Applying

Wildland fire positions can be competitive.

When I first applied to become a wildland firefighter in 2012, I had no idea what I was doing. I had help from wildland firefighter friends and they guided me through the federal online application process.

After applying to every single entry-level position I could find, I only got two interest calls from the 50 or so applications I submitted. One promptly wrote me off and the other hired me.

I feel extremely lucky that I was hired when I didn’t have experience or a single basic wildland fire class (more on these shortly), but nowadays it’s common to hire people with no experience or classes and put first season firefighters through a Fire School their first few weeks of work.

A Red Card (or Incident Qualification Card) is an interagency certification that says you are qualified to do a certain job that is checked when your crew arrives on a fire. The National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) sets minimum training, experience, and physical fitness standards for wildland fire positions.

The most basic wildland firefighter qualification/position is called a Firefighter 2 (FFT2) and you need the following core classes and a field day to obtain this qualification. As you move up in wildland fire you will acquire more positions, but FFT2 is what everyone starts out as.

Required Classes

To get your FFT2 you will need these classes:

• S-130 Firefighter Training

• S-190 Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior 

• L-180 Human Factors in the Wildland Fire Service

• I-100 Introduction to Incident Command System

• I-700 National Incident Management System (NIMS) An Introduction

All classes are offered around the country as instructor led classes. Your best luck will be finding them in the western US and even taking a week long Fire Camp that will get you lots of hands on experience and all your classes in one swoop. Some S and L classes you can take online at NWCG.org. S-130 is the only one that you will need to do some field time and can’t do solely online. I classes can be found at training.fema.gov (I know it says IS-100.C and IS-700.B when you click on each class but they are the same thing).

Pro Tips for Applying

Creating a profile on USAJobs.gov

You will need to make a login.gov account to make and access a USAJobs profile. You don’t need a log in to search and look at jobs, but you will need one to save searches or apply to jobs. It’s not a big deal to make an account, but make sure you have your account information and password written down as it can be annoying to retrieve them year to year if you lose your login information.

FINDING JOB POSTINGS/ Usajobs

Wildland firefighter positions are posted starting as early as August and the majority of jobs posted in October through January depending on the agency (USFS/BLM/NPS/BIA etc). Permanent positions are open first (usually early August/September and temporary seasonal jobs opening a month after).

I recommend applying for both permanent and temporary positions at the GS-03 (and/or GS-04 if you qualify) level to maximize your potential job prospects.

Find job openings by visiting usajobs.gov; searching keyword: fire or use this link (filtered by fire/ open to the public/ GS-03/04). Click HERE for current year job posting info on my blog.

I like to set saved searches with specific GS levels and states so I can be notified by email whenever a wildland fire job is posted that fits my parameters. You can get as specific as you like using the filters on the right side of the page (they show up once you’ve done a primary search for wildland fire jobs).

Pay close attention to closing dates as most jobs are only open for a two week to 1 month window. Each Forest Service fire region has a different time period their applications are open for. Confusing, I know. Your application needs to be COMPLETE and SUBMITTED before the closing date to be accepted.

Federal wildland firefighter jobs with USFS, BLM, NPS, and BIA will ALL be posted on USAJobs.gov.

FOREST SERVICE (USFS) regions and their current available wildland fire job info

• Northern Region (R1)

• Rocky Mountain Region (R2)

• Southwestern Region (R3)

• Intermountain Region (R4)

• Pacific Southwest Region (R5)

• Pacific Northwest Region (R6)

• Southern Region (R8)

• Eastern Region (R9)

• Alaska Region (R10)

other federal agencies

BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT (BLM)

• Careers in Fire | Bureau of Land Management (blm.gov)

• Careers in BLM | Bureau of Land Management Scroll to the FIRE/ AVIATION Section

• BLM Fire Contacts by State Super helpful page to get ahold of fire hiring officials

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (NPS)

• Wildland Fire Job Openings – US National Park Service

• Working in Wildland Fire - Fire (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

• Jobs - Wildland Fire Program (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Current jobs

BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS (BIA)

• Job Information | Indian Affairs (bia.gov)

state departments

• CALFire Careers CALIFORNIA

• Careers | Fire Prevention and Control (colorado.gov) COLORADO

• Wildfire Seasonal Job Descriptions - Department of Lands (idaho.gov) IDAHO

• Employment - SOUTHERN IDAHO TIMBER PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION (sitpa.org) SOUTHERN IDAHO

• Wildland Firefighter Positions | Minnesota DNR (state.mn.us) MINNESOTA

• Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation Fire Job Search (montana.gov) MONTANA

• Wildland Fire Management : Jobs: Nevada Division of Forestry NEVADA

• Apply to be a Wildland Firefighter - Forestry (nm.gov) NEW MEXICO

• Oregon Department of Forestry : Jobs : About ODF : State of Oregon OREGON

• Employment | Utah DNR – FFSL (Forestry, Fire and State Lands) UTAH

• Join our Seasonal Firefighting Team | WA - DNR WASHINGTON

• Wildland Firefighter Employment | | Wisconsin DNR WISCONSIN

Video Overview on Applying

Entry Level Positions - What to look for

GS LEVELS (PAY SCALE) AKA Grade/ Series

Entry level jobs are GS-03 pay level/ grade. If you have some college or a degree you may qualify for a GS-04. Currently all Forest Service wildland firefighter positions are series 0462- Forestry Technician. Jobs may say Wildland Firefighter (Forestry Technician/Aid) or Forestry Technician (Fire, Hotshot/ Handcrew, Engine, Apprentice, FFTR, WFFR etc) depending on what Federal agency the position is for.

