OPM Finalizes Hazard Pay for Prescribed Wildland Fire Crews; NRC Schedules Closed Design Basis Threat Meeting

OPM Final Rule: Hazardous Duty Pay for Prescribed Wildland Fire Activities

The Office of Personnel Management is issuing a final rule that adds prescribed (planned) wildland fire duties as covered activities triggering Hazardous Duty Pay (HDP) for General Schedule (GS) employees and Environmental Differential Pay (EDP) for Federal Wage System (FWS) employees. The rule is effective September 14, 2026, and amends 5 CFR parts 532 and 550.

The final rule authorizes a 25 percent differential for GS and FWS employees participating as a member of a firefighting crew engaged in activities on the fireline directly involving the implementation and control of prescribed wildland fires. As the rule explains, existing HDP and EDP provisions already provide a 25 percent differential for qualifying wildfire fireline work — defined as participating as a member of a crew fighting forest and range fires — but those provisions did not previously cover prescribed fires.

The rule traces its origin to requests from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, which asked OPM to add prescribed wildland fire activities as covered categories because, the document states, employees engaged in those operations are exposed to many of the same physical, chemical, and biological hazards encountered on wildfire firelines. The document enumerates those hazards as open flame, radiant and convective heat, smoke, unstable terrain, fire-weakened trees, chemical by-products of combustion, and biological hazards. OPM concluded that these hazards cannot be fully mitigated through training, personal protective equipment, or standard operational controls and are comparable in degree to the hazards supporting the existing 25 percent differential for wildfire fireline work.

The rule explicitly limits differential coverage to employees participating on the fireline during the implementation and control of a prescribed fire and does not extend the differential to pre-ignition preparation activities. The document states that OPM retains this limitation because the hazards justifying coverage are associated with the active fire environment and its immediate aftermath on the fireline, not preparatory work performed before a fire has been ignited. Covered fireline duties cited in the document include ignition, holding, patrol, mop-up, fireline construction, and snag felling.

The rule also adds 5 CFR 550.904(f) to clarify that the classification-based exclusion on HDP under 5 U.S.C. 5545(d)(1) and 5 CFR 550.904(a)–(b) does not apply to employees in occupational series whose primary duties involve the prevention, control, suppression, or management of wildland fire, consistent with the amendment to 5 U.S.C. 5545(d)(1) made by Public Law 117-58 (November 15, 2021). For FWS employees, OPM presented the proposal to the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee at its July 18, 2024, meeting, and the Committee recommended the change by consensus.

OPM published a proposed rule on April 14, 2026 (91 FR 19081) with a 60-day comment period ending June 15, 2026. The agency received 92 comments from Federal employees, one labor organization, one public sector organization, and one private sector organization. The document notes that public comments, with a few exceptions, strongly supported OPM's proposal. Commenters raised issues including coverage of employees paid under pay plan "GW" and employees in the 0456 Wildland Fire Management occupational series, whether prescribed fire duties warrant the same 25 percent differential as wildfire fireline duties, the exclusion of pre-ignition preparation activities, legal authority and concerns about double compensation, comparisons to other hazardous Forest Service duties, potential cost and operational incentives, and requests to expand coverage to smokejumper proficiency or training jumps and to aviation or air tanker base personnel. After considering the comments, OPM adopted the proposed regulatory text and 25 percent differential without change.

NRC Sunshine Act: Closed Meeting on Design Basis Threat

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission published its Sunshine Act meeting schedule covering the weeks of August 17, 24, and 31, and September 7, 14, and 21, 2026. Of the six weeks covered, only one meeting is currently scheduled: on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at 9:00 a.m., the Commission will meet to discuss proposed changes to the Design Basis Threat. That meeting is closed, designated under Exemption 1. No meetings are scheduled for the weeks of August 17, August 31, or September 7, 14, or 21, 2026, though all listed weeks are described as tentative. The NRC notes that the schedule is subject to change on short notice.

What to Watch

• September 14, 2026: OPM final rule on prescribed wildland fire HDP/EDP differential takes effect, amending 5 CFR parts 532 and 550.
• August 26, 2026: NRC Commission closed meeting on proposed changes to the Design Basis Threat, 9:00 a.m. The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule is updated online and may change on short notice; Wesley Held at 301-287-3591 is the listed contact for status verification.

Related

• Civic AI hub
• Five Federal Agencies Seek Public Comment on Information Collection Renewals Across Agriculture, Environment, and Marine Science
• NCUA Bans Reputation Risk in Supervision; FDA Files Flour Irradiation Petition
• Education Dept. Extends Funding for 43 American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Projects Through Sept. 2027