This is a standard wildland fire management position description intended for use in the Department of the Interior (DOI). As a developmental position, the incumbent is provided appropriate training and developmental assignments to assume the full performance position which is identified as a key fire management position in a field fire management organization as a Prescribed Fire/Fuels Technician.

Duties

Major Duties for the GS-0462-08: Participate in planning, implementing and coordinating all aspects of a fuels management program. Provide technical assistance in program direction, budgeting, fuels management and prescribed fire programs. Implements and participates in the technical aspects of the prescribed fire operations, ensuring that preparation, ignition, holding, mop-up, and rehabilitation are completed to the standards specified. Additional duties for the GS-0462-09: Primary responsibilities of the position involve participating in the preparation and implementation of prescribed fire plans, fire effects monitoring plans, manual and mechanical hazardous fuels treatments, and smoke and wildland fire monitoring plans to reduce wildfire risk and meet land use plan objectives. Use fire management systems such as INSPECTOR, NFPORS, INFORM, FTEM, Field Maps, BEHAVE, FlamMap, Fire Family Plus, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other fire modeling systems to develop treatments schedules, burn prescriptions, and/or write burn or mechanical treatment plans. The employee considers prescribed fire/fuels management, smoke management, fuels modification principles and procedures, fire effects knowledge, and knowledge of scientific data collection and analysis principles into the development and implementation of procedures and practices. Provides technical assistance in program direction, short and long-term planning, budgeting and managing wildfire suppression, fuels management and prescribed fire.

Requirements

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement02/12/2024 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 has been categorized as a Prescribed Fire & Fuels Specialist (PFFS) Moderate Complexity and requires selectee to meet the minimum qualification standards for IFPM prior to moving 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. Primary Core Requirement: Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 2 (RXB2) 2. Secondary Core Requirement: Engine Boss (ENGB) -OR- Crew Boss (CRWB) -OR- Helicopter Manager (HMGB) Selectees for IFPM positions requiring currency will be required to obtain and maintain currency for the NWCG qualifications listed above. -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- This position is covered by the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336 (c) and 5 U.S.C. 8412 (d) as a Primary/Rigorous Firefighter. Applicants must be 18 years of age, but not have reached their 37th birthday by the closing date of this announcement. These positions are covered by the special enhanced annuity retirement provisions for Federal Firefighters and Law Enforcement officers and have a mandatory retirement age of 57. Two exceptions are allowed: 1) an applicant has prior Federal service in documented special retirement covered position(s) sufficient to count toward 20 years of covered service on or before the mandatory retirement age of 57; or 2) an applicant is a qualified veterans' preference eligible, in which case the MEA is waived and their corresponding retirement age may be higher than 57 after completing 20 years of service. Applicants must submit proof of their previous and/or current status in the Fire Fighter or Law Enforcement special enhanced annuity retirement system. -AND- NOTE: If your firefighting experience includes both structural and wildland, it is essential that your application materials clearly separate and document your wildland experience. To qualify for this position at the GS-08 level, you must possess one of the following: Must possess one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to:Performed wildland and prescribed fire operations on a handcrew, engine, wildland fire module, or other fireline resource type; Provided expertise in the areas of ignition, holding, fire suppression, hazard fuel reduction and pre/post fire monitoring; Performed as a project leader and assists in the development of prescribed fire and mechanical fuels planning. To qualify for this position at the GS-09 level, you must possess one of the following: Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-08 level. 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. Specialized experience for this position includes experience in at least two of the following three categories:(1) Experience that demonstrated understanding of fire effects on cultural and natural resources through assignments such as developing fire management plans to ensure resource objectives can be met form a fire management standpoint; or, conducting field inspections before and/or after prescribed fires or wildland fires to determine if defined resource objectives have been met.(2) Prescribed fire/fuels management experience demonstrated by activities such as professional forest of range inventory methods and procedures (e.g., Browns planar intercept for dead and down fuels; live fuel loading assessments); or, analysis of fuel loadings and determination of appropriate fuel treatment methods and programming; or evaluating prescribed fire plans or fire management plans to ensure fire containment is possible, and identify appropriate suppression contingencies if containment is not obtained.(3) Fire management operations that included analyzing and applying fire management strategies, PLUS experience in at least four of the following activities: Mobilization and dispatch coordination; Fire prevention; Training; Logistics; Equipment development and deployment; Fire communications systems; Suppression and preparedness. -OR- Two full years of graduate education or a master's degree directly related to the position. Examples of related education include Forestry, Wildland Fire Science, or other directly related sciences. You must provide transcripts at time of application. -OR- Combinations 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. 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.

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.

Contacts

• Address Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area 1978 River Road Bushkill, PA 18324 US
• Name: Patricia Amatual-Majeed
• Phone: 904-676-1378
• Email: [email protected]