H.R. 10001: Wildfire Responder Protection Act

This bill would expand the federal workers’ compensation rules for certain people who work in fire protection activities under chapter 81 of title 5 of the U.S. Code.

What changes it makes

• It would change the definition of covered fire-protection employees so that they must be employed in those duties for all or a substantial part of the year.
• It would add more job categories to the list of covered workers, including:
  • fuels specialists
  • burn bosses
  • prescribed fire crew members
• It would clarify that covered fire-protection work includes not only fire suppression, but also planned ignition.
• It would also expand the types of covered activities to include fuels reduction as part of prevention work.
• It would remove one existing subsection of the law, which appears to be a technical cleanup change tied to the new wording.

What this means in practice

The bill is aimed at workers involved in wildfire response and related land-management fire work, especially people who help plan and carry out controlled or prescribed burns and other fuel-reduction activities. If they are covered under these rules, they may be able to qualify more easily for federal workers’ compensation benefits for injuries or illnesses related to that work.

In plain terms, the bill broadens who counts as a fire-protection employee for these benefit purposes and makes sure certain wildfire prevention and controlled-burn jobs are included.

Relevant Companies

None found