Clarification from the agency

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

• Perform wildland fire fighting suppression and control work and leads crews performing such work.
• Serve as the helitack program manager for the Grand Canyon Nat'l Park and Yellowstone Nat'l Park helitack crews.
• Lead the fire management and emergency response efforts of the helicopter module.
• Assign work in accordance with individual skill levels, resolves minor complaints and ensures crew needs are met.
• Instruct employees in specific tasks and job techniques.
• Serve as an instructor for a variety of fire and aviation-related training courses.
• Serve as a certified short-haul spotter and short-hauler for emergency operations.
• Complete manifests of personnel and equipment being transported to fires or other project work sites.
• Inventory and inspect helicopter accessories, fire tools, and equipment including short-haul equipment.
• Serve as helispot and dip-site manager for incidents requiring the establishment of these sites.

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 of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Yellowstone National Park position is a 22/4 position; guaranteed 22 pay periods in pay status, and up to 4 pay periods in non-pay status within a year.
• Career-Seasonal appointments are permanent positions and include the same benefits as Career appointments, but do not provide work on a year-round basis.
• Grand Canyon National Park position is a permanent full-time position; guaranteed 26 pay periods in pay status.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Must be 18 years of age at time of close date of announcement.
• This is a Test Designated Position. 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.
• Willing to live/work in remote locations (volatile/unpredictable).
• Minimum of 90 days of wildland firefighting experience is required.
• You may be required to operate a government motor vehicle as part of your official duties; a valid driver's license is required.
• You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service fire uniform standards.
• You may be required to work on-call, 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.
• Incumbent will be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
• May be 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.
• Yellowstone National Park government housing MAY be available, is on a bid system; housing is not guaranteed.
• Grand Canyon National Park is a required occupancy position - must live in Park housing in Grand Canyon Village, AZ

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.

To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying 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 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.

For more information on the qualifications for this position, go to: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/0400/forestry-technician-series-0462/

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:

GS-09: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-08 level. Examples of specialized experience include: Performed or lead others in wildland firefighting functions; served as a lead firefighter on a fire suppression hand-crew, a prescribed fire crew, a wildland fire engine crew, a wildland fire helitack crew, or other forestry technician or comparable position performing wildland fire related work
OR
Two full years of graduate education or a master's degree directly related to the position. Examples of related education include forestry, wildland fire science, or other directly related sciences. You must provide transcripts at time of application.
OR
A combination of graduate level education that is directly related to the position and specialized experience. The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university. You must provide transcripts at the time of application.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE NOTE: 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.

Selective Factors:

• Candidates must possess a minimum of 90-days of 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 in order to be considered. AND
• Successfully completed the Primary NWCG Core Requirements of:
  • Incident Commander Type 4 (ICT4) AND
  • Helicopter Manager (HMGB) AND
  • Helibase Manager (HEBM)

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.

Secondary Firefighter Retirement Coverage - Candidates must possess a minimum of 90-days of 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 in order to be considered. This experience can be met by serving in a temporary, seasonal, or equivalent private sector fire position for no less than 90 days. 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 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.

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.

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.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Applicants will be evaluated based on how whether they meet the qualification requirements.

Upon receipt of the completed application package, a review of your application will be made to ensure basic qualification requirements are met.

This vacancy will be filled through a Direct Hire Authority. Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants do not apply to positions filled under this Authority. All qualified applicants, as determined by the SHRO, will be referred for consideration. While managers and supervisors are not required to conduct interviews, it is highly recommended that they do so in order to assess the competencies of each applicant.

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.

If a determination is made that an applicant has inflated qualifications or experience on the resume, the applicant will receive no consideration for the position, as per OPM regulations.