AD Pay Plan 2026: Emergency Firefighter (Casual) Pay Rates

When a fire or other emergency needs more people than the agencies have on staff, they hire temporary emergency workers called casuals, or ADs. ADs are not paid on the GW or GS tables. They are paid a flat hourly rate set by the Administratively Determined (AD) Pay Plan for Emergency Workers, and the rate depends on the position you are hired into.

This page is the 2026 AD pay plan in plain terms: every rate, which positions sit in which class, how the hours are counted on an assignment, and what is and is not withheld from the check. If you are looking at a permanent or seasonal federal fire job instead, see the 2026 GW pay scale.

What is the AD pay plan?

The AD pay plan is the pay schedule for emergency workers hired on a purely temporary basis. The 2026 plan was established jointly by the USDA Forest Service and the Department of the Interior, beginning April 12, 2026 and continuing until it is replaced. It combines authorities from what had been separate agency plans into one plan for both departments.

The plan lists three situations where ADs can be hired: to respond to a fire, extreme fire potential, or another human-caused or natural event that needs a coordinated emergency response on federally protected lands; to give emergency help to states under formal agreements; and to meet mission assignments from FEMA. It can also be used to supplement regular staff on prescribed fire and on mechanical and chemical fuels reduction projects.

The plan is not a back door into a regular job. It says AD hiring is of uncertain and temporary duration, must end when other hiring methods can be used, and cannot be used to get around temporary 1039 or career seasonal appointments. If you were hired before April 12, 2026, you are paid for that period of employment under the plan that was in effect when you were hired.

What are the 2026 AD pay rates?

The 2026 rates run from $18.64 to $69.96 an hour across 13 classes. Under Executive Order 14368 of December 18, 2025, the plan applied a 1 percent increase to the previous rates. The plan publishes one hourly rate per class, and the examples below come from its Incident Position Matrix.

Class	Hourly rate, 2026	Example positions
AD-A	$18.64	Camp help
AD-B	$20.44	Radio operator
AD-C	$22.84	Firefighter Type 2 (crew member), laborer, security guard (not law enforcement)
AD-D	$25.12	Firefighter Type 1 (squad boss), driver/operator, basic faller, fire lookout, helicopter crewmember, camp crew boss
AD-E	$27.60	Engine operator, Class A or B CDL driver, intermediate faller, Type 5 incident commander
AD-F	$30.08	Crew boss, engine boss, head camp cook, packer, heavy equipment boss, Type 4 incident commander
AD-G	$32.80	Emergency medical technician, basic
AD-H	$36.76	Dozer operator, fireline EMT, advanced EMT
AD-I	$40.60	Initial attack dozer operator
AD-J	$44.76	Division/group supervisor, Type 3 incident commander, advanced faller, paramedic
AD-K	$49.16	Operations branch director, liaison officer, agency representative, burned area emergency response specialist
AD-L	$58.84	Complex section chiefs (operations, planning, logistics, finance), pilot, medical unit leader, heavy equipment technical specialist
AD-M	$69.96	Area commander, complex incident commander, complex deputy incident commander (area commander and complex incident commander are open to ADs only in limited cases)

The rate covers all service. The plan says premium pay must not be paid for work beyond 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, or for night, Sunday or holiday work. A 16-hour day pays 16 times your class rate, nothing more.

Which AD class is my position?

Your class comes from the position you are hired into, not from your age or years of experience. The plan’s Incident Position Matrix assigns each position a class, so a Firefighter Type 2 is AD-C, a Firefighter Type 1 is AD-D, and a crew boss or engine boss is AD-F, whoever fills the job.

To be hired into a position you need a current incident qualification card, the “red card,” issued by an NWCG partner agency, showing that you are qualified or a trainee in that position. If the position is not on your card, you can still be hired when it shows as current in the Interagency Resource Ordering Capability (IROC) system.

Trainees are paid one class below the qualified rate. The plan’s own example is a Firefighter Type 1 (squad boss) trainee, who is paid at AD-C instead of AD-D. The same one-class-lower rule applies when you attend emergency incident training required to become qualified for another position. Refresher training is paid at the qualified or trainee rate for the position that needs the refresher.

If you are moved to a different position on an incident, as recorded on the crew time report, your pay is adjusted to that position’s rate. A new resource order is not required.

