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Fire Management Specialist (Fire Planner) - Direct Hire Authority

Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Interior Regions 6, 7 & 8; Fire and Aviation Management
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Total of three (3) positions being advertised. Duty location will be determined at the time of selection:

  • One in Yellowstone National Park remote duty location options of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming or Utah
  • One in Grand Canyon National Park remote duty location options of Arizona or Utah
  • One in Bandelier National Monument remote duty location options of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, or Texas.
**Applicant/employee must be within a 2 hour commute to a commercial airport.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
02/27/2023 to 03/13/2023
Salary
$57,118 - $74,250 per year

Pay rates vary depending on location, the salary shown is for the Rest of the U.S. See OPM.gov for additional information on pay rates.

Pay scale & grade
GS 9 - 11
Location
3 vacancies in the following location:
Location Negotiable After Selection
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—The duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.
Travel Required
50% or less - You may me expected to travel overnight for training, area meetings, fire suppression or other related assignments. At least one week a month.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
11
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Announcement number
23-36611-IMRFIRE-DHA
Control number
709103700

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

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

Duties

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  • Coordinates with the park compliance coordinator(s) to ensure these plans are consistent with land and resource management plans (L/RMPs), laws, policies, regulations, and environmental mandates (e.g., National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Air Act, National Historic Preservation Act, etc.)
  • Presents technical information and complex issues coherently and concisely that is understandable to a variety of audiences.
  • Provides technical advice in the implementation of fire management plans and supporting plans (e.g., prescribed fire, fire danger or prevention plans) and applications (e.g., decision support tools, wildland fire reporting,).
  • Coordinates the collection, review, retention, and appropriate record-keeping for documents related to fire management plans.
  • Coordinates fire planning-related agreements between park fire programs and cooperating agencies and organizations.
  • Reviews fire management data for adequacy, appropriateness, and accuracy.
  • Ensures fire management plan updates are timely, accurate, and defensible within established standards.
  • Provides guidance to field units on data collection and evaluation of fire hazard, fuels, historic fire occurrence, fire effects, climatology, and weather conditions.
  • Serves as the subject matter expert for wildland fire decision support tools and programs.
  • Schedules and conducts formal and informal training and serves as instructor and/or coach at the unit or zone level.
  • Provides unit technical advice for short- and long-term strategic fire management planning, assessments, and interagency and/or unit fire management plans.
  • Duties listed are at the full performance level of this position.

Requirements

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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.
  • 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 Drug 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.
  • Minimum of 90 days of wildland firefighting experience is required.
  • Willing to live/work in remote locations (volatile/unpredictable).
  • You will be required to operate a government 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 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.
  • You may me expected to travel overnight for training, area meetings, fire suppression or other related assignments; You must obtain a government charge card for travel.
  • A selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government is entitled to the lowest step of the grade for which selected The salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.

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: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/IORs/gs0400/0401.htm

Basic Qualification Requirements:

  • Candidates must possess a minimum of 90-days of wildland firefighting experience AND
  • Must meet the following educational requirements:
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 resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.
OR
Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree in a major field of study that included 24 semester hours in course work in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. Related course work generally refers to courses that may be accepted as part of the program major.
OR
Combination of education and experience that included 24 semester hours in course work in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position, AND experience sufficient to demonstrate that I possess the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform work in the occupation that is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study with a major in the appropriate field needed to perform the work of the occupation.

In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional education and/or experience are required for the grade(s) specified.

For the GS-9 level:

Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-7 grade level;
OR
A master's or equivalent graduate degree in a related field;OR2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's or equivalent graduate degree, if related;
OR
An appropriate combination of specialized experience and education (only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work.

Examples of specialized experience for the GS-09 are: Planning and/or implementing prescribed fire or managing wildfire to ensure resource objectives can be met from a fire management standpoint; Developing and/or implementing initial attack incident management strategies and tactics to meet the stated resource objectives; Implementing mitigation measures during wildland fire activities to protect sensitive habitats, endangered species, sensitive plants, or cultural values.

For the GS-11 level:

One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-9 level;
OR
Applicants must have 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree or Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree (coursework directly related to position being filled);
OR
An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.).

Examples of specialized experience for the GS-11 are: Developing and overseeing mechanical fuels, prescribed fire burn plans or other land and resource projects or activities; Serving as a subject matter expert providing advice and technical support to agency administrators, fire management officers and land or resource management staff during wildfire events and other projects or activities; Participating in the review of fire management or other land/resource management plans to ensure that plans are consistent with enabling laws, policies, regulations, and environmental mandates such as National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Air Act, National Historic Preservation Act, etc.; Familiarity with the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS), geospatial information technology (GIS), modeling, data collection and/or other support tools utilized to plan and evaluate wildfire risk, fuels, historic fire occurrence, fire effects, climatology and weather.

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.

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.

Education

When submitting college transcripts, you must submit a legible copy of transcripts from an accredited institution with your name, school name, credit hours, course level, major(s), and grade-point average or class ranking. Transcripts do not need to be official, but if you are selected for this position and you used your education to qualify, you must provide official transcripts before you begin work.

If you are using education completed in foreign colleges or universities to meet qualification requirements, you must show that your 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.

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".

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.

This announcement may be used to fill additional positions if identical vacancies occur within 90 days of the issue date of the referral certificate.

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.

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) OR Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP): CTAP/ICTAP provides placement assistance to permanent Federal employees who are surplus, displaced, or involuntarily separated. Applicants claiming CTAP/ICTAP eligibility must submit a copy of their most recent performance appraisal, proof of eligibility, and most current SF50 noting position, grade level, duty location with their application. To be considered under CTAP/ICTAP, applicants must be qualified (i.e., meet the minimum qualification requirements, including any selective placement factors; education, and experience requirements), and be able to perform the duties of the position upon entry. For Information on CTAP and ICTAP visit: Career Transition (opm.gov)

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.

National Park Service

The Department of the Interior (DOI) places a high value on diversity of experience and cultural perspectives and encourages applications from all interested eligible candidates. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) are fundamental principles that guide the Department and allow us to successfully achieve our mission.

Please visit find a park for additional park information.

Agency contact information

Lisa Salazar
Phone
505-917-5189
Email
Lisa_Salazar@nps.gov
Address
NPS Regional Office Serving Interior Regions 6,7 and 8
12795 W Alameda Parkway
Lakewood, CO 80228
US

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https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/index.htm

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