Wildland Firefighter (Fuels Management) - Direct Hire Authority

Summary For more information about each location see "Position Information". Please ensure you read the announcement fully prior to submitting application package. Duties Develops mid and long-term programs of work which support the units land and resource management plan alternatives. Evaluates individual fuels treatments as well as the effectiveness of the overall fuels management program and makes program changes based on evaluation findings. Analyzes and evaluates study findings and provides comprehensive recommendations for future fuels management projects. Coordinates with federal, state, tribal and local government air quality officials in their development of operational procedures and reporting requirements. Maintains awareness of technological developments in wildland fire science and related disciplines. Works closely with other resource specialists to integrate vegetation management project designs with fuels management program objectives. Prepares wildland fire risk assessments incorporating wildland/urban interface considerations into agreements, operating plans and land and fire management plans to ensure that interface areas are considered and apportioned appropriately. Requirements Conditions of employment U.S. Citizenship required. Males born after 12/31/1959 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt. Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication. Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program. Must be 18 years of age at time of close date of announcement. Prior primary/rigorous wildland firefighting experience is required. 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. Must pass the Work Capacity Test for certain Interagency Fire Program Management or Fire Program Management positions. 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 may be required to wear a uniform and comply with the Wildland Fire Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided. You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work. Subject to frequent extended travel particularly during fire season, and you must obtain a government charge card for travel. Incumbent will be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority. Willing to live/work in remote locations (volatile/unpredictable). Government housing MAY be available, is on a bid system, and is NOT guaranteed. Qualifications In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your 2 page 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 total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time or part-time, hours must be included). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. You may only submit one resume. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed. If an applicant's resume is incomplete or does not support the requirements for minimum qualifications or specialized experience a rating of "ineligible" or "not qualified" will be applied and no consideration for employment will be granted. This position has been identified as one of the key fire management positions under the Interagency Fire Program management (IFPM) Standard. This position requires selectee to meet the minimum qualification standards for IFPM prior to being placed into the position. For more information on IFPM, click here. Basic Qualification Requirements: Candidates must possess Primary/Rigorous wildland firefighting experience, gained through fire line work in containment, control, suppression or use of wildland fire. You must clearly demonstrate this experience in your resume, including the months, days, and hours per week at which the work was performed to be considered.; AND Successfully completed the Primary NWCG Core Requirements of: Prescribed Burn Boss (RXB2) AND Incident Commander Type 3 (ICT3) OR Task Force Leader (TFLD) OR Helibase Manager (HEBM) In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional experience is required. For the GW-11 level: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS/GW-09 (or higher) grade level in the Federal service; Examples of specialized experience include: Reviewed and evaluated fire management plans for potentially adverse impacts to cultural and natural resources; Conducted field inspections before and after prescribed or wildland fires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or evaluated the effectiveness of actions taken; Analyzed the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management; Performed forest and/or range inventory methodology and procedures; Analyzed fuel loadings and determined appropriate fuel treatment methods and programming. OR At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS/GW-10 level, or higher, outside of the Federal service; Examples of specialized experience include: Reviewed and evaluated fire management plans for potentially adverse impacts to cultural and natural resources; Conducted field inspections before and after prescribed or wildland fires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or evaluated the effectiveness of actions taken; Analyzed the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management; Performed forest and/or range inventory methodology and procedures; Analyzed fuel loadings and determined appropriate fuel treatment methods and programming. In order to be considered for this position, copies of your Incident Qualification and Certification System (IQCS) Master Record (or equivalent training documents) which contain documented proof of the certification or attainment of the IFPM Selective Placement Factor for this position MUST be attached to your application. Red Cards are not acceptable documentation. Currency Requirement: Required to maintain currency once hired into the position. Currency of NWCG qualifications is not required for selection. If not currently qualified, the applicant must provide documented evidence that they have been fully qualified in the past, and are able to regain currency within one year of being hired. Failure to provide this documentation will result in disqualification. 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. Substantial 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. This experience can be met by serving in a temporary, seasonal, or equivalent private sector fire position. Periods of wildland firefighting experience, gained through militia and rural fire departments, can also be credited. 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 fire line experience on a Prescribed Fire; it does not include experience in the planning stages. Prescribed fire experience must be supplemented by fire suppression experience 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. 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. To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Education IMPORTANT - PLEASE NOTE: There is no qualifying education for the 0456 series.Position Information: Incumbent directs a prescribed fire/fuels management program that includes a full range of fuels management activities and functions at the unit/tribal level. These functions include prescribed fire, mechanical and biological fuels treatments, fire effects monitoring, fuels monitoring, and smoke monitoring. Incumbent serves as the technical expert and advisor to the Fire Management Officer, on fuels management and identifies and analyzes multiple variables such as weather, fuels, topography, fire behavior, smoke impacts, employee, and public safety, in strategically developing and implementing fuels management projects. **PLEASE NOTE - these positions are covered under the new GW pay table specific to Wildland Firefighters. The salary listed in the announcement is for the the RUS pay table: GW RUS Pay Table. Please see below for specific pay table information. There are two total positions being filled in the following areas: One position being filled at Saguaro National Park; duty location Tucson, AZ. This position is covered under the Tucson locality pay table: Tucson Pay Table. For additional questions regarding the duties or location for this position, please contact Tyler Chesarek at [email protected]. One position being filled at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks; duty location Sequoia, CA. This position is covered under the Fresno locality pay table: Fresno Pay Table. For additional questions regarding the duties or location for this position, please contact Leif Mathieson at [email protected]. In order to be considered for any, or all locations, please ensure desired locations are selected. Additional information This notice is being issued to recruit personnel to occupations for which a critical hiring need has been identified. To assist in filling these positions, OPM has granted the Department of the Interior "Direct Hire Authority". This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate. A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected (step 1). The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay. A Recruitment Incentive May Be Authorized for a newly selected employee when appointed to a permanent, temporary, or term position. A Federal employee who is transferring to the National Park Service from another component, bureau, or Federal agency and who does not meet the conditions under 5 CFR 575.102 is not eligible for a recruitment incentive. A Relocation Incentive May Be Authorized for a Federal employee when the employee must move, as directed by the National Park Service (NPS) either through a management directed reassignment or selection for employment, to a different location at least 50 miles away from the one where his/her position of record held at time of selection is currently located, due to a need of the NPS. A relocation incentive is not the same as a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and, as such, may be granted in conjunction with one another. Physical Demands: work in the office is primarily sedentary. Field work does require frequent physical exertion, involving walking over rough terrain, sometimes for extended periods, and working under occasionally inclement (hot, cold, snow, wind, etc.) weather conditions. The incumbent must be in good physical condition in order to safety perform field activities. The incumbent must be able to perform duties in areas of uncontrolled wildfire where hazardous conditions exist. The incumbent must be able to fly as a passenger in helicopters and single engine fixed wing aircraft. Working Conditions: Work is performed in both an office and field setting with field work. Field work involves exposure to temperature extremes, both from weather and fire conditions where falling trees and the presence of smoke and/or dust conditions create hazardous conditions. The nature of fire management work requires that protective clothing (boots, hard hats, etc.) be worn. The incumbent must exercise a variety of safety practices and precautions for the well-being of self and of others. Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution. Benefits A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits. Review our benefits Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.