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Fire Management Specialist

Department of the Interior
National Park Service
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is with the National Park Service, organizationally located in the Washington Support Office (WASO), Fire Management  Program Center (FPMC), Division of Fire and Aviation, Branch of Wildland Fire. 

This position may be filled in Boise, ID or in Tucson, AZ.

Information about the Boise area can be found at www.boisechamber.org

Information about the Tucson area can be found at https://www.tucsonaz.gov

Overview

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Reviewing applications
Open & closing dates
12/09/2019 to 01/06/2020
Salary
$88,704 to - $116,319 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 13
Locations
1 vacancy in the following locations:
Tucson, AZ
Boise, ID
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
25% or less - Travel is required to attend trainings, conferences, workshops, and field visits.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—Travel and relocation expenses will be paid consistent with the Federal Travel Regulation, Chapter 302, and Departmental policy. The use of a relocation service company and home marketing incentive will not be offered. Please note, that selectee will be responsible for tax obligations related to payments for moving expenses - 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act, Public Law 115-97.
Appointment type
Permanent - This is a permanent position.
Work schedule
Full-time - Work Schedule is Full Time.
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
13
Supervisory status
Yes
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Announcement number
NPS Merit-2020-0002
Control number
553704800

Duties

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The primary purpose of this position is to provide senior level professional wildland fire management expertise to, and management of, the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center (LLC) program functions.  This entails providing strategic and operational direction, fire management advice, and leadership for the LLC as well as developing, requesting, and managing the LLC budget.  All activities are conducted in an interagency environment.  The incumbent provides direction and maintains effective processes for gathering, verifying, and analyzing observations and information from a variety of sources to produce accurate knowledge products containing lessons learned and effective practices.  The LLC Manager provides technical oversight to interagency employees and the full range of supervisory responsibilities to other NPS staff at the LLC.  The incumbent oversees the management of contracts in cooperation with federal land management agency contracting officers.  The LLC Center Manager participates in workshops, seminars, conferences, fire meetings, and other venues to transfer applicable lessons and effective practices.  The incumbent may participate in wildland fire and all hazard response activities based on qualifications and availability.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • U.S. Citizenship is required
  • Be sure to read the "How to Apply" and "Required Documents" Sections
  • Direct Deposit Required
  • Background Investigation Required

Resumes must show relevant experience and other information.  Your resume must list your education and work experience including the dates (mm/yyyy) of each employment along with the number of hours worked per week and salary information.  Your resume will be used to validate your responses to the assessment tool(s).  - You are welcome to submit a cover letter (optional).   If you wish to do so, include it with your resume.

You must meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

Federal employees in the competitive service are also subject to the Time-In-Grade requirement in accordance with 5 CFR 300.604.  If you are a current Federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled.

All applicants must be aware that Federal employees must obtain and maintain a favorable background investigation.  A background investigation will be conducted by the employing office following acceptance of the position.  Failure to obtain a favorable determination of the background investigation will result in the cancellation of the offer or will be grounds for termination.

This is a secondary/administrative fire position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336(c) (CSRS) and 5 U.S.C. 8412(d) (FERS).  While secondary positions are not subject to the maximum entry age policy, the selectee must have prior service in a primary position and meet the transfer requirement for movement from a primary to secondary position to be eligible for special retirement coverage. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure this office has enough information to determine your retirement status to ensure you do not lose benefits (normally through submission of your SF-50). YOU MUST LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN A PRIMARY POSITION.

Qualifications

BASIC MINIMUM EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS:

A.  Degree:  Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that included a major field of study in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resources management, or related discipline appropriate to the position being filled.

-OR-

B.  Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resources management, or at least 24 semester hours in biological sciences, natural resources, wildland fire management, forestry, or agriculture equivalent to a major field of study, plus appropriate experience or additional education that is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in the biological sciences, agriculture, or natural resources. 

