Supervisory Wildland Fire Firefighter

Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from any U.S. Citizen. DIRECT HIRING AUTHORITY will be used to fill this position.

Duties

Fire Management Officer (FMO) serves in a large fire management organization, providing short and long-range fire management planning, program direction and coordination, and evaluation of the fire management program.

Establishes priorities for fire hazard reduction, prescribed burns and fuels management based on minimizing potential damage and maximizing multiple resource benefit and enhancement. Collaborates with park unit leadership while also serving on and representing the units on various interagency teams, and work groups dealing with specific local, geographic, or national fire management issues. Works with a variety of complex technical problems relating to fire weather, smoke management, fire behavior, and computer fire modeling. Ensures the fuels management program is consistent with ecosystem management principles and land use plans. Directs and supervises all phases of the budget formulation and execution process and initiates changes as appropriate. Directs all phases of the moderate complexity wildland fire program within assigned park unit. Coordinates unit and group programs with various other federal, state, and local agencies. Supervises, directs, and coordinates subordinate staff. Develops, implements, and administers mutual aid agreements with multiple urban inter-face partners, federal, state and local governmental agencies, political parties, jurisdiction boundaries, multi-land base areas, partners and cooperators to develop inter- and intra-agency agreements. Coordinates the management of wildland fires with the response agency and cooperating agencies on single and multi-jurisdictional wildland fires. Ensures that the fire management program complies with environmental laws, regulations, and policy.

The following conditions of employment apply only if the selectee has arduous NWCG qualifications that they would like to maintain with support and concurrence from their supervisor:

Prior to appointment, you must be determined physically fit by an authorized government physician to perform strenuous and physically demanding duties; and also pass a medical examination (which includes vision, hearing, cardiovascular, and mobility of extremities) given by an authorized government physician. You will also be required to undergo periodic medical examinations throughout employment. The Work Capacity Test (WCT-Pack Test) is a method for assessing an employee's fitness levels for fire qualifications in the positions covered by this recruitment notice. You must meet the requirements of a Work Capacity Test that is commensurate with the fitness level of the NWCG qualification you are maintaining.

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

U.S. Citizenship required. Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication. Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males. Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program. You will be required to submit to a drug test and receive a negative drug test result prior to appointment. In addition, this position is subject to random testing for illegal drug use. Prior to appointment, you must be determined physically fit by an authorized government physician to perform strenuous and physically demanding duties; and also pass a medical examination (which includes vision, hearing, cardiovascular, and mobility of extremities) given by an authorized government physician. You will also be required to undergo periodic medical examinations throughout employment. The Work Capacity Test (WCT-Pack Test) as a method for assessing an employee's fitness levels for fire qualifications in the positions covered by this recruitment notice. Employees required to pass a WCT-Pack Test as a "condition of employment" You will be required to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required. You will be required to submit a Motor Vehicle Operator's License and Driving Record. You must also submit (within a State sealed envelope or submitted directly by the State authorities), and at your own expense, all certified driving records from all States that disclose all valid driver's licenses, whether current or past, possessed by you. You may be required to complete training and operate a four-wheel drive vehicle. You may be required to work, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work. If you are a new employee or supervisor in the Federal government, you will be required to complete a one-year probationary period. Subject to frequent extended travel up to 14 nights a month particularly during fire season, and you must obtain a government charge card for travel. You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority. Completion of NWCG course M-581, Fire Program Management within one year of entrance on duty.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement 08/15/2024, unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount qualified specialized experience.

This position has been identified as one of the key fire management positions under the Interagency Fire Program management (IFPM) Standard. This position has been categorized as a Unit Fire Program Manager, Moderate Complexity, and requires selectee to meet the minimum qualification standards for IFPM prior to moving into the position. For more information on IFPM, .

Selective Factors: The applicant must have possessed all the following National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) incident management qualifications and training requirements to be considered eligible for this position:
Pathway #1: Task Force Leader (TFLD) and Incident Commander Type 3 (ICT3) or Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 2 (RXB2)
-OR-
Pathway#2: Helibase Manager (HEBM) and Incident Commander Type 3 (ICT3).
-AND-
Selective Factor: This is an administrative position in an organization having a firefighting mission and is clearly in an established career path. Prior firefighting experience, as gained by substantial service in a primary firefighter position or equivalent experience outside the Federal government is a MANDATORY PREREQUISITE. Wildland firefighting experience is required to meet qualifications for secondary (administrative) covered positions. The Department of Interior defines wildland firefighting experience as: On-the-line wildland firefighting experience gained through containment, control, suppression, or use of wildland fire. Wildland fire is defined as any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Two distinct types of wildland fire have been defined and include wildfire and prescribed fires as follows:
Wildfire : Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires.
Prescribed Fires: Planned ignitions. This description includes only fireline experience on a Prescribed Fire; it does not include experience in the planning stages. Prescribed fire experience must be supplemented by fire suppression experience in order to be creditable as previous wildland firefighting experience.
You must clearly demonstrate this experience in your resume, including the months, days and hours per week at which the work was performed in order to be considered.
-AND-
In addition, to qualify for this position, you must possess the following specialized experience: At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience include providing leadership and supervision for fire management staff and cooperators during preparedness and incident response assignments; assigning crews and wildland firefighters; supervising administrative program functions such as planning, budget formulation/execution. Working closely with multiple cooperators and interagency partners, political boundaries, jurisdiction boundaries, multi-land base areas, partners and cooperators to develop inter- and intra-agency agreements. Developing, reviewing and evaluating complex fire management plans for ecological soundness or consistency with land management goals and/or potentially adverse impacts to cultural and natural resources; conducting field inspections before and after prescribed or wildland fires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or evaluating the effectiveness of actions taken; analyzing the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management; analyzing and/or applying fire management strategies in mobilization and/or dispatch coordination, fire prevention and education, training, logistics, equipment development and deployment, fire communication systems, suppression and preparedness or aviation; analyzing fuel conditions and determining appropriate fuel treatment methods (i.e. prescribed fire, mechanical, chemical, or biological treatments); performing land use planning and environmental compliance; evaluating prescribed burn plans or fire management plans to ensure fire containment is possible and identifying appropriate suppression contingencies if fire containment is not obtained. Implementing fire management planning, including evaluation of objective in resource management plans to develop strategies to accomplish these objectives; developing evaluation measures to determine if fire management activities have accomplished objectives and adapted future activities based on findings.

Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

This is a secondary-administrative firefighter position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S. C. 8336 (c) (CSRS) and 5 U. S. C. 8412 (d) (FERS). PLEASE NOTE: Applicants may meet qualification requirements but may not be eligible for special retirement coverage. If such an applicant is selected, they will be placed in the regular retirement system.

FERS TRANSITION REQUIREMENT: To be eligible for Secondary retirement coverage under FERS, an employee must: 1) transfer directly (without a break in service exceeding 3 days) from a primary position to a secondary position, AND 2) complete 3 years of service in a primary rigorous position including any such service during which no FERS deductions were withheld, AND 3) must be continuously employed in a secondary position(s) since moving from a primary rigorous position, except for any break in employment from a secondary position that began with involuntary separation (not for cause).

It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure this office has enough information to determine your special retirement status to ensure you do not lose benefits (normally through submission of your work history or other documentation that demonstrates work history of approved covered positions). You must let this office know if you are in a Primary coverage position.

Education

There is no educational qualifications for the GS-0456 Wildland Firefighter occupational series at the GS-12 grade level.

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