Firefighting

This fire year is on track to be as extreme as the last few. At the same time, some Forest Service areas have had a hard time hiring enough wildland firefighters.

As wildfire season begins in earnest across parts of the Mountain West, firefighting agencies will also be battling the tightest labor market in decades and a housing affordability crisis. A Bureau of Land Management spokesperson at the National Interagency Fire Center, doesn't expect staffing to be an issue. She says that while fire seasons are becoming "fire years," the real focus is juggling and balancing the teams’ schedules.

The infrastructure bill President Biden signed last month contains potentially big boosts in pay for wildland firefighters as well as expanded mental health services and more opportunities for permanent, year-round work.

"It's the most gratifying job I'll ever have," says a former hotshot. "But it's also a job that made me contemplate suicide and think that my family was better off with a life insurance check than being around what turned into seasonal depression."

Today on Colorado Edition, we talk to early childhood educators about how they’ve been impacted by the ongoing pandemic. And we learn how the end of wildfire season can impact the mental health of firefighters.

First responders generally struggle with a higher rate of mental health issues than the general public. This winter, firefighters in northern Colorado are facing dual challenges: the aftermath of a long, difficult wildfire season and an ongoing pandemic.

Thousands of firefighters from across the U.S. battling dozens of wildfires burning throughout the West. It’s an inherently dangerous job that now carries the additional risk of COVID-19 transmission.

Wildfire season is upon us. As fire crews start heading out, politicians and the Trump administration are at odds over the measures needed to keep...

How are wildland firefighters expected to battle blazes during a pandemic? That's not entirely clear , but a bipartisan bill proposed by Mountain West...

The U.S. Forest Service is rethinking how it employs firefighters.