The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced permanent pay increases for federal and tribal wildland firefighters.
The pay boost, part of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (H.R. 1968) signed into law by President Trump on March 14.
The new pay scale means firefighters will keep their temporary pay raises of either $20,000 annually or 50% of their base salary, enacted in 2021 under the Biden administration. The raises needed congressional action or pay would revert to pre-raise levels.
The new law also includes incident-response premium pay, which would apply to employees assigned to active fires that last longer than 36 hours.
