Oregon’s Merkley, Utah’s Curtis propose extending military death benefits to fallen firefighters

A financial benefit for surviving family members of wildland firefighters who die fighting blazes on federal lands could increase tenfold under a new bill proposed by Oregon’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and Utah’s Republican U.S. Sen. John Curtis.

Merkley and Curtis on Monday introduced the Honoring Fallen Wildland Firefighters Act to provide for firefighters’ families the up to $100,000 benefit currently extended to families of U.S. military members killed in combat. The federal government currently provides a maximum death benefit of $10,000 to federal wildland firefighters’ families.

The bill would not only increase the benefit for those families, but extend it to privately contracted wildland firefighters and those employed by state and local fire agencies.

Merkley said in a statement it reflects the “ultimate sacrifice” firefighters make.

“We must do all we can to support our firefighters who risk so much in their service to communities in Oregon and across the nation,” he said.

Two wildland firefighters were killed fighting fires in Oregon this year, one on the Wrights Spring fire in Klamath County, and the other on the Austin fire in Mount Hood National Forest. An average of 17 wildland firefighters die fighting fires on federal land each year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center and U.S. Forest Service.

Four firefighters died when they were trapped fighting a fire on the Utah-Colorado border in June, and two pilots perished when the helicopter they were using for firefighting crashed in Utah in August.

“Wildland firefighters willingly put themselves in harm’s way to protect our homes, communities, and public lands,” Curtis said. “When one of these brave men or women makes the ultimate sacrifice, we have an obligation to stand behind the family they leave behind.”

Nearly a dozen firefighting, climate and timber associations and unions, including the National Federation of Federal Employees and the National Association of State Foresters, support the bill.

The U.S. Senate is in recess until after the November election.