Summary This is a Direct-Hire advertisement. Veterans preference is not applicable to this advertisement. Learn more about this authority at: Direct Hire Authority This Supervisory Wildland Firefighter (Fire Management Officer) position is with the US Wildland Fire Service, GW-0456-11 working in the following location(s): Bell City, Louisiana Lacombe, Louisiana Responsibilities As a Assistant Fire Management Officer your duties will include but are not limited to the following: Supervision: Supervises regularly assigned fire management staff and provides situational leadership and supervision for additional fire management staff during preparedness and incident response assignments; likewise, assigns and reassigns crews, firefighters, and other fire staff to various shifts and stations throughout the organization. Fire Program Management: Develops and maintains overall fire management plans for moderately complex fire programs covering a variety of activities such as: fire detection (i.e., lookout towers, detection cameras, ground and aerial patrols, aerial observation routes); fuels management projects; staffing requirements; pre-incident planning for construction of landing spots, fire camps, staging areas, fuel breaks and barriers, and water facilities; organizational requirements for supplies, materials, fleet, equipment, and facilities, standardized mapping and record keeping systems; strategic locations of fire resources; prevention inspection schedules and workload requirements; initial attack methods; operating procedures; operational methods for managing and suppressing large fires; policies and procedures for operating and maintaining communications systems and facilities; and fire management training programs needs and requirements. Planning: Facilitates fire management planning activities. Fire management planning involves interacting with all disciplines (interdisciplinary teams) as well as subordinate leadership, employees of the organization, and cooperators from other federal, state, tribal, and local agencies. Preparedness / Operations: Makes periodic inspections of the fire management organization and operations for compliance with approved plans, rules, regulations, and standards to ensure that an adequate and effective fire management force is being maintained. Fuels Management: Ensures the fuels management program is consistent with ecosystem management principles, land management plans, and evaluates the impacts to air quality standards. Requirements Conditions of Employment Must be a U.S. Citizen or National. Suitability for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation. Direct Deposit 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. Selectees must pass a pre-employment medical examination and may be subject to post-employment medical examinations to determine if they are maintaining the fitness standards for this position. This position requires the incumbent to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of their official duties. Selectee must hold and maintain a valid state driver's license throughout their employment in this position. Official U.S. Wildland Fire Service uniform is required. A condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated. Supervisory Probationary Period: Selectees who have not previously completed a supervisory probationary period, will be required to serve a one-year supervisory/managerial probationary period for this position. Individuals assigned male at birth after 12-31-59 must be registered for the Selective Service. To verify registration visit SSS.gov. You must be 18 years of age or older to be assigned to a hazardous position. You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work. Qualifications In order to qualify for this position you must possess the Minimum Qualification requirements listed below. 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 being placed into the position. Detailed information regarding IFPM positions can be found here: Interagency Fire Program Management (IFPM). To meet IFPM requirements, you must have possessed all of the following National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) incident management qualifications and training requirements to be considered eligible for this position (currency not required at time of referral, but may be required to obtain and maintain currency if selected): Moderate Pathway #1: 1.) Task Force Leader (TFLD) AND 2.) Incident Commander Type 3 (ICT3) or Prescribed Fire Burn Boss, Type 2 (RXB2) OR Moderate Pathway #2: 1.) Helibase Manager (HEBM) AND 2.) Incident Commander, Type 3 (ICT3) To meet additional IFPM training requirements, as a "condition of employment", you must complete the following within one year of the entry on duty date: Fire Program Management (M-581) In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional experience is required. Only experience and education obtained by 02/27/2026 will be considered. Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. Please be sure to include this information in your resume. No assumptions will be made about your experience. Minimum Qualification GW-11 A.) If you are a current or former federal employee who served in a competitive or excepted appointment, your resume must show that you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GW-09 grade level that demonstrates your ability to assist in directing multiple phases of fire management programs on Federally managed lands. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include, fire management planning, aviation management, training and workforce planning, fire preparedness, fuels management and fire prevention, dispatching, suppression, post-suppression, as well as hazard and emergency response activities. OR B.) If you have never been or are NOT a current or former federal employee who served in a competitive or excepted appointment, your resume must show that you have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GW-10 grade level that demonstrates your ability to direct multiple phases of fire management programs on Federally managed lands. