Wildland Firefighter Pay Reform and Retirement: How GW Rates Affect Your Annuity

The General Wildland Firefighter (GW) pay schedule, effective March 23, 2025, did something temporary pay supplements never did — it permanently raised base rates in a way that counts toward FERS retirement. For wildland firefighters within a few years of their retirement window, this is the most significant change to their annuity projection in a decade.

But not every dollar from pay reform ends up in your pension. Understanding which components count and which don't is the difference between an accurate retirement projection and a painful surprise.

What the GW Schedule Changed

Before the GW pay schedule, wildland firefighter compensation was built on standard GS base rates plus temporary pay supplements that came and went with each legislative cycle. Those supplements boosted take-home pay but didn't count as basic pay for FERS — they were invisible to the retirement calculation.

The GW schedule replaced this patchwork with permanent Special Base Rates across grades GW-1 through GW-15, with increases ranging from roughly 42% at GW-1 to 1.5% at GW-15 above the old GS equivalents. Because these are permanent rates established by OPM, they qualify as basic pay under FERS:

• FERS retirement deductions are withheld from GW Special Base Rates
• The rates are included in the high-3 average salary calculation
• Locality pay adjustments apply on top of the special base rate

This means a GW-7 firefighter's high-3 will be substantially higher than it would have been under the old GS-7 rate, even with identical locality.

What Doesn't Count

Incident Response Premium Pay (IRPP) — the 450% of hourly rate paid during qualifying wildfire deployments — is explicitly excluded from basic pay under 5 U.S.C. § 5547. No retirement deductions are withheld. It won't appear in your high-3 calculation. The same is true for hazardous duty pay (the 25% differential) and overtime.

This creates a gap between what wildland firefighters earn in a fire year and what their retirement is built on. A firefighter who earns $85,000 in base pay plus $35,000 in incident premiums during a busy season has a retirement calculation based on $85,000, not $120,000.

Impact on the High-3 Window

Your high-3 is the highest average annual basic pay over any 36 consecutive months. Because the GW rates took effect on March 23, 2025, firefighters who remain employed for the full 36 months afterward can use a high-3 window with only GW rates, capturing the full benefit of the higher base rates for that window.

The 36-month window must end by your separation date. A full window at GW rates cannot end before March 23, 2028, three years after the new schedule took effect; someone retiring in 2027 cannot use a window that runs through February 2028. Retiring earlier means only part of the usable window captures the higher rates, which dilutes the average.

For firefighters three or more years from retirement, the GW rates will be fully baked into their high-3 by the time they separate — the timing is a non-issue.

Running Your Own Projection

To estimate the GW impact on your annuity:

1. Find your current GW Special Base Rate for your grade and step on OPM's published pay tables
2. Add your locality adjustment
3. That sum is your annual basic pay for retirement purposes
4. If the rate stayed constant, use that annual basic pay as your high-3; if it changed, add the basic pay earned in the 36 months and divide the total by 3
5. Apply the enhanced formula: (1.7% × high-3 × first 20 covered years) + (1.0% × high-3 × additional years)

If you have fewer than 36 months remaining before retirement, blend the pre-GW and post-GW rates for the months each was in effect to find the true high-3 average.

The Bottom Line

The GW pay reform is unambiguously good for wildland firefighter retirement outcomes. Higher permanent base rates mean higher high-3 averages, which means higher annuities. The mistake to avoid is conflating total compensation during fire season with retirement-eligible basic pay — they are not the same number, and a projection based on total earnings will overstate your annuity.

The Federal Firefighter Retirement Guide includes worked examples for GW-grade firefighters at multiple steps, showing the annuity difference between pre-reform and post-reform high-3 windows.

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