TEmporary Seasonal vs Permanent Job Positions

All entry level jobs are temporary seasonal except for federal apprenticeship positions and a new one labeled Forestry Technician (FFTR) or even (WFFR), which are permanent positions. Wildland Firefighter Apprenticeship Program (WFAP) positions are a set career path with classes and trainings to go from an entry level FFT2 to the next step in wildland fire as a FFT1/ squad boss. A huge bonus is that these are considered permanent seasonal positions and you will get retirement and health care benefits that you don’t get as a temporary seasonal.

Here’s more info: Forest Service WFAP Page

Decoding a Forest Service job/ Vacancy announcement Number

These are the specific job postings you will be applying for. Towns are listed under a specific region, which will have its own job announcement. These are also found on Outreach Announcements which I talk more about below.

Outreaches are super helpful because have all the fire jobs broken down by crew type, location, and who to contact for each. As well as a timeframe for hiring and when to expect interest calls and when they are making hiring decisions.

PERMANENT POSITION/ FIREHIRE EXAMPLE:

24-FIRE-P1R14-FFTR-34DH

• 24- Year

• FIRE- Position

• P1- Phase 1 (there’s usually multiple phases of hiring

• R14- Regions 1 & 4

• FFTR- Crew Type, WFAP/ HCREW/ ENG can also be seen here

• 34- GS 03 & 04 pay grade

• DH- Direct Hire

TEMPORARY POSITION EXAMPLES:

23-TEMPF3-R4-3867-3DH

• 23- Year

• TEMPF3- TEMP: Temporary F: Fire 3: Phase 3 overall of hiring

• R4- Region 4

• 3867- This one denotes general Forestry Aid (Fire). Each position is assigned a random set of numbers that change year to year.

• 3- GS-03 pay grade

• DH- Direct Hire

23-TEMPF3-R4-0003-4DH

• 23- Year

• TEMPF3- TEMP: Temporary F: Fire 3: Phase 3 overall of hiring

• R4- Region 4

• 0003- This one denotes general Forestry Technician (Fire). Each position is assigned a random set of numbers that change year to year. On another announcement 2036 was assigned to Forestry Technician (Hotshot/Handcrew).

• 4- GS-04 pay grade

• DH- Direct Hire

Resume/ How to look good on paper

In USAJobs you need to upload a resume in the Documents section of your profile. You have the option of building a resume in USAJobs, but making one on Google Docs or Word or whatever and then saving it as a PDF and uploading that is the best way.

Unlike most jobs that say your resume should fit on one page, your fire resume may be pages long. After twelve seasons mine is 7(!) pages. Be detailed! If you are just starting out, write down any relevant skills or experience.

Below are two examples of the same resume. I created the right one in USAJobs resume builder and then uploaded it into Google Docs to reformat it and make it better.

Contact InfoRMATION

Your full name and contact info including email address, phone number and mailing address.

Employment History

Your employment history starting with most recent employer first. Include: business name, dates of employment, your position title, location, phone number, hours worked per week and description of work preformed, skills you gained, and responsibilities you had in that position. Really sell yourself and point out any leadership, mentoring, and relevant experience like working outside, teamwork, physical labor, problem solving, etc.

Relevant Experience- Hobbies/ Skills/ Activities/ Volunteer Work/ ETC

If you played sports, did any manual labor like landscaping, you enjoy long distance hiking, cross fit, or hunting, write it down. Wildland fire is a demanding, manual labor type job. Employers want to know you can hack it.

Writing down my hobbies was the only reason I got hired for my first fire job. I asked my first captain why he had hired me with no experience. Most wildland firefighters start in their late teens and early twenties and I was well past that. He said that I had written about a two-week backpacking trip with 18-20 mile days I had done and that I enjoyed long distance running. He figured that he could teach me about fire as long as I enjoyed being outside and pushing myself physically.

THAT WAS IT! Those few sentences separated me from a hundred other applicants and got me the job. On our module we want people who will learn, have a great attitude, enjoy hard work outside, are in shape, and are excited about coming to work. We can teach you to fight fire, just show us in your resume why you’d be a great firefighter.

Any medical experience, especially if you have an EMT or WFR, is really helpful in getting hired. If you have Basic CPR or First Aid, write it down. Wilderness First Aid, NOLS, Outward Bound, any outdoor programs you’ve been in, write it down.

Military Veterans

I’m not a military veteran, but I’ve worked with plenty of guys who are. The applications will take you through questions detailing your military experience and if you qualify for any special considerations. You should also describe your military experience in your resume. Here’s a link to the Feds Hire Vets website, which gives much more information and contact info if you have questions as a military vet.

