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President Biden is expected to announce a pay raise for wildfire crews.
Today he will hold a virtual meeting with western state governors, who are facing forest fires this year. The federal government employs about 15,000 firefighters who make a minimum of $13 an hour. The wage hike will reportedly boost their pay to at least $15 an hour. A senior administration official said while it will be in effect a pay raise for federal firefighters, it will come in the form of bonuses while the administration works "with Congress to get a better deal long term, because firefighters must be fairly paid for the grueling and risky work that they're willing to take on."
According to CNN, the meeting comes as the western United States boils under extreme heat that has broken records in the Pacific Northwest and put millions of Americans in danger of heat-related health issues. Just this week, Portland, Oregon, set an all-time, record-high temperature three days in a row, topping out at 116 degrees on Monday. Seattle hit 108 degrees, besting the all-time record it set just a day earlier.