Wildland Firefighter (Aviation) - Direct Hiring Authority

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement06/27/2025 unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement. 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. 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. For periods of time that reflect military service, the DD-214 or Statement of Service is sufficient to meet the full and/or part-time hours requirement as the service dates will be reflected. Selective Factors: The applicant must have possessed at least ONE of the following National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) incident management qualifications and training requirements to be considered eligible for this position: 1. NWCG certifications of A-450 (Unmanned Aircraft System Pilot) -OR- 2. ATGS (Air Tactical Group Supervisor) -OR- 3. HMGB (Helicopter Manager) -OR- 4. Resource HMGB certification (Resource Helicopter Manager), or equivalent. **Your qualifying NWCG certification will determine your fitness category for this position. -AND- Candidates must possess Primary/Rigorous 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 substantial amount 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 previously serving in a temporary, seasonal, or equivalent private sector fire position. 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 - In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional experience are required for the GS-11 grade level. FOR INTERNAL APPLICANTS IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (or prior Federal competitive or excepted service): To qualify for the GS-11 grade level, 1 year (12 months) of specialized experience equivalent to GS-09 is required. EXPERIENCE AT THE GS-9: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-09 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of specialized experience are: Leading a Helitack Crew, developing strategies and tactics to implement effective aircraft all hazard to include fire/SAR operations; ensure aviation facilities and operations programs are maintained and managed within the scope of agency standards; manage complex aviation issues in the fire/SAR operations related to wilderness program implementation and overflight restrictions. You must include hours per week worked. -OR- FOR OUTSIDE/NON-FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPLICANTS - (those without current or prior Federal service): To qualify for the GS-11 grade level, 1 year (12 months) of specialized experience equivalent to GS-10 is required. EXPERIENCE AT THE GS-10: At least one full year of specialized experience comparable in scope and responsibility to the GS-10 grade level in the Federal service (obtained in either the public or private sectors). Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position. Examples of specialized experience are: Leading a helitack crew, developing strategies and tactics to implement effective aircraft all hazard to include fire/SAR operations; ensure aviation facilities and operations programs are maintained and managed within the scope of agency standards; manage complex aviation issues in the fire/SAR operations related to wilderness program implementation, overflight restrictions and provides advice and guidance to management, fire management officers, program managers, and project leaders to meet a variety of local and interagency directives, considering safety and cost effectiveness You must include hours per week worked. 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. This is a secondary-administrative firefighter position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S. C. 8336 (c) (CSRS) and 5 U. S. C. 8412 (d) (FERS). PLEASE NOTE: Applicants may meet qualification requirements but may not be eligible for special retirement coverage. If such an applicant is selected, they will be placed in the regular retirement system. 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.