Western Wildfires 2012: Seasonal Firefighters Seek Health Care Coverage (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

DENVER — They work the front lines of the nation's most explosive wildfires, navigating treacherous terrain, dense walls of smoke and tall curtains of flame. Yet thousands of the nation's seasonal firefighters have no health insurance for themselves or their families.

Many firefighters are now asking to buy into a federal government health plan, largely out of anger over a colleague who was left with a $70,000 hospital bill after his son was born prematurely.

Their request has been bolstered by more than 125,000 signatures gathered in an online petition during this year's historic fire season in the West and the ongoing national debate over health care.

"You pray you don't get sick," said firefighter John Lauer, a member of the Tatanka Hotshots crew based in Custer, S.D., who recently worked the massive High Park Fire in northern Colorado and started the petition.

The fire crews are heroes to those in the path of the flames. Politicians praise their bravery. Grateful residents buy them pizzas and send thank-you cards.

"That's what makes the job great," Lauer said. "But sometimes I wonder to myself. I wonder if people know we're uninsured."

Firefighters do get workers' compensation if they are hurt on the job, but that doesn't cover them in the offseason.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, which coordinates firefighting efforts nationwide, says 15,000 wildland firefighters are on the federal payroll this year. Of that number, some 8,000 are classified as temporary seasonal employees, who work on a season-to-season basis with no guarantee of a job the following year and no access to federal benefits.

Some seasonal firefighters say they put in a year's worth of hours in six months.

In two years, the Affordable Care Act, the new federal health care law, will allow seasonal firefighters the same opportunity to buy health insurance as other uninsured Americans. But firefighters want to be able choose among the plans offered by the federal government, like other federal employees, said Cory K. Bythrow, a spokesman for the National Federation of Federal Employees, a labor union.

Mark Davis, president of the Forest Service Council of the union, estimates it would cost the federal government $17.5 million a year to pay its share of premiums for seasonal firefighters working for the Forest Service, which employs about 70 percent of federal firefighters. The rest work for the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other agencies.

The union is in talks with the Office of Personnel Management to try to extend health benefits to seasonal firefighters.

The agency declined to comment. Bythrow said he is optimistic a solution can be found.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said she will introduce a bill this week that would make the firefighters eligible for health benefits.

"When the issue was brought to her attention by John (Lauer), she realized how unfair this was," Juliet Johnson, DeGette's spokeswoman, said Monday.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who visited Colorado on Monday, said no firefighters had raised the insurance issue with him, but he said he would look into it.

Forest Service spokeswoman Julie Anne Overton cited one health care plan that would cost a firefighter $185 a month for individual coverage and $430 month for a family. Permanent year-round federal firefighters are paid from $24,500 to $54,000 before overtime. Seasonal workers make less, Overton said.

The case that prompted Lauer and others to start their petition drive was the 2008 birth of Nathan Ochs' son. Ochs, then a temporary seasonal wildland firefighter, had no insurance.

His wife, Constance Van Kley, said the family couldn't find health insurance at any price – though the hospital did eventually forgive most of the $70,000 bill.

Ochs subsequently became a permanent seasonal federal firefighter and got government insurance. But the experience galvanized him and others to press the government to make health coverage available to all federal wildland firefighters.

"I feel that it's unfair and that it sends a message that the work isn't valued as it should be," said Ochs, who also worked in Colorado's blazes this year.

No one disputes the dangers of the job: lightning, falling trees, a dangerous landscape, as well as smoke and flames. Since 2003, 157 people have died battling wildfires in the U.S., according to the International Association of Wildland Fire. Injury statistics were unavailable.

Public support for Lauer's petition, posted at change.org, mushroomed during the High Park Fire near Fort Collins and the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs. Together the two blazes damaged or destroyed more than 600 homes, killed three people and charred 162 square miles. Petition signers came from across the country.

"I'm insulted for them, and I'm insulted for our country," said Polly Tarpley, a resident of Poulsbo, Wash. Asked why she signed the petition, she quickly replied: "Oh, my god! That should be a pretty obvious question. These men and women work their tails off in extremely dangerous conditions."

