A long running effort to permanently boost pay for thousands of federal wildland firefighters appears to be gaining some traction in Congress. But fire managers warn it could be too little too late to prevent mass resignations in the coming weeks. The House earlier this month passed an amendment extending a temporary pay increase of $20,000 approved by President Biden through next year. While a broader bill in the Senate that would make those pay bumps permanent remains stalled, it appears the latest stopgap budget deal averting a government shutdown will also avert – for now — a massive pay cut many firefighters feared was coming by Friday. …The union representing federal employees is warning that, based on its surveys, at least thirty percent of the federal wildland firefighting force could quit if pay isn’t permanently boosted.