Differential Pay for Prescribed Wildland Fire Activities
Key claim: Federal GS and wage-system employees on firefighting crews will get a 25% pay differential when working the fireline on prescribed (planned) wildland fires.
Abstract
(Rule · Personnel Management Office) The Office of Personnel Management is issuing a final rule to add prescribed (planned) wildland fire duties as covered activities triggering payment of Hazardous Duty Pay (HDP) for General Schedule (GS) employees and Environmental Differential Pay (EDP) for Federal Wage System (FWS) employees. The final rule authorizes a 25 percent differential for GS and FWS employees participating as a member of a firefighting crew engaged in activities on the fireline directly involving the implementation and control of prescribed wildland fires.
Why this matters
Prescribed fires are a growing share of federal fireline work as agencies expand fuels management, but pay rules have historically treated them as lower-hazard than wildfire response, contributing to retention challenges on federal firefighting crews. Extending a 25% differential to prescribed fireline duty aligns compensation with the actual hazards workers face and standardizes how the federal government treats hazardous-duty and environmental differential pay across fire types.