"We should be more than willing to pay them health insurance," said Pam Shinkle, owner of Uncle Sam's Pancake House in Manitou Springs, a quaint mountain town that was briefly evacuated during the Waldo Canyon blaze. Dozens of firefighters helped to sustain business at Uncle Sam's while ash fell from the sky and flames roared just over a nearby hill.

"We love our firemen," Shinkle said. "They did a great job. They had a huge fire, and they got it out within two weeks, when they had been saying months."

Davis, of the federal employees union, argued that the cost to the government would be offset by reduced turnover. The attrition rate for temporary seasonal workers in the Forest Service is four times higher than that for permanent seasonal workers, said Davis, and he believes the lack of health insurance is a factor.

"You would save money in the long run by reduced training costs, reduced safety issues, accidents, that sort of thing," Davis said.

"These people put their lives on the line every day to protect our homes, our businesses, our entire communities," Bythrow said. "We believe that they shouldn't have to rely on luck. They shouldn't have to rely on the generosity of one hospital or one doctor."

___

Associated Press writers Ivan Moreno and P. Solomon Banda in Denver and Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyo., contributed to this report.

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This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 28, 2012. Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the raging wildfire. (AP Photo/Denver Post, RJ Sangosti)
This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 28, 2012. Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the raging wildfire. (AP Photo/Denver Post, RJ Sangosti)
This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 28, 2012. Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the raging wildfire. (AP Photo/Denver Post, RJ Sangosti)
This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 28, 2012. Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the raging wildfire. (AP Photo/Denver Post, RJ Sangosti)
This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 28, 2012. Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the raging wildfire. (AP Photo/Denver Post, RJ Sangosti)
This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 28, 2012. Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the raging wildfire. (AP Photo/Denver Post, RJ Sangosti)
This aerial photo shows the destructive path of the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows subdivision area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 28, 2012. Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by the raging wildfire. (AP Photo/Denver Post, RJ Sangosti)
A helicopters flies over as the Waldo Canyon Fire continues to burn Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
A helicopter flies over as the Waldo Canyon Fire continues to burn Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents.(AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
A slurry bomber drops fire retardant on the Waldo Canyon Fire Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
The sun sets on the front range where the Waldo Canyon Fire continues to burn Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
Pikes Peak is shrouded in orange smoke as the Waldo Canyon Fire continues to burn Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
This aerial photo taken on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, shows burned homes in the Mountain Shadows residential area of Colorado Springs, Colo., that were destroyed by the Waldo Canyon wildfire. More than 30,000 have been displaced by the fire, including thousands who frantically packed up belongings Tuesday night after it barreled into neighborhoods in the foothills west and north of Colorado�'s second-largest city. (AP Photo/John Wark)
A helicopter flies past the charred mountainside above Queens Canyon as the Waldo Canyon Fire burns Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett)
A plume of smoke rises from Ute Pass in the direction of Woodland Park as the Waldo Canyon Fire burns Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett)
A helicopter heads out for a drop to battle the Waldo Canyon Fire north and west of Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
After being grounded for hours by high winds, a helicopter takes off to battle the Waldo Canyon Fire north and west of Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A helicopter drops water as the Waldo Canyon Fire burns Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Helicopters fly over as the Waldo Canyon Fire burns Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
A helicopter drops water as the Waldo Canyon Fire burns Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Small fires smolder in the Mountain Shadows area as the Waldo Canyon Fire burns on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Colorado Springs, Colo. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Some homes are left scorched by The Waldo Canyon Fire, while others survived, in the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs, Colo., Wednesday, June 27, 2012. The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles (62 square kilometers), and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
Fire from the Waldo Canyon wildfire as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Gaylon Wampler)
Parkside neighborhood in Mt. Shadows. Image via <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4167559318285&set=a.1042850282512.8779.1563250549&type=1&theater" target="_hplink">Facebook</a>.
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
A plume of smoke rises behind homes on the Waldo Canyon wildfire west of Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. A large number of homes were destroyed by the fire Tuesday night in subdivisions west of Colorado Springs. Authorities say it remains too dangerous for them to fully assess the damage from a destructive wildfire threatening Colorado's second-largest city. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Homes are destroyed by the Waldo Canyon fire in the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. A stubborn and towering wildfire jumped firefighters�' perimeter lines in the hills overlooking Colorado Springs, forcing frantic mandatory evacuation notices for more than 9,000 residents. (AP Photo/The Gazette,Jerilee Bennett)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
