Some Forest Service workers supporting firefighting during wildfires across Western North Carolina were reinstated by the Trump administration just days or weeks before the crisis.
These employees take on many roles from installing handlines to those behind the scenes organizing logistics and sharing information. However, some employees are still in the process of being “rehired” after being terminated in February.
Some Forest Service employees are represented by the Forest Service Council of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-FSC).
Last week NFFE Union Steward for North Carolina Jason Holifield told BPR that some employees “probably are still going through the process of being onboarded.”
“Some supervisors still had their equipment, materials like computers, desk space and everything still in place and vacant, but there's been a lot of changes. So they may be to the point where they're still going through and getting their accounts reactivated,” Holifield said. He confirmed that Forest Service employees were paid for the time that they were terminated and “placed on administrative leave.”
In February, Forest Service and Park Service “probationary” employees were terminated including about 17 employees working for the N.C. National Forests, according to BPR’s reporting.
Shortly after, during a visit to the area, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was asked about the impact of staffing reductions on hurricane recovery. Rollins defended the Trump administration's goal to “right size” the federal government – but acknowledged some “mistakes.”
“If at any moment anything comes up that is potentially compromising to this state and to our Forest Service's ability to fight these fires effectively, we will immediately, immediately put those people back in place,” Rollins said.
All 6,000 employees across the country were rehired less than a week later by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These employees will also receive back pay from the date of their termination.
Holifield confirmed that the majority of people terminated returned to work in the N.C. National Forest. Many of those employees are now working on the wildfires across the region.
“I know that several of them did have their fire qualifications. So I'm assuming that they are more than likely contributing to the efforts to fight wildfires and combat those,” Holifield said.
Forest Service provides crucial support on fires
Crews from local fire departments, the Forest Service and other agencies have been called in across the region to help fight the fires.
Connastee Fire and Rescue Chief Chase Owen said last week that the Table Rock Fire has been unpredictable and that the number of fires has been a strain on resources.
“We've never seen fire behavior like this here that anyone that's currently in the fire service has seen in this area before. Last night we were conducting a burnout operation and there were flames going 80 to 100 ft in the air at 10:00 at night, which is unheard of,” Owen said.
The county is fighting against the Table Rock Fire which started in South Carolina. The fire was nearly one-third contained on Monday afternoon, according to an update from the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
The fire, which consumed 13,191 acres in South Carolina, reached 574 acres in North Carolina.
“Unfortunately with the number of wildfires in North Carolina and South Carolina right now, resources are depleting quickly,” Owenby said that the station has had to be “creative” to get resources. “At the end of the day, we're doing everything we possibly can to get what we need in here to take care of the issue.”
Crews from across the region have rotated where they are needed to fight the fires in Western North Carolina. The Table Rock Complex is being managed by the Southern Area Blue Complex Incident Management Team (CIMT) which is part of the National Interagency Fire Center.
Reduction in force
The Forest Service is one of the federal agencies that was expected to turn in a reduction-in-force plan to the Trump administration on March 14. The plan wasn’t officially shared but there have been estimates that the reductions will lead to layoffs for about 7,000 Forest Service employees.
There are specific protocols that the federal Office of Personnel Management must follow for a “reduction in force(RIF),” according to NPR. This includes exploring other options like voluntary early retirement authority (VERA) and voluntary separation incentive payment (VSIP), to find employees who choose to leave, before a RIF takes place.
The VA and Department of Defense are among the federal organizations that have already cut staff, NPR says. These additional RIF cuts are expected this month.
Laura Hackett contributed reporting to this report.
