Veteran Wildland Firefighter Employment Act of 2025
The Veteran Wildland Firefighter Employment Act of 2025 would create a two-year, VA-administered pilot program to hire U.S. veterans into wildland firefighting-related positions within federal agencies. Working in coordination with the Department of Agriculture (primarily the Forest Service) and the Department of the Interior, the program would identify suitable vacant federal positions for participating veterans and, to the extent practicable, place them in those roles. Veterans hired under the pilot would be treated as federal employees under Civil Service laws. The act also requires the development of best-practice guidelines for veteran employment, potential integration with the DoD’s SkillBridge program, and a series of mandatory reports tracking program results. The authority for the pilot ends two years after it begins. In plain terms, the bill aims to create a structured, time-limited pathway for veterans to transition into federal wildland firefighting work, with an emphasis on learning from current veteran trainings and measuring outcomes to inform broader employment policy.
Key Points
- 1Establishment and coordination of a VA-administered pilot program to employ veterans in wildland firefighting activities, in partnership with the Agriculture and Interior departments.
- 2Duties of agencies: VA administers the pilot; Agriculture and Interior identify appropriate vacant positions and, to the extent practicable, place participating veterans in those roles.
- 3Civil Service status: veterans participating in the pilot are treated as federal employees under the applicable Civil Service laws.
- 4Best practices and training: VA must develop guidelines that include lessons from the Warrior Training Advancement Course and methods to achieve cost savings from those lessons.
- 5Partnership and reporting: the program may be connected to the DoD’s SkillBridge program; requires an initial 60-day report after enactment, a follow-up implementation report within a year, and a final report after the pilot ends, including participation and placement data and other effectiveness metrics; the pilot terminates two years after it commences.