Education

There may be some paperwork you will need, such as educational transcripts, to support your work experience so you can qualify for a higher GS (pay) level that can be a pain to get. So make sure you look over the application and get everything together early.

REferences

Make sure you have up to date contact info including a valid phone number AND email address for all supervisors and personal references listed on your resume. Tell them to expect phone calls and emails and make sure they will give you a great reference and they will be around and in service to do so.

DO NOT write “Available upon request.” All that means to hiring officials is that you are too lazy to get their contact info, left on bad terms and/or were fired. If anyone wants to hire you they now need to call you and try and get contact info to speak to your references. Having gone through a few years of doing hiring I can tell you that we don’t hire anyone on our crew unless we can get two glowing, solid references on a potential employee.

Location

Apply to as many places as you can actually see yourself working. Don’t just apply to every town. That isn’t helpful once employers contact you and you have zero desire to actually work there. It’s a waste of everyone’s time.

If you are just starting out, working in a small, out of the way town is a great way to get your foot in the door because you won’t have as much competition. It also gets you a job and experience and then you can go somewhere else your second season. There are plenty of small towns that see a lot of fire activity.

Clicking “Location Negotiable” is a great way for anyone to pick you and offer you a job. Maybe you didn’t know of a particular place, but once interviewed you’d work there. Clicking this makes it easy for you to get hired.

Lastly, TRIPLE CHECK and verify all info provided! We want to hire you! Make it easy on us by proofreading your resume, selling your unique skillset and great attitude, making it easy to read, and providing good contact info for you and your references.

After you’ve applied/ how to help yourself get hired

Contact Hiring Officials

So now your applications are in and you are just waiting to hear back from prospective employers. If you really want a certain job or to be in a certain area, CALL OR EMAIL THEM! Cold calls are part of the job process.

If you are just starting out please do not call smokejumper bases. They won’t hire people with zero fire experience.

You will stand out and put a personality to a name on their list and show you really want the job. You can find numbers and emails a number of ways.

The best way is to look at the job announcement in USAJobs and see if there’s a local contact listed. Another is to look on this page (scroll down to the Positions Available Nationwide section) then click on the region you applied for and look for contact info or find the outreach for the places you applied for. Here’s Region 4’s 2024 FireHire Outreach so you know what one looks like and all the info it contains.

The outreaches have all the fire jobs broken down by crew type, location, and who to contact for each. As well as a timeframe for hiring and when to expect interest calls and when they are making hiring decisions.

You can also call the front desk for a forest and ask this information, but the outreach is the best way to get to who you really want to talk to and not waste time.

Once you get your contact info, get busy and reach out. Have your resume PDF ready to attach if you’re emailing and tell them a little about yourself, why you want to work in that area, and why you’d be a great hire. Leave a message if they don’t answer. Ask questions about the crew, the area, the fitness standards and what their fire seasons are like. If you can arrange a visit and meet in person, even better!

If you’re calling lots of places, maybe make some notes as to who you talked to, if the conversation went well, and if you think it’d be a good fit for you.

USAJobs Application Status

As fire season approaches you will start receiving notices about changes to your application status in USAJobs (Sometimes as early as October/ November, depending on when the applications closed). First you’ll get emails about the status change and you can check it in your HOME section of USAJobs.

The normal flow is from RECEIVED to REFERRED or NOT REFERRED.

• RECEIVED means “The hiring agency has received your job application.”

• REVIEWED means “The hiring agency has reviewed your job application, but has not yet determined if you’re qualified.”

• REFERRED means “Your application was reviewed and determined to be among the Best Qualified. You will be referred to the Hiring Official. If you are selected for an interview you will be notified directly. Your USAJOBS application status will not be updated until a final hiring decision has been made.”

• NOT REFERRED means “Your application has been reviewed. You have been determined to be eligible but not amongst the best qualified based on the quality of work experience and/or education as indicated by your responses to the occupational questionnaire or lack of supporting documents (i.e., transcripts).”

• UNAVAILABLE means “The status of your application cannot be determined at this time.” Generally you did something wrong or submitted it before it was complete.

REFERRED is good! You should start receiving interest emails/calls about whether you still want the position and to schedule interviews. They can be very short windows (less than 24 hours to respond in some cases) so make sure your phone message inbox isn’t full and to check your email frequently once your application status changes. Hopefully you’ve already reached out and you’re on their short list of people to hire.

You didn’t get hired or missed the application deadlines

There are other options. Contractors, such as Grayback Forestry, Fire Trax, and PatRick, are mostly based in Oregon with other bases around the west. These fire positions are generally on-call work so you need a flexible work schedule and the pay is lower than federal crews. However, it’s a totally fine way to get into wildland fire and get some experience.

The Nature Conservancy, the California/Montana/Arizona/Minnesota Conservation Corps, and the various Forest Service run Job Corps programs all have wildland fire crews.

There are also winter prescribed fire crews hired for pile burning or out east for broadcast burning that you can find in the off season on USAJobs.gov.

Now that you know what to expect and how to apply, check out the Blog for common question I’ve answered, wildfire101, and resources sections to know more about wildland fire and the gear you’ll need.