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Fire Program Assistant - Direct Hire Authority

Department of the Interior
Office of the Secretary of the Interior
US Wildland Fire Service

Summary

One position being filled at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, duty location Sequoia NP, CA, servicing wildland fire and aviation management personnel.

The incumbent provides a variety of administrative, operations and technical functions in support of fire management activities.

For additional questions about this position, or duty location, please contact Cinnamon Gully at Cinnamon_Gulley@nps.gov.

Overview

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Accepting applications
Open & closing dates
04/03/2026 to 04/17/2026
Salary
$40,941 - $53,224 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 5
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Sequoia and Kings Canyon Nat'l Parks
Sequoia National Park, CA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
No
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel overnights on fire related assignments, training and site visits for this position as needed.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time - Permanent Career Seasonal, 22/4.
Service
Competitive
Promotion potential
None
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
No
Announcement number
NPSFIRE-26-12928050-DHA
Control number
863732200

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.

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Duties

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  • Performs accounting, budget, or financial management support duties related to recurring or standardized fire program transactions.
  • Monitors accounts and sub-account balances for fire activities.
  • Maintains and/or updates logs, spreadsheets, and/or databases that track fire program information.
  • Submits micro-purchase requests for the fire program office.
  • Receives acquisition requests from employees, reviews them for accurate account numbers, object codes, justification etc. before sending them to the Contracting Officer.
  • Prepares required personnel forms for hiring and terminating fire management temporary employees.
  • Maintains fire qualification records and issues red card certificates to qualifying employees upon approval by the Fire Management Officer.
  • Prepares payroll for fire program employees.
  • Prepares travel documents in the automated travel system for fire program employees, including authorizations and vouchers (from traveler's receipts).
  • Operates dispatch function radio communication equipment.

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.
  • Willing to live/work in remote locations (volatile/unpredictable).
  • You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
  • Incumbent will be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
If new to the federal government, and this is your first appointment, as a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary periodduring which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.

This probationary period is an extension of the appointment process and therefore requires the agency to determine if continued employment would advance the public interest, meet the organization goals and mission of the agency, and/or otherwise promote the efficiency of the service. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, the agency will consider:

  • your performance and conduct;
  • the needs and interests of the agency;
  • whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
  • whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Under applicable law, the employment of an individual serving a probationary or trial period automatically terminates when that period ends unless the agency affirmatively certifies, in writing, that the individual's employment should continue and that their appointment should be finalized. In the absence of agency action to affirmatively certify continued employment beyond the probationary or trial period, such appointments are terminated.

Upon completion of your probationary period your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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.

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your 2 page 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 total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time or part-time, hours must be included). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience. Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. You may only submit one resume. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed. 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.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS:

For the GS-05 level:
One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-04 level in the Federal service or equivalent. Examples of specialized experience include: Performing a wide range of clerical and administrative support functions for fire management operations within an organization. Preparing reports using spreadsheet software and drafting, proofreading, and formatting correspondence, memoranda, and reports with attention to grammatical and punctuation accuracy. Coordinating travel arrangements for fire management personnel and prepared travel authorizations and vouchers in support of fire operations. Maintaining time and attendance records and coordinated tour of duty schedules for fire management staff. Tracking, processing, and filing fire management qualification records, documents, and correspondence in accordance with established standards. Ordering and maintaining office supplies and fire-related equipment, managed property inventory records, and performed other comparable administrative tasks, including receiving and routing mail.

-OR-

Successful completion of at least four years of education above high school. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. Transcripts must be attached to application package.

-OR-

Successful completion of a combination of education and experience as described above. NOTE: Only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. Two full academic years of study, or 60 semester hours, beyond the second year is equivalent to l year of specialized experience. Transcripts must be attached to application package.

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.

Education

To qualify based on education, 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

These are 22/4 career-seasonal positions meaning there is a guaranteed 22 pay periods in pay status, and can be 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.

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 selectee receiving a first appointment to the Federal Government (Civil Service) is entitled only to the lowest step of the grade for which selected The display of a salary range on this vacancy shall not be construed as granting an entitlement to a higher rate of pay.

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 ยง575.102 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.

Physical Demands: Most of the work is sedentary; standing and walking will be required for some duties.

Working Conditions: Work is performed primarily in an office environment.

The National Park Service has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework only during an emergency or natural disaster.

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)

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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 well they meet the qualification requirements.

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

This vacancy will be filled through DOI's 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.

Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. You may only submit one resume. Only the document submitted as the "Resume" under the Documents section will be used to determine your qualifications/eligibility and for rating purposes. In the event you submit more than one resume, only the latest submission will be reviewed.

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 employee will receive no consideration for the position, as per OPM regulations.

Office of the Secretary of the Interior

The U.S. Wildland Fire Service (USWFS), an organization within the Department of the Interior (DOI), responds to wildfires and promotes fire-resilient landscapes across more than 500 million acres of public and tribal lands nationwide. The USWFS has full program authority and coordinates the DOI wildland fire management program in its entirety. It ensures coordination within DOI, the Bureaus it serves, other federal agencies -- particularly the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service -- as well as non-federal agencies, state foresters, tribes, and a variety of stakeholder groups representing volunteer firefighters.

Agency contact information

Lisa Salazar
Email
lisa_salazar@ios.doi.gov
Address
Office of the Secretary
1849 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20240
US

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