You will need to clearly state your undergraduate/graduate degree(s) and submit your college transcripts or a listing of your college courses that includes hours and grades.

In addition to meeting the basic entry requirement, applicants must have specialized experience to be found qualified. In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the specialized experience requirement - please be sure to include this information in your resume. To be creditable, this experience must have been equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:

To qualify for the GS-13 grade level, 1 year of creditable specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 is required. Examples of work experience include, but are not limited to: Providing professional wildland fire management expertise and advice to agency administrators, coordinating groups or other decision making entities; leading a wildland fire management program or similar operation; serving as a team member or team leader in wildland fire program reviews, accident investigations (lessons learned or Facilitated Learning Analysis teams acceptable); presenting information to diverse groups of stakeholders; analyzing data and/or information and drawing conclusions to make programmatic decisions; developing or implementing a budget or working within budget constraints; working in an interagency environment.

SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR(S): This position requires a special qualification that has been determined to be essential to perform the duties and will be used as a screen out element.  Those who do not provide evidence they possess the following selective factor(s) will be rated not qualified.

Selective Placement Factor (SPF)#1: (Prior WLFF) Prior on-the-line firefighting: The Department of the Interior defines wildland firefighting experience as any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Wildland firefighting experience is gained through work on the fire line in 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 for no less than 90 days. Wildland fires are categorized into two distinct types: (1) Wildfires – Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires; and (2) 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 experience must be documented with specific dates in the online application or resume.

There is no substitution of education for specialize experience at the GS-12 and above grade levels.

Education

This position has a positive education requirement. See qualification section for description of the Basic Education Requirement (BER). Additionally you must submit copies of transcripts or a list of all college courses that include hours and grades from an accredited U.S. college/university.  If your degree is from a Foreign Institution, See Foreign Education

Additional information

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)/Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP):  CTAP provides eligible surplus and displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. Information about CTAP/ICTAP eligibility is available from OPM's Career Transition Resources website at CTAP or ICTAP.  If your agency has notified you in writing that you are a surplus or displaced employee eligible for CTAP consideration or that you are a displaced employee eligible for ICTAP consideration, you may receive selection priority if: 1) This vacancy is within your CTAP/ICTAP eligibility; 2) You apply under the instructions in this announcement; and 3) You are found well-qualified for this vacancy. You must provide proof of eligibility with your application to receive selection priority. Such proof may include a copy of your written notification of CTAP/ICTAP eligibility, or a copy of your separation personnel action form. 

CTAP and ICTAP eligibles will be considered well qualified if they receive a minimum score of 90 based on the rating criteria used for this position.

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 a RPL, you may be given priority consideration.    

May require completion of a one year probationary period. 

Supervisory probationary Period: If you are selected for this position, you will be required to serve a one year supervisory probationary period, if one has not previously been completed.

Government facilities are required to provide a smoke free environment for their employees. Smoking will be permitted only in designated areas.

You must be able to obtain and maintain a valid automobile driver's license.

The NPS has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval. 

This announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

How you will be evaluated

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

Upon receipt of your complete application package, a review of your application will be made to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements.  Your rating will be based on your responses to the Job Specific Questionnaire and the information stated in your resume.  If qualified, your score may range from 70-100 points.  In addition, interviews may be conducted for this position.  The interviews may be conducted on a pass/fail basis or may be scored.  The job specific questions relate to the following knowledge, skills and abilities required to do the work of this position.

KSA 1 - Knowledge of complex interagency fire management organizations, functions, and operations

KSA 2 - Ability to guide, counsel, and communicate effectively with interagency wildland fire and all hazard response subject matter experts.

KSA 3 - Knowledge of and ability to practice teamwork, coordination, cooperation, and collaboration skills.

KSA 4 - Knowledge of budget and contract management.

KSA 5 - Knowledge of interagency relationships, organizations, and goals of federal, state, and local wildland fire and all-hazard agencies.


To preview questions please click here.

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