Western Wild Fires
Flames and smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire surround a home as it races down into western portions of Colorado Springs, Colo. on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 leaving a trail of destruction and burning homes and buildings in it's path. Heavily populated areas in the fire's path have been affected. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
CO Wildfire 2012
Veiw from Garden of Gods Road
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
Fire from the Waldo Canyon wildfire as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Gaylon Wampler)
Western Wild Fires
Flames of the Waldo Canyon Fire races down into western portions of Colorado Springs, Colo. on Tuesday, June 26, 201. The flames approach a residential neighborhood heading north and leaving a trail of destruction, burning homes and buildings in it's path. Heavily populated areas in the fire's path have been affected. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
Western Wild Fires
Flames from the Waldo Canyon Fire move quickly move through the western side Colorado Springs, Colo. causing several structures and homes to burn on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. The fire made a massive run late in the day leaving a trail of destruction, and burning homes and buildings in it's path. Heavily populated areas in the fire's path have been affected. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
The Waldo Canyon Fire begins to burn homes north of Garden of the Gods Road in northwest Colorado Springs, Colo., on the fourth day of the blaze Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Houses in the Mountain Shadows area of Colorado Springs, Colorado ignite due to the Waldo Canyon fire on Wednesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
A helicopter tries to put out fire on the Waldo Canyon wildfire as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Gaylon Wampler)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
A plume of smoke is seen over Interstate 25 as the Waldo Canyon wildfire moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Gaylon Wampler)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
A helicopter tries to put out fire on the Waldo Canyon wildfire as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Gaylon Wampler)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
Fire from the Waldo Canyon wildfire as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Gaylon Wampler)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
Fire from the Waldo Canyon wildfire burns as it moved into subdivisions and destroyed homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Gaylon Wampler)
A plane flies through a rising plume of smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire near Colorado Springs, Colo. on Monday, June 25, 2012. The fire, one of at least a half-dozen wildfires in Colorado as of Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
A helicopter battles the Waldo Canyon Fire near Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday, June 25, 2012. The fire, one of at least a half-dozen wildfires in Colorado as of Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire, Rich Brown
Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown, right, speaks at a briefing on the Waldo Canyon wildfire in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Authorities say it remains too dangerous for them to fully assess the damage from a destructive wildfire threatening Colorado's second-largest city. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Mitch Rowley, a firefighter with the the Colorado Springs Fire Department Task Force I unit, keeps an eye on the Waldo Canyon Fire from a northwestern neighborhood in Colorado Springs, Colo. on Monday, June 25, 2012. The fire, one of at least a half-dozen wildfires in Colorado as of Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
People watch from Mesa Road as the Waldo Canyon Fire burns near Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday, June 25, 2012. The fire, one of at least a half-dozen wildfires in Colorado as of Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
A helicopter and another aircraft battle the Waldo Canyon Fire near Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday, June 25, 2012. The fire, one of at least a half-dozen wildfires in Colorado as of Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
A helicopter battles the Waldo Canyon Fire near Colorado Springs, Colo., on Monday, June 25, 2012. The fire, one of at least a half-dozen wildfires in Colorado as of Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday. (AP Photo/Bryan Oller)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
A firefighting helicopter flies over burned trees as it goes to refill its bucket while fighting the Waldo Canyon wildfire west of Manitou Springs, Colo., on Monday, June 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
The Waldo Canyon wildfire blazes through tree tops west of Manitou Springs, Colo., Monday, June 25, 2012. The Waldo Canyon fire, one of at least a half-dozen wildfires in Colorado on Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday, June 23, but no homes have been destroyed. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
A plume of smoke rises above the Waldo Canyon wildfire west of Manitou Springs, Colo., on Monday afternoon, June 25, 2012. The fire, one of at least eight wildfires in Colorado on Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday, June 23, but no homes have been destroyed. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Waldo Canyon Wildfire
A plume of smoke rises above the Waldo Canyon fire west of Manitou Springs, Colo., on Monday, June 25, 2012. The fire, one of at least a half-dozen wildfires in Colorado on Monday, has blackened 5.3 square miles and displaced about 6,000 people since it started Saturday, June 23, but no homes have been destroyed. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)