When a giant wildfire breaks out in Santa Barbara County, not only do local firefighters report to the blaze, but crews from all over California and the United States join in. Among them have always been federal firefighters, who until now did not receive the same disability and retirement benefits from what is inarguably a dangerous job.
Last week, President Biden signed the Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, a bill sponsored by Congressmember Salud Carbajal, which acknowledges the serious diseases that firefighters face. “Federal firefighters have been on the front lines in California fighting wildfires as we experience longer and more extreme fire seasons, but their threshold to prove work-related illness is much higher than their state or local counterparts here in California and around the nation,” Congressmember Carbajal said in a press release.
The law allows federal firefighters the presumption that their illness is due to their work, rather than making them prove when and where an exposure occurred in order to qualify for workers comp or disability benefits.