Little Reward for Firefighters Battling Blaze in Idaho Wilderness

I wouldn’t want to work as a firefighter. It’s not an easy job. Winds can shift, some unseen accelerant can pop, and you can’t always see hazards in a haze of smoke. This goes for people battling housefires and wildland blazes. You couldn’t pay a desk jockey like me nearly enough.

Firefighting mimics some aspects of combat during war, but firefighters don’t get combat pay.

Some are sleeping on the ground in Custer County during breaks as they work to tame the Wapiti Fire. Pictures from the Custer County Sheriff’s Office show the efforts last night at building backfires to slow or stop the spread.

Do you know what many of these guys get paid? A little more than 18 dollars an hour. Many could make more in a burger joint.

I realize we’re living in an era when the government has stretched the spending boundaries, but what exactly would our priorities be? It takes some skill to battle flames. If you increased the pay, you would likely retain more institutional knowledge.

A fire isn’t only an immediate drag on our economy, safety, and lives. The damage lasts for years, sometimes generations. We should note that many of the people on the front lines aren’t even considered full-time. What’s wrong with all of this?

I hear one side of the political aisle (sometimes all sides) argue that we need more money for education. That sector has an insatiable appetite for your tax dollars, and the results never seem to improve. If the government is going to confiscate my income, I vote for the guys sleeping in tents on cold mountain tops, between shifts. If they even sleeping at all.