A federal hiring freeze imposed by President Trump last week has exemptions for seasonal employees and public safety, which would enable the country’s land managers to hire their annual firefighting force.
The freeze had initially concerned the agencies and their representatives in Congress.
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., wrote Michael Young, acting director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, asking him to clarify that the firefighters would be exempt from the hiring ban under “public safety” provisions in Trump’s executive order starting the freeze on Jan. 23.
“Catastrophic wildfires in Arizona pose a significant risk to our state’s reliable water supply, rural communities, the tourist economy, and wildlife,” the letter said. “Any action that could have a negative impact on the ability to reduce the fire risk and fight wildfire in Arizona is simply unacceptable.”
A memo sent to federal agencies Tuesday noted two exemptions to the rule — for “public safety” and for “seasonal employees and short-term temporary employees necessary to meet traditionally recurring seasonal workloads.”
Babete Anderson, national press officer for the U.S. Forest Service, said it annually hires 10,000 to 15,000 workers for the “field season” to handle both firefighting and an increase in forest visitors. About “70 percent of those hires support and fight fires,” she said.
Anderson said the Forest Service is waiting for additional instruction on the process for establishing that exemption.
The National Park Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management also employ seasonal workers to fight fires that burned 5.5 million acres of forest last year. In 2015, that figure was over 10 million acres.
