Clarification from the agency

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

Denali Park Position: Here is a unique opportunity to work in a challenging and dynamic fire & aviation program that provides helicopter services to Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Denali National Park & Preserve, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve and Western Arctic National Parklands (Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Kobuk Valley National Park and Noatak National Preserve) for approximately 20 million acres.

The Helicopter Program Manager of the Alaska Western Area Fire Management program is primarily responsible for daily operations of the Fire Exclusive-use helicopter. Duties include wildfire initial attack, extended attack, fuels management, fire ecology, other all-risk incidents including search and rescue, resource helicopter operations, contract administration, and record keeping.

The exclusive use helicopter program manager may also provide the same services for other National Parks and interagency operations and support cooperative work with other Federal, state and local authorities. The wide variety of helicopter operations managed by the incumbent requires flexibility and the skill to balance competing priorities.

Ensures all Bureaus, Department, FAA, NTSB, and OSHA safety regulations and policy are strictly enforced for helicopter, suppression and project activities.

As necessary serves as the alternative or primary Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) and Project Inspector (PI).Responsible for acquisition, aviation budget, inventory, monitoring and maintenance of helicopter support vehicles, manages permanent and temporary helibases, equipment and accessories, aerial ignition equipment, personal protective equipment, etc.

The incumbent provides technical expertise for helicopter operations, instructs fire and aviation related courses as qualified, and performs other duties as assigned.

Western Area Fire Management provides fire management and aviation services as a jurisdictional agency representing Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Denali National Park & Preserve, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve and Western Arctic National Parklands (Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Kobuk Valley National Park and Noatak National Preserve). Western Area parks average approximately 40,000 acres burned annually.

Additional information about the National Parks Service in Alaska can be found at: https://www.nps.gov/locations/alaska/index.htm

Conditions of employment

• U.S. Citizenship required.
• Appointment subject to background investigation and favorable adjudication.
• Meet Selective Service Registration Act requirement for males.
• Selectee will be required to participate in the Direct Deposit Electronics Funds Transfer Program.
• 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.
• 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.
• Work may require travel by fixed-wing or rotorwing aircraft.
• You will be required to wear a uniform and comply with the National Park Service uniform standards. A uniform allowance will be provided.
• Government housing may be available.
• 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.
• Subject to frequent extended travel up to 14 nights per month particularly during fire season, and you must obtain a government charge card for travel.
• You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
• Prior to appointment, you must be determined physically fit by an authorized government physician to perform strenuous and physically demanding duties; and also pass a medical examination (which includes vision, hearing, cardiovascular, and mobility of extremities) given by an authorized government physician. You will also be required to undergo periodic medical examinations throughout employment.
• The Work Capacity Test (WCT-Pack Test) as a method for assessing an employee's fitness levels for fire qualifications in the positions covered by this recruitment notice. WCT Information

Due to the mission requirements of low-level flight in mountainous terrain, firefighting,and incident support, the work involves exposure to potentially dangerous situationscaused by uncontrolled wildfire and low-level, high performance flight missions. Withnumerous aircraft being flown in close proximity and in mountainous terrain, errorscould be catastrophic and result in serious injury or death. Other hazards include, thehandling of hazardous materials, carbon monoxide, dust and debris and the use of othermechanical or motorized equipment.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement 02/09/2024 unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for 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 the resume 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.

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: The applicant must have possessed all the following National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) incident management qualifications and training requirements to be considered eligible for this position:
1. Held or currently holdHelicopter Manager (HMGB, previously HCWN, HELB or HEMG) NWCG Incident Management Qualification;
- AND -
2. Held or currently holdHelibase Manager (HEBM) NWCG Incident Management Qualification
- AND -
3. Held or currently hold Incident Commander Type 4 (ICT4) NWCG Incident Management Qualification.

Selectees for IFPM positions requiring currency will be required to obtain and maintain currency for the NWCG qualifications listed above. Note: You must provide a copy of your Incident Qualification and Certification System (IQCS) Master Record or other equivalent documentation which reflects completion of the required NWCG qualifications for this position.

- AND -

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.

A minimum of 90 days of 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 for no less than 90 days. Periods of wildland firefighting experience, gained through militia and rural fire departments, can also be credited, as long as the total amount of this experience equates to at least 90 days. 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.
- AND -

To qualify for the GS-0462-09 position, applicants must possess at least one of the following minimum qualifications by close of the announcement:

NOTE: If your firefighting experience includes both structural and wildland, it is essential that your application materials clearly separate and document your wildland experience.

Experience: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-08 level in the Federal service. Examples of qualifying specialized for this position is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of specialized experience include: performing wildland fire operations, and at least one of the following wildland fire-fighting functions: Initial attack and Fire-line Suppression Operations; Prescribed Fire Operations; Helitack Operations; Wildland Fire Engine Operations; leading others in any two of the following functions: initial attack and suppression hand-crew operations; prescribed fire operations; wildland fire engine crew operations; helitack fire crew operations; providing on-the-job training and conducting daily crew briefings, safety sessions, and/or other basic wildland fire training. You must include hours worked per week.
-OR-
Education: Successful completion of at least two full years of progressively higher graduate level education or master's or equivalent graduate degree related to the occupation in one of the following fields: fire science, fire management or discipline directly related to the position. You must include a copy of your transcripts.
-OR-
Combination: A combination of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience as described above which meets the total experience requirement. Only graduate education in excess of 1 year (18 semester hours) may be combined with experience. Note: To calculate your percentage of qualifying graduate education, divide your number of semester hours in excess of 18 semester hours by 18 or the number your school uses to represent one year of full time graduate academic study. To calculate your percentage of experience, divide your months of qualifying specialized experience by 12. Add the two percentages. They must equal 100% to qualify using this option. You must include a copy of your transcripts.

IMPORTANT - PLEASE NOTE: If you are using education to qualify you must submit a legible copy of your transcripts (A copy of your official transcripts will be required before entrance on duty, if selected).

Volunteer 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.

Physical Demands: The Helicopter Manager is typically the initial attack responder for many incidents.Duties include demands for strenuous activities in emergencies under adverseenvironmental conditions and over extended periods of time. Operation of somespecialized fire equipment can place extended physical stress on the incumbent duringfire activities. The work frequently involves long shifts and complex decision making,and extended periods of time away from home.

Working Conditions: The work is performed at remote locations, airstrips, helibases, unimproved helispots,and park environments of extreme high and low temperatures, steep terrain, anduneven work surfaces. The hazardous nature of the work requires that personalprotective equipment be worn (boots, hardhat, gloves, flame resistant clothing, etc.).Work may require travel by light fixed-wing or rotor-wing aircraft, and operating firetrucks (engines) under adverse conditions.

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.

FERS TRANSITION REQUIREMENT: To be eligible for Secondary retirement coverage under CSRS, an employee must transfer directly (without a break in service exceeding 3 days) from a primary position to a secondary position. 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 retirement covered positions). You must let this office know if you are in a Primary retirement covered position.