Wildland firefighters face a huge pay cut without action by Congress – here's how physically demanding this lifesaving job is

A Wyoming Hotshot crew conducts night operations on the Pine Gulch fire in Colorado in August 2020. Kyle Miller, Wyoming Hotshots, USFS

Radios crackle with chatter from a wildfire incident command post. Up the fireline, firefighters in yellow jerseys are swinging Pulaskis, axlike hand tools, to carve a fuel break into the land.

By 10 a.m., these firefighters have already hiked 3 miles up steep, uneven terrain and built nearly 1,200 feet of fireline.