would produce an annualized rate in excess of the annual 
rate for level IV of the Executive Schedule.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall take effect on the first day of the first 
applicable pay period beginning after the last day of the 
last pay period for which Federal wildland firefighter tem-
porary salary increases were in effect, as originally author-
ized under section 40803(d)(4)(B) of the Infrastructure 
Investment and Jobs Act (16 U.S.C. 6592(d)(4)(B)) and 
as extended under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 
2024 (Public Law 118–42; 138 Stat. 25), the Continuing 
Appropriations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118– 
83; 138 Stat. 1524), and the Further Continuing Appro-
priations Act, 2025 (division A of Public Law 118–158). 
SEC. 3. WILDLAND FIRE INCIDENT RESPONSE PREMIUM 
PAY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter V of chapter 55 of 
title 5, United Sates Code, is amended by inserting after 
section 5545b the following: 
‘‘§ 5545c. Incident response premium pay for employ-
ees engaged in wildland firefighting 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriate committees of Con-
gress’ means— 
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‘‘(A) the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 
‘‘(B) the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources of the Senate; 
‘‘(C) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri-
tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 
‘‘(D) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the Senate; 
‘‘(E) the Committee on Oversight and Ac-
countability of the House of Representatives; 
‘‘(F) the Committee on Agriculture of the 
House of Representatives; 
‘‘(G) the Committee on Natural Resources 
of the House of Representatives; and 
‘‘(H) the Committee on Appropriations of 
the House of Representatives; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘covered employee’ means an em-
ployee of the Forest Service or the Department of 
the Interior who is— 
‘‘(A) a wildland firefighter, as defined in 
section 5332a(a); or 
‘‘(B) certified by the applicable agency to 
perform wildland fire incident-related duties 
during the period that employee is deployed to 
respond to a qualifying incident; 
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‘‘(3) the term ‘incident response premium pay’ 
means pay to which a covered employee is entitled 
under subsection (c); 
‘‘(4) the term ‘prescribed fire incident’ means a 
wildland fire originating from a planned ignition in 
accordance with applicable laws, policies, and regula-
tions to meet specific objectives; 
‘‘(5) the term ‘qualifying incident’— 
‘‘(A) means— 
‘‘(i) a wildfire incident, a prescribed 
fire incident, or a severity incident; or 
‘‘(ii) an incident that the Secretary of 
Agriculture or the Secretary of the Interior 
determines is similar in nature to an inci-
dent described in clause (i); and 
‘‘(B) does not include an initial response 
(including an initial attack fire) in which a 
wildfire is contained within 36 hours; and 
‘‘(6) the term ‘severity incident’ means an inci-
dent in which a covered employee is pre-positioned 
in an area in which conditions indicate there is a 
high risk of wildfires. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A covered employee is eligible for 
incident response premium pay under this section if— 
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‘‘(1) the covered employee is deployed to re-
spond to a qualifying incident; and 
‘‘(2) the deployment described in paragraph (1) 
is— 
‘‘(A) outside of the official duty station of 
the covered employee; or 
‘‘(B) within the official duty station of the 
covered employee and the covered employee is 
assigned to an incident-adjacent fire camp or 
other designated field location. 
‘‘(c) ENTITLEMENT TO INCIDENT RESPONSE PRE-
MIUM PAY.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A covered employee who 
satisfies the conditions under subsection (b) is enti-
tled to premium pay for the period in which the cov-
ered employee is deployed to respond to the applica-
ble qualifying incident. 
‘‘(2) COMPUTATION.— 
‘‘(A) 
FORMULA.—Subject 
to 
subpara-
graphs (B) and (C), premium pay under para-
graph (1) shall be paid to a covered employee 
at a daily rate of 450 percent of the hourly rate 
of basic pay of the covered employee for each 
day that the covered employee satisfies the re-
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quirements under subsection (b), rounded to 
the nearest whole cent. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Premium pay under 
this subsection— 
‘‘(i) with respect to a covered em-
ployee for whom the annual rate of basic 
pay is greater than that for step 10 of GS– 
10, shall be paid at the daily rate estab-
lished under subparagraph (A) for the ap-
plicable rate for step 10 of GS–10 (where 
the applicable rate is the rate in effect in 
the same locality that is the basis for a lo-
cality-based comparability payment payable 
to the covered employee under section 
5304); and 
‘‘(ii) may not be paid to a covered em-
ployee in a total amount that exceeds 
$9,000 in any calendar year. 
‘‘(C) ADJUSTMENTS.— 
‘‘(i) ASSESSMENT.—The Secretary of 
Agriculture and the Secretary of the Inte-
rior shall assess the difference between the 
average total amount of compensation that 
was paid to covered employees, by grade, 
in fiscal years 2023 and 2024. 
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‘‘(ii) REPORT.—Not later than 180 
days after the date that is 1 year after the 
effective date of this section, the Secretary 
of Agriculture and the Secretary of the In-
terior shall jointly publish a report on the 
results of the assessment conducted under 
clause (i). 
‘‘(iii) ADMINISTRATIVE
ACTIONS.— 
After publishing the report required under 
clause (ii), the Secretary of Agriculture 
and the Secretary of the Interior, in con-
sultation with the Director of the Office of 
Personnel Management, may, in the sole 
and exclusive discretion of the Secretaries 
acting jointly, administratively adjust the 
amount of premium pay paid under this 
subsection (or take other administrative 
action) to ensure that the average annual 
amount of total compensation paid to cov-
ered employees, by grade, is more con-
sistent with such amount that was paid to 
those employees in fiscal year 2023. 
‘‘(iv) 
CONGRESSIONAL
NOTIFICA-
TION.—Not later than 3 days after an ad-
justment made, or other administrative ac-
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