How are AD hours counted on an assignment?

Every hour is either on-shift and paid, or off-shift and unpaid. Your hiring period starts at your point of hire, the place where your hiring paperwork is done or another location the hiring unit sets, and ends when you are returned there or are no longer available.

• Paid (on-shift): travel from and back to your point of hire and the waiting that goes with it, travel needed for the work such as fire camp to the fireline, ordered standby, and actual work.
• Unpaid (off-shift): time for sleeping and eating when you are free from duty, and other free time when you are not on ordered standby.
• 8-hour guarantee: away from your point of hire you are paid at least 8 hours each calendar day, including days off on the assignment. It does not apply to the first and last day of work or travel, or to work at your point of hire.
• 2-hour minimum: each work period pays at least 2 hours, except on the first and last day of a multi-day assignment.
• No food or shelter, paid around the clock: if you do not get adequate food or lodging, you stay in pay status the whole time you are working, sleeping or eating. The plan counts pre-packaged meals, sack lunches and hot can meals as adequate food, and a sleeping bag, blanket, building, vehicle, tent or trailer as adequate lodging.

Each assignment is limited to 30 days, not counting travel, and you must be demobilized after 30 days whether you traveled or worked remotely. You are not paid for days off after release. Transportation from your point of hire and back is at government expense, but if you quit or are fired without an acceptable reason before the emergency is over, pay stops then, and an official decides whether you get a ride and travel pay home.

How much does an AD make on a fire assignment?

Multiply your class rate by your on-shift hours. Long days are common on fires, so the totals add up even without overtime. These figures are our arithmetic from the 2026 rates, not agency estimates, and they are before income tax.

Position (class)	One 16-hour day	14 days of 16 hours
Camp help (AD-A, $18.64)	$298.24	$4,175.36
Firefighter Type 2 (AD-C, $22.84)	$365.44	$5,116.16
Firefighter Type 1 (AD-D, $25.12)	$401.92	$5,626.88
Crew boss or head camp cook (AD-F, $30.08)	$481.28	$6,737.92

For comparison, a federal employee on the GW table earns overtime at a higher rate after 40 hours a week, plus hazard pay on the fireline and incident premium pay. The wildland firefighter pay guide walks through how a federal season adds up and how it compares with AD work, state agencies and private contract crews.

What is withheld from AD pay, and what benefits do ADs get?

Income tax is withheld; Social Security and Medicare are not. You give the hiring unit an IRS W-4 and any state tax forms when you are first hired. Without a W-4, federal tax is withheld at the single rate with no exemptions. State tax is withheld for the state where you were hired, and you get a W-2 for the year.

Social Security and Medicare are not withheld because the Social Security Act excludes temporary service in a fire, storm, earthquake, flood or similar emergency. If you already receive Social Security benefits, the plan says your AD earnings may be subject to limits and to check with the Social Security Administration.

ADs do not earn annual or sick leave and are not covered by federal life insurance or the federal retirement systems. The Federal Employees’ Compensation Act does cover ADs, so an injury on the job falls under federal workers’ compensation. Federal agencies do not report AD wages to state unemployment offices.

Federal retirees can work as ADs without a reduction in their annuity. Retirees who took a separation incentive, such as a VSIP buyout, are told to check with their HR office first in case AD pay triggers repayment.

How do you get hired as an AD?

You are hired by a hiring unit of the agency, and the decision to accept or reject you belongs to its delegated hiring official. Before you can be mobilized, the plan and the laws it cites require:

• meeting the agency’s minimum physical fitness standards and its security and qualification requirements, plus any health and medical screening required for the position;
• a current red card for the position, as described above;
• a completed Single Resource Casual Hire Information Form (PMS 934) for each period of hire;
• proof you can work in the United States on DHS Form I-9, completed within 3 business days, and hiring units are encouraged to do it before training;
• a Social Security number, required for U.S. citizens and non-resident aliens alike;
• any license the job needs, such as for EMTs or drivers, meeting the rules of the hiring agency and the state where the incident is.

Active members of the armed forces, including activated National Guard members, cannot be hired under the plan. If you want steady fire work rather than call-outs, a seasonal or permanent appointment pays on the GW table with overtime and hazard pay. See how to get a wildland firefighter job and the open wildland firefighter jobs.