Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Friday urged the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to exempt federal seasonal firefighters from President Trump’s federal hiring freeze.
In a letter to both departments, he noted that the move has stalled the onboarding of thousands of seasonal firefighters.
“This morning, I received notice that the federal hiring freeze has stalled the onboarding of thousands of seasonal firefighters,” Schiff wrote in his letter to the OMB and the USDA.
“The memo issued on January 20 states that it does not apply to positions related to public safety, but this onboarding delay is directly contrary to that claim,” he continued.
Schiff added that his constituents and communities “rely on the hard work and sacrifice of our more than 15,000 seasonal federal wildland firefighters each year.”
The senator said he was “alarmed” that federal firefighters are not exempt from the hiring freeze.
“In light of this, I am requesting information from your agencies explaining why the federal hiring freeze has extended to the hiring of seasonal federal wildland firefighters,” he said.
Schiff also requested information regarding how the freeze affects applicants for federal firefighting positions, the count of voluntary resignations, and the involvement of tech billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency in the recruitment, training, or preparedness of federal wildland firefighters.
Last month, the Trump administration’s federal hiring freeze stopped the onboarding of thousands of seasonal federal firefighters.
NBC reported that some of these firefighters were from agencies summoned to assist in combating the catastrophic fires in the Los Angeles area, which could lead to a shortage of firefighters before the upcoming fire season.
An official at the Bureau of Land Management told NBC that even though Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order says the freeze does not apply to positions related to “public safety,” federal firefighters are not exempt.
