Photo credit: ASEA/AFSCME Local 52.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Higher pay for Alaska’s wildland firefighters — secured by members of the Alaska State Employees Association (ASEA/AFSCME Local 52) — will help recruit and retain more of them and better protect the nation’s largest state from wildfires.
Starting July 1, wildland fire and resource technicians and wildland forestry technicians employed by the state of Alaska’s Division of Forestry and Fire Protection received a 30% increase in “mission critical” incentive pay. ASEA represents about 106 such professionals.
Their union contract with the state has also been changed to make them eligible for hazard pay any time they take part in or help firefighting operations or are exposed to firefighting hazards, ASEA Executive Director Heidi Drygas wrote in an email to members.
Additionally, their hazard pay will rise from 15% to 25% in four-hour increments as per the agreement between ASEA and the state.
And these hardworking professionals got a 5% cost-of-living adjustment as of July 1.
Drygas singled out the work of ASEA members Dave Matheny and Bryan Crisp, ASEA staffers Adrianne Helinski and Doug Carson, and thanked John Boyle, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, for his support.
“I hope this news aids in the recruitment and retention of more firefighters in the Division of Forestry so you have the support you need to continue doing the critical and important work you do to protect lives and property,” Drygas wrote.
In a July 2023 letter to Boyle outlining the concerns of ASEA-represented wildland firefighters, Drygas wrote that low pay was a big driver of the forestry division’s long-standing recruitment and retention problems.
Photo credit: ASEA/AFSCME Local 52.
She wrote that their wages and benefits have lagged behind those of their peers elsewhere for so long that “our firefighters are now forced to make the hard choice between staying in state service, with colleagues and crew they have worked alongside for years, and leaving for better-paying, mostly federal, firefighting jobs.”
“Regrettably, many of our State of Alaska firefighters have made the choice to leave, which has resulted in the loss of incalculable years of knowledge and experience and left the Division dangerously understaffed and inexperienced,” she wrote.
The higher pay secured by ASEA members and staff — a prime example of the union difference — will ensure that existing professionals receive fair pay and stay in their jobs, and is sure to make the profession more attractive to future applicants.
