshiilly]

Still 2 years later notable by the hiring freeze

[@colbykinney5633]

We need to pay these guys what they are worth!

[@BellTexRailfan_2256]

Rest In Peace granite mountain hotshots and to any other lost brothers and sisters.

[@consciouscookiemonster8364]

Thank you brother ! From the smokejumpers of ww2 to now we’ve always been on the front lines for the culture

[@ilikeminecraftgaming9331]

Hats off to these Hotshots,they’ve definitely earned my respect!🙂

[@sbreezy0120]

Don’t forget about the other type 1, type 2, and even type 3 crews out there putting in grueling work too!

[@roberttaylor9611]

As a firefighter. The pay went from 13.00 and 15.90 an hour while cal fire and city firefighters make an upwards of 105k a year or more.

[@sandslinger6720]

CALFIRE ff’s do not make that much, quit spreading lies. Captains maybe but not fire fighters.

[@roberttaylor9611]

@@sandslinger6720 dude it’s not lies it’s on the website right now. Turd.

[@sandslinger6720]

@@roberttaylor9611 what website? Because i worked for the feds and employed by CALFIRE and what ever you are saying is a lie and what ever website you are reading is spreading false info. Also i know plenty of GS5’s who make 70k a year with OT.

[@renegarcia8798]

Tough job, just finished my first season

[@andrewlopez5767]

Congrats man. Which crew were you on?

[@kulik03]

Crazy that these guys get paid less than cashiers...

[@lourdeskrohn5087]

Where is their union fighting for their rights ! They need to get paid more they are heroes!

[@stevenescobar9590]

No union for seasonal employees, I don’t even think union for full timers as well.

[@christianv7177]

They are seasonal employees, with no benefits and a wage as low as fast food or retail.

[@dripworks6659]

Literal heros.

[@gen-X-trader]

This needs to be at least a $50 an hour job.

[@rebeccacombs8781]

These guys should get paid alot better...

[@KombatFlix]

BRUH PAY THEM RIGHT

[@d.b.1176]

Nice some people are still willing to work for a living. No “work from home” bs here.

[@bradw6413]

What about other benefits? Hazard pay? Overtime? Free housing? Free food? I paid for my entire college with zero loans because of the opportunities fire fighting provided. It was hard work but lots of money in short time period. I’m amazed how people think working hard everyday is not normal. There are millions of people that wake up everyday work dawn to dusk. That was considered normal a few generations ago now the current generation doesn’t have the same drive.

[@adelaidedupont9017]

Came here because of author Anastasia Selby who worked as a hotshot some years ago.

[@theaveragesoldier1029]

You going to have a high demand job and pay $13 an hour? Wtf.

[@mustachio2]

That's government for you. Work an extremely dangerous job and it's either volunteer or super low pay, work a normal easy 7-3 blue collar job and make $50 an hour.

[@kaisalis7895]

​@@mustachio2 it's mainly the feds. CalFire and municipal guys make wayyyy more

[@camefromnuthin_chico]

thats my boy captain half

[@terrymoore5000]

God bless you gentlemen. Amazing story means Amazing men. God bless you all. God's watching over you all in Jesus Christ name Amen 🙏💜

[@Dovietail]

If they are so damned elite, how come we pay them like pool boys?

[@BillSias-op7xw]

Pay them $30.00 an hour!

[@iansteel6403]

At first, I wondered why the one guy was out of the prescribed yellow shirt. I didn't know a piece of clothing could get that dirty. These guys and smoke jumpers are borderline suicidal for fighting these fires for us. I know I don't have the guts

[@robertblack5662]

its been 2 years and they still have not signed the Bill into law. Congress should be embarrassed. SIGN IT ALREADY!

[@TheLanden11]

Another example of how the federal government spending .is to overstretched. We need to get spending under control So we have money to pay the people and services we actually need.

[@lewislibre]

$13 an hour what a joke

[@ESP500]

They should be making 100,000 k a year. What a disgrace

[@DefensisIndus]

*Copy that*

[@ryanforster8761]

Why do the sawyers wear chaps?

[@jarodmontoya3102]

You Fr bro? 😂

[@ryanforster8761]

I was but it's to stop the chains on the saws. i don't know much about wildland ff-ing.

[@jessiehorne]

@@ryanforster8761 To stop/help minimize injury in case the chain saw kicks back or throw the chain same as normal USFS personnel using chain saws.

[@AaronLKinney]

What! 13 an Hour? Hotshots dont make 13 an hour. They Make Like 21 or 22 an hour. I work on a camp crew and i make 16 an hour, and we work full 16 hour shift everyday for 14 days straight. type 2 firefighter makes 20 an hour and they work between 12 to 16 hour shifts. Where are they getting there info from.

[@bridgermorrill7356]

They said starting pay for most federal firefighters, not for hotshots, which is true. Only until this year did they bump it up to 15$ an hour starting

[@AaronLKinney]

@@bridgermorrill7356 "Federal Firefighters"? Starting Pay For Wildland firefighters At My Agency, This Year Is 20 An Hour, Thats Up From Last Year Which Was 19 An Hour.

[@bridgermorrill7356]

@@AaronLKinney by federal firefighters I mean the firefighters employed by the USFS, but that’s awesome that your place starts that high. I wish that was the norm everywhere, there’s still plenty of places that start at 15$ an hour though.

[@zebra3stripes]

These things can spread like Omicron.

[@prodbybabygod7411]

Nowhere near the skill of wranglestar.