SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The U.S. Forest Service employs thousands of wildfire fighters across the country.

The men and women in these roles often play a key role in protecting homes and neighborhoods from dangerous fires, but experts say the current number of people in these positions will not be enough for years to come.

“Recruiting is difficult right now,” said Tim Turner, air base leader of the Wasatch Helitack Fire Department.

Keeping enough firefighters on duty is not always easy, but at this point in the season, authorities say they have already managed to fill the vast majority of the positions needed throughout the region.

Experts say hundreds more will be needed by 2025, and that number will continue to rise over the years.

“I would answer that question without hesitation with a yes. It appears that the fire season is longer and more extreme,” said Matt Nielsen, deputy director of fire and aviation training and workforce development for the Intermountain Region.

Adding to the challenge of keeping up with the dangerous and unpredictable wildfire season is how demanding the job itself is.

“Forest firefighting is very extreme. It is physically, mentally and emotionally demanding,” Nielsen said.

And it can also be a burden for the family.

“What I remember most is the time I was away,” Nielsen said. “That’s what I remember most.”

And these difficulties can force experienced firefighters to retire.

“They can be away from their family for a maximum of 25 days at any one time and a minimum of 16 days at a time. So it’s very difficult to keep people in these jobs,” Nielsen said.

Tim Turner has been a wildland firefighter for 24 years.

Today he leads a helitack team that is called when a fire spreads where no one else can reach it.

In 2000, he said, he was living in Florida as a businessman wearing a suit and brogue haircut.

Until a family friend convinced him to spend a summer working as a forest firefighter in the scorching heat of St. George.

“It’s very tedious. The work can be very difficult,” Turner said.

He said that despite the difficulty of the work, he found an even more important reason to stick with it.

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“At the end of the day, it’s really a service job,” Turner said. “At the end of the day, I can hold my head a little higher and my back a little straighter.”

He said the thrill of flying in a helicopter to a mountaintop and confronting a rapidly spreading forest fire was like the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

“That excitement lasts from age three to age 30. It’s pretty fun,” Turner said.

But dreams may still have to pay the bills.

A law passed by Congress in 2021 increased the salaries of wildfire fighters, but it expires at the end of September.

Some could face salary losses of up to 50% per year.

“The cost of living is very different than it used to be,” Nielsen said.

A budget bill that would advance the pay raise has been passed by the House of Representatives and is now before the U.S. Senate.

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