These positions will be located at a USDA Forest Service Unit.
The incumbent serves in a key fire management position in a field fire management organization. When not engaged in these duties the incumbent serves as an Equipment Operator, assisting in the accomplishment of mechanical fire/fuels management objectives.
For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Dirk Huber at dirk.huber@usda.gov
Summary
These positions will be located at a USDA Forest Service Unit.
The incumbent serves in a key fire management position in a field fire management organization. When not engaged in these duties the incumbent serves as an Equipment Operator, assisting in the accomplishment of mechanical fire/fuels management objectives.
For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Dirk Huber at dirk.huber@usda.gov
Applications will be accepted from any U.S. citizen. Direct Hire Authority will be used to fill this position. Veterans Preference and traditional rating and ranking of applicants does not apply to this vacancy.
Duties listed are at full performance grade GS-07 level.
Serves on prescribed fire and fuels projects in positions for which qualified. Provides routine technical guidance on fire protection and prevention issues.
Responsible for operating tracked equipment treating hazardous fuels utilizing multiple attachments to meet fuels treatment specifications.
Provides for training needs to support prescribed fire and fuels management programs. Participates in wildland fire and safety training in the techniques, practices, and methods of fire suppression and in the safety.
Operates a variety of motor vehicles to transport equipment, supplies, crew members, etc. Must possess a valid state drivers license.
Operates and positions the equipment in appropriate locations in consideration of safety of personnel and equipment.
Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt.
Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
Successful completion of one-year probationary period, unless previously served.
Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify.
Must be 18 years of age.
This is a drug testing designated position. You will be subject to pre-employment and random drug testing. Appointment is based on a negative result. This announcement constitutes 30 days advance notice.
Must pass the Work Capacity Test for certain Interagency Fire Program Management or Fire Program Management positions.
Willing to live/work in remote locations (volatile/unpredictable).
Some Fire positions may have Conditions of Employment such as: a valid state driver's license; a commercial driver's license (CDL); pre-appointment and random drug testing; or a physical or medical examination.
There may be additional Conditions of Employment not listed here, however applicants will be notified of any specific requirements at the time a tentative job offer is made.
Secondary Coverage: Prior wildland firefighting experience is required.
Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.
Specialized Experience Requirement:
For the GS-6 level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-5) in the Federal Service; OR one full year (18 semester/27 quarter hours) of successfully completed graduate level coursework that is directly related to the work of the position (such as forestry, range management, agriculture); 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.
Examples of specialized experience include: Participating in prescribed fire operations including line preparation, igniting, and/or holding strategies. Collecting and compiling fuels management field inventory data where a variety of fuel variations were involved. Inventorying fuel beds, preparing associated reports, performing hazard fuel reduction projects, monitoring burning conditions, piling vegetation debris and/or acted in assigned positions such as ignition or holding specialist or other designated positions during actual fuel reduction efforts by prescribed fire. Operated a variety of motor vehicles to transport equipment, supplies, crew members. Positioned equipment in appropriate locations in consideration of safety of personnel and equipment. Balances workloads, checks on progress, corrects unsafe or incorrect procedures, and ensures that tools and equipment are available, and ensures equipment/transport/tender are maintained routinely.
For the GS-7 level: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level (GS-6) in the Federal Service; OR one full year (18 semester/27 quarter hours) of successfully completed graduate level coursework that is directly related to the work of the position (such as forestry, range management, agriculture); 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.
Examples of specialized experience include: Participating in routine aspects of inventorying and monitoring for wildland fire, prescribed fire, and/or natural resource activities. Planning and directing field resource data collection for fuel hazard management program. Assisting in developing and implementing specific plans for fuels treatment projects. Assisted with inspections, checks, services, and adjustments to tracked loader, instruments, and related equipment, had equipment always ready for immediate use. Operated the tracked loader treating hazardous fuels utilizing multiple attachments to meet the treatment specifications. Operates and positions equipment in appropriate locations in consideration of safety of personnel and equipment.
Selective Placement Factors
This position requires the selectee to possess a Valid State Driver's License.
This position requires the selectee to obtain or possess a Commercial Driver's License (CDL).
Must have experience performing on-the-line (Primary/Rigorous) wildland fire suppression duties as a member of an organized fire suppression crew or comparable unit that utilized knowledge of wildland fire suppression, containment or control techniques and practices under various conditions. This experience must be documented with specific dates in the online application or resume.
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.
FIREFIGHTER RETIREMENT COVERAGE: This is a secondary position covered under the special retirement provisions of 5 USC 8336(c) for the Civil Service Retirement System and of 5 USC 8412(d) for the Federal Employees Retirement System. Prior wildland firefighting experience is required. There is no age limit for entry into secondary positions. Firefighter retirement coverage of the incumbent depends upon his or her individual work history.
WORK CAPACITY TEST (WCT) for Wildland Firefighters: This position participates in wildland firefighting activities. Based on the type of work performed, TAKING and PASSING the WCT at the ARDUOUS level is a condition of employment.
Education
See QUALIFICATIONS section for education requirements.
Additional information
For additional information about the duties and location(s) of these positions, please contact regional representative: To see the different locations within the Regional Offices | US Forest Service (usda.gov)
These are permanent positions with varying tours of duty and may include weekend work. Some positions may have irregular and protracted hours of work. Tours of duty include full-time or less than full time (guaranteed minimum 13 pay periods full-time employment).
Availability of government housing, federal day care facilities, and telework may be available.
