This bill increases pay and benefits for wildland firefighters employed by the Forest Service and Department of the Interior. It creates special base pay rates for wildland firefighters at federal pay grades 1 through 15, with increases ranging from 42 percent at the lowest grades down to 1.5 percent at the highest grade. The bill also establishes incident response premium pay of 450 percent of hourly pay per day when firefighters are deployed to qualifying wildfires or other incidents, capped at $9,000 per year. Additionally, the legislation provides paid rest and recuperation leave following deployment to major incidents and requires the Forest Service and Interior Department to develop uniform policies on deployment limits and work hour restrictions. The changes take effect October 1, 2023, and the bill allows up to $5 million in funding transfers to support these increases.
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