Paying Wildland Firefighters Like It's a Summer Gig
Charlie Harger has watched Washington's wildland firefighters up close for years, first as a reporter at base camps in central Washington and again last week as a dad on a family camping trip at Lake Chelan. Planes scooped water out of the lake all night. Crews slept in one-person tents packed together in the dirt.
The state pays roughly $21 to $23 an hour to start for this work — and in about two months, most of these crews will be laid off. Charlie's pitch: a rare bipartisan opening between the White House, a Republican from Spokane, and a Democrat from Sammamish for permanent federal funding to make this a year-round job.
Listen to Seattle's Morning News w/ Charlie Harger and Manda Factor every weekday at 5am on KIRO Newsradio 97.3 FM or go to MyNorthwest.com to learn more!
