Wildland Firefighter (Assistant Engine Captain) (Direct Hire Authority)
Office of the Secretary of the Interior
Posted: February 27, 2026 (0 days ago)
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Office of the Secretary of the Interior
Department of the Interior
Location
Tucson, Arizona
Salary
$83,639 - $108,738
per year
Type
Closes
Base salary range: $147,649 - $221,900
Typical requirements: Executive-level leadership experience. Senior executive qualifications required.
Note: Actual salary includes locality pay (15-40%+ depending on location).
This job involves managing fuels to prevent and control wildland fires, including planning burns, inspecting fire effects on land, and analyzing how fire impacts ecosystems in places like Tucson, Arizona.
It's ideal for experienced firefighters who enjoy outdoor work in natural resource protection and have hands-on expertise in fire suppression and environmental assessment.
Candidates with a strong background in fire management and resource conservation would thrive in this role.
For more information about each location see "Position Information". Please ensure you read the announcement fully prior to submitting application package.
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 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.
This position has been identified as one of the key fire management positions under the Interagency Fire Program management (IFPM) Standard.
This position requires selectee to meet the minimum qualification standards for IFPM prior to being placed into the position.
For more information on IFPM, click here.Basic Qualification Requirements: 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; AND Successfully completed the Primary NWCG Core Requirements of: Prescribed Burn Boss (RXB2) AND Incident Commander Type 3 (ICT3) OR Task Force Leader (TFLD) OR Helibase Manager (HEBM) In addition to the requirements described above, the following additional experience is required.
For the GW-11 level: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS/GW-09 (or higher) grade level in the Federal service; Examples of specialized experience include: Reviewed and evaluated fire management plans for potentially adverse impacts to cultural and natural resources; Conducted field inspections before and after prescribed or wildland fires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or evaluated the effectiveness of actions taken; Analyzed the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management; Performed forest and/or range inventory methodology and procedures; Analyzed fuel loadings and determined appropriate fuel treatment methods and programming.
OR At least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS/GW-10 level, or higher, outside of the Federal service; Examples of specialized experience include: Reviewed and evaluated fire management plans for potentially adverse impacts to cultural and natural resources; Conducted field inspections before and after prescribed or wildland fires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or evaluated the effectiveness of actions taken; Analyzed the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management; Performed forest and/or range inventory methodology and procedures; Analyzed fuel loadings and determined appropriate fuel treatment methods and programming.
In order to be considered for this position, copies of your Incident Qualification and Certification System (IQCS) Master Record (or equivalent training documents) which contain documented proof of the certification or attainment of the IFPM Selective Placement Factor for this position MUST be attached to your application.
Red Cards are not acceptable documentation. Currency Requirement: Required to maintain currency once hired into the position. Currency of NWCG qualifications is not required for selection.
If not currently qualified, the applicant must provide documented evidence that they have been fully qualified in the past, and are able to regain currency within one year of being hired.
Failure to provide this documentation will result in disqualification.
Secondary Firefighter Retirement Coverage - Applicants for this secondary administrative fire fighter position under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336 (c) (CSRS) and 5 U.S.C.
8412 (d), must possess knowledge of the principles, methods, and techniques of wildland firefighting as demonstrated by direct wildland firefighting experience.
In order to receive credit, you must provide a written description of your experience in wildland firefighting.
Education without hands-on wildland firefighting experience does not meet this requirement.
Periods of wildland firefighting experience, gained through militia and rural fire departments, can also be credited. 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.
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.
To receive consideration for this position, you must provide updated required documents and meet all qualification requirements by the closing date of this announcement. Major Duties:
Develops mid and long-term programs of work which support the units land and resource management plan alternatives.
Evaluates individual fuels treatments as well as the effectiveness of the overall fuels management program and makes program changes based on evaluation findings.
Analyzes and evaluates study findings and provides comprehensive recommendations for future fuels management projects.
Coordinates with federal, state, tribal and local government air quality officials in their development of operational procedures and reporting requirements.
Maintains awareness of technological developments in wildland fire science and related disciplines.
Works closely with other resource specialists to integrate vegetation management project designs with fuels management program objectives.
Prepares wildland fire risk assessments incorporating wildland/urban interface considerations into agreements, operating plans and land and fire management plans to ensure that interface areas are considered and apportioned appropriately.
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