Clarification from the agency

This job is open to Internal Employees (current FEMA employees on a career/career conditional appointment in a competitive service position); current FEMA employees who are DRRA Eligible; and FEMA Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP Eligibles) only.

All MWEOC staff have emergency assignments and are considered deployed in place. Exercises and activations are planned and unplanned, and may require long hours, nights, weekends and holidays.

All MWEOC employees are: (1) required to use a government-issued electronic device (to include cellular phones); (2) subject to recall during emergency situations; and (3) required to perform work in locations both above and below ground.

What will I do in this position if hired?

In this position, you will as Fire Chief for the overall management and supervision of the fire protection and fire prevention programs for the MWEOC installation, including mission partners activities and smaller installations under their jurisdiction. Typical assignments include:

• Developing, coordinating, and implementing programs, policies, regulations, and procedures and serves as technical advisor to management on all matters pertaining to fire protection and prevention.
• Ensuring that facility emergency plans are developed and exercised, and that all fire alert and suppression systems are inspected and maintained.
• Advising on matters of fire safety, emergency medical services (EMS) delivery, hazardous material (Hazmat) containment, and fire prevention and training programs that provide prevention, education, protection, monitoring, suppression, emergency medical services, and response capabilities.
• Planning for long-range acquisition and replacement of critical equipment and supplies through a department-wide planning process and overseeing formal training program and ensures that fire rescue personnel maintain all fire; EMT/paramedic; Hazmat; and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) certifications, as well as other required training.
• Providing oversight for multiple stations, apparatus, and personnel, and serves as the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) operating in both classified and unclassified environments as well as managing and negotiating the mutual aid program involving various organizations and multiple jurisdictions.

What else do I need to know?

At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

Conditions of employment

To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo, successfully pass, and maintain a background investigation for Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) as a condition of placement into this position. This may include a credit check after initial job qualifications are determined, a review of financial issues, such as delinquency in the payment of debts, child support and/or tax obligations, as well as certain criminal offenses and illegal use or possession of drugs (see: Mythbuster on Federal Hiring Policies for additional info). For more info on background investigations for Federal jobs visit OPM Investigations.

Please ensure you meet the qualification requirements described below.

1. You must be a U.S. citizen to apply for this position.
2. You must successfully pass a background investigation.
3. Selective Service registration required.
4. Current federal employees must meet time-in-grade requirements.
5. You must be able to obtain and maintain a Government credit card.
6. You must be able to deploy with little or no advance notice to anywhere in the United States and its territories for an extended period of time.
7. Please review the Additional Information section for additional key requirements.

• Drive a government vehicle and maintain a valid State driver's license. (Please do not upload a photo ID. The license will be verified at time of tentative job offer.)
• Report for duty during inclement weather, natural disasters, and other emergency situations as directed by the Fire Chief and may be required to remain on duty after the official shift ends, e.g., mandatory overtime, subject to recall to duty.
• Wear a uniform and safety apparel in accordance with established policies and procedures.
• Wear various Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to include respirators, masks, self-contained breathing apparatus, and armored vests, and equipment.
• Successfully complete an annual Job Performance Test.
• Participate in a cardiovascular physical fitness program.
• Perform temporary duty travel for the purpose of obtaining specialized training and other fire and emergency services duties.

Qualifications

Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service. The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

To qualify for this position at the GS-13 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:

1. Managing or leading a fire department on fire protection, prevention, and life safety operations for above and below ground facilities AND;
2. Evaluating and providing expert advice for both above and underground facilities on the fire protection and prevention and life safety systems AND;
3. Managing fire department budgets, training programs, hazardous materials response operations AND;
4. Supervising and overseeing firefighter and EMT performance.

AND

In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must have the following certifications to be considered qualified for the position. Please upload your certifications or Firefighter transcripts showing you currently hold the required certifications in order to be found qualified. Failure to upload at time of application will result in the applicant being found not qualified.

• Fire Inspector II
• Fire Instructor II
• Fire Officer IV
• Hazmat Incident Commander

This is a primary firefighter position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336(c) and 8412 (d). Appointees to positions covered under these provisions must not have reached their 37th birthday at the time of initial appointment. Applicants over age 37 with previous firefighter experience under CSRS/FERS, may have their previous firefighter experience credited to determine if age requirement met.

Special Retirement Provision for Secondary Firefighter position: This position has been designated as eligible for FERS special retirement coverage per 5 CFR 842.801(a)(1), 5 CFR 842.803(b)(1) covered by 5 USC 8412(d) or CSRS special retirement coverage per 5 CFR 831.904(a) covered by 5 USC 8336(c).

Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:

• Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

• Please limit your resume to two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages.

• Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.

Are you qualifying based on your work experience?

• Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.

• Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/Disaster Assistance Employee (DAE)? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.

• Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."

• 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

• For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards

How you will be evaluated

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

We will review your resume and supporting documentation to ensure you meet the basic qualification requirements. If you meet the basic qualifications, your experience, education and training will be rated using a Subject Matter Expert - Structured Resume Review that is based on the following competencies needed to perform this job:

1. Communication
2. Customer Service
3. Representing the Agency
4. Teamwork & Collaboration
5. Technical Proficiency
6. Leadership
7. Assigning, Monitoring, and Evaluating Work

Human Resources Specialists and Subject Matter Experts will review your two-page resume (starting with your work experience) to determine your qualifications for the position based on the required competencies and specialized experience statements. In describing your experience, be clear and specific and include start and end dates for each position. We may not make assumptions regarding your experience.

Based on the review of your resume for the specialized experience required for this position, you may be referred to hiring manager for consideration and may be called for an interview.

We recommend that you preview the online questions for this announcement before you start the application process.
https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12972676

CTAP eligibility on OPM's Career Transition Resources website. To receive selection priority for this position, you must: 1) meet eligibility criteria for CTAP; 2) be rated well-qualified for the position; and, 3) submit the appropriate documentation to support your CTAP eligibility (see "Required Documents" section of this announcement). Well-Qualified is defined as those applicants who are rated with a minimum score of 85.00 for this position.

After FEMA completes its hiring, the resumes of the remaining candidates referred for selection consideration may be shared with other DHS Components. During the application process, you may choose to opt-in if you would like your name, application material, and assessment results to be shared. There is no guarantee of further consideration, and you can continue to explore other job opportunity announcements.

Interview Requirement: Interviews may be required for this position. Failure to complete the interview may result in removal from further consideration.