The duty station for this position will be at one of the duty locations listed in this announcement. Salary range as shown is the locality pay Rest of U.S. (RUS). Pay rates vary by location. Please visit the Office of Personnel Management's website for additional information on pay rates.
Recruitment or Relocation Incentive may be authorized. Final determination to pay an incentive will be made by the hiring official at time of job offer.
Selectee will be responsible for tax obligations related to payments for moving expenses - 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act, Public Law 115-97. Questions should be directed to the Travel Help Desk, 877-372-7248, Option 1, or email SM.FS.asc_tos@usda.gov
PROMOTION POTENTIAL: If you are selected for a position with further promotion potential, you will be placed under a career development plan, and may be non-competitively promoted if you successfully complete the requirements and if recommended by management. However, promotion is neither implied or guaranteed.
Positions filled from this announcement may be a bargaining or a non-bargaining unit position represented by either NFFE, AFGE or NAGE.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How you will be evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
This is a Direct-Hire Authority position, all applicants who meet the minimum qualifications, to include any selective placement factor(s), if applicable, will be referred to the selecting official. Before a certificate is issued to the selecting official, the resume is reviewed to ensure that you meet all the qualification requirements. A rating will not be used; veteran's preference does not apply due to the existence of the Direct Hire authority for this position.
Selections made under this authority will be processed as new appointments to the civil service. Current civil service employees would be given a new appointment.
Applicants selected will be offered positions at the highest grade for which they are qualified.
Note: If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your qualifications and or experience, you may be found ineligible. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Providing inaccurate information on Federal documents could be grounds for non-selection or disciplinary action up to including removal from the Federal service.
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the responsibilities section including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) supervisor's phone number and whether or not the supervisor may be contacted for a reference check; 5) other qualifications.
If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.
Read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday. If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be returned to Human Resources no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement in order for it to be entered into the system prior to the closing date.
This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this.
To begin, in USAJOBS click "Apply" and follow the instructions to attach your resume and supporting documents, complete the assessment questionnaire, and submit your application.
NOTE: Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBS transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable.
USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US
Next steps
Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS to check your application status.
We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.
Under the Fair Chance Act, agencies are not allowed to request information about an applicant's criminal history until a conditional offer of employment has been made, except as allowed for access to classified information; assignment to national security duties or positions; acceptance or retention in the armed forces; or recruitment of a Federal law enforcement officer. An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information related to an organization's alleged noncompliance with the Fair Chance Act. The complaint must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the date of the alleged noncompliance. To make a Fair Chance Act inquiry or complaint, send an email with the appropriate information to sm.fs.hrm_elr@usda.gov, subject line: Fair Chance Act.
You may receive an email asking if you are still interested in the position and requesting information by a given deadline. Failure to timely respond to this email may result in non-selection.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
The following documents are required for your applicant package to be complete. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, illegible fax transmissions, delays in the mail service, your system failure, etc. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration.
Resume that includes: 1) personal information such as name, address, contact information; 2) education; 3) detailed work experience related to this position as described in the responsibilities section including work schedule, hours worked per week, dates of employment; title, series, grade (if applicable); 4) supervisor's phone number and whether or not the supervisor may be contacted for a reference check; 5) other qualifications.
If education is required or you are using education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your college transcripts. An unofficial copy is sufficient with the application; however, if you are selected, you will be required to submit official transcripts prior to entering on duty. Education must have been successfully obtained from an accredited school, college or university. If any education was completed at a foreign institute, you must submit with your application evidence that the institute was appropriately accredited by an accrediting body recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as equivalent to U.S. education standards. There are private organizations that specialize in this evaluation and a fee is normally associated with this service. All transcripts must be in English or include an English translation.
Surplus or displaced employees eligible for CTAP, RPL, or ICTAP priority must provide: proof of eligibility (RIF separation notice, notice of proposed removal for declining a transfer of function or directed reassignment to another commuting area, notice of disability annuity termination), SF-50 documenting separation (as applicable), and your most recent SF-50 noting position, grade level, and duty location with your application per 5 CFR 330.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process.
Read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement.
Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday. If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be returned to Human Resources no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement in order for it to be entered into the system prior to the closing date.
This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this.
To begin, in USAJOBS click "Apply" and follow the instructions to attach your resume and supporting documents, complete the assessment questionnaire, and submit your application.
NOTE: Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBS transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable.
USDA Forest Service HRM Contact Center
DO NOT MAIL IN APPLICATIONS, SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT
Albuquerque, NM 87109
US
Next steps
Your application will be reviewed to verify that you meet the eligibility and qualification requirements for the position prior to issuing referral lists to the selecting official. If further evaluation or interviews are required, you will be contacted. Log in to your USAJOBS to check your application status.
We may select from this announcement or any other source to fill one or more vacancies.
Under the Fair Chance Act, agencies are not allowed to request information about an applicant's criminal history until a conditional offer of employment has been made, except as allowed for access to classified information; assignment to national security duties or positions; acceptance or retention in the armed forces; or recruitment of a Federal law enforcement officer. An applicant may submit a complaint, or any other information related to an organization's alleged noncompliance with the Fair Chance Act. The complaint must be submitted within 30 calendar days of the date of the alleged noncompliance. To make a Fair Chance Act inquiry or complaint, send an email with the appropriate information to sm.fs.hrm_elr@usda.gov, subject line: Fair Chance Act.
You may receive an email asking if you are still interested in the position and requesting information by a given deadline. Failure to timely respond to this email may result in non-selection.
Fair and transparent
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