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include, fire management planning, aviation management, training and workforce planning, fire preparedness, fuels management and fire prevention, dispatching, suppression, post-suppression, as well as hazard and emergency response activities. 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. *Applicants must meet all minimum qualification requirements for the position of interest by the closing date of the Job Announcement. Secondary Firefighter Retirement Coverage - Applicants for this secondary administrative fire fighter position under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336 (c) (CSRS) and 5 U.S.C. 8412 (d), must possess knowledge of the principles, methods, and techniques of wildland firefighting as demonstrated by direct wildland firefighting experience. In order to receive credit, you must provide a written description of your experience in wildland firefighting. Education without hands-on wildland firefighting experience does not meet this requirement. 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 in order to be creditable as previous wildland firefighting experience. Physical Demands: Normally the work is sedentary but often requires physical exertion while overseeing fire suppression activities including walking over rough, steep, uneven terrain in all @types of weather. The incumbent is faced with emergency situations at all hours and must respond quickly. The position may require long shifts or multi-day assignments under primitive living conditions during emergencies. During the fire season, extended fire assignments away from the unit may be required under very stressful conditions. Working Conditions: Although work is generally performed in an office setting. Field work involves exposure to temperature extremes, both from weather and fire conditions where falling trees and the presence of smoke and/or dust create hazardous conditions. The nature of fire suppression work requires that protective clothing (boots, hard hats, etc.) be worn during fire assignments. The incumbent must exercise a variety of safety practices and precautions for the well-being of self and of others. Education PROOF OF EDUCATION: All applicants who are using education or a combination of education and experience to qualify must submit copies of official or unofficial transcripts which include grades, credit hours earned, major(s), grade point average or class ranking, institution name, and student name. If any required coursework is not easily recognizable on transcripts, or if you believe a portion of a particular course can be credited toward meeting an educational requirement, you must also provide a memorandum on letterhead from the institution's registrar, dean, or other appropriate official stating the percentage of the course that should be considered to meet the requirement and the equivalent number of units. Unofficial transcripts are acceptable; however, if you are selected for the position, you will be required to produce the original official transcripts. PASS/FAIL COURSES: If more than 10 percent of your undergraduate course work (credit hours) were taken on a pass/fail basis, your claim of superior academic achievement must be based upon class standing or membership in an honor society. GRADUATE EDUCATION: One academic year of graduate education is considered to be the number of credits hours your graduate school has determined to represent one academic year of full-time study. Such study may have been performed on a full-time or part-time basis. If you cannot obtain your graduate school's definition of one year of graduate study, 18 semester hours (or 27 quarter hours) should be considered as satisfying the requirement for one year of full-time graduate study. FOREIGN EDUCATION: If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program; or full credit has been given for the courses at a U.S. accredited college or university. For further information, visit: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | International Affairs Office (ed.gov). Additional Information Reemployment Priority List (RPL): The RPL is the mechanism agencies use to give reemployment consideration to their former competitive service employees separated by a RIF or who have fully recovered from a compensable injury after more than one year. If you are currently on an RPL, you may be given priority consideration. PCS INFORMATION: -Yes, entitlements for payment of basic moving expenses, as required and to the extent allowed by the Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) 302-3.101, are authorized for eligible applicants changing duty station when the change meets the distance tests as provided in FTR 302-1.1 and 302-2.6. All moving expenses are taxable. -In addition, relocation discretionary entitlements May be authorized for this position excluding contractor-provided home sale. Telework: This position is suitable for telework only in an emergency or natural disaster. Additional Vacancies: One or more positions may be filled from applications received under this announcement in the advertised office or other U.S. Wildland Fire Service offices in the local commuting area. One vacancy to be filled at each of the following locations: Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge located in Bell City, Louisiana. Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge located in Lacombe, Louisiana. Reasonable Accommodation: The USWFS provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. Please visit USAJOBS Help Center | Reasonable accommodation policy if you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process. Applicants are ineligible for this position if ANY time they have been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony crime of domestic violence, unless such conviction was expunged, set aside or the applicant receives a pardon. Probation/Trial Period Con't: The probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider: - your performance and conduct; - the needs and interests of the agency; - whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and - whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated. Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.
