Burning Up: In March, ProPublica published a sprawling investigation about how top federal agencies are failing U.S. wildland firefighters. The main issues boil down to low wages and a lack of support for job-related health threats, of which there are many.
Beyond the obvious hazards of clocking into work in an active fire zone, wildland firefighters are exposed to a variety of long-term threats—from carcinogens in the smoke and ash to “forever chemicals” in firefighter foam known as PFAS, which has been linked to various types of cancer.
But another threat is silently simmering among the people who fight the flames: suicide risk. In 2022, my colleague Liza Gross wrote about the rising reports of suicide and depression among wildland firefighters—and the need to better study these risks.
It’s a job skill to be able to manage personal discomfort, physical discomfort, emotional discomfort and stress while working in high-demand, high-consequence occupations,” Patricia O’Brien, who worked as a wildland firefighter for 15 years and now oversees the Bureau of Land Management’s mental health program, told Inside Climate News. “But it can be really difficult to shift gears and switch that off.”

Despite the high health costs associated with this job, compensation remains low, starting at around $15 an hour for permanent firefighters employed by the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the majority of the country’s wildfire response efforts. Now, the Forest Service is struggling to hold the frontlines of its firefighting brigades, with a 45 percent attrition rate among its permanent employees in the past three years and fewer new individuals applying, according to ProPublica’s analysis.