The 2025/2026 Wildland Firefighter Season and Hiring Timeline

Aug 31

wildland firefighters with gear walking down at sunset

Hiring season has already started for the 2026 season!

A huge change this year is that resumes MUST be a maxiumum of 2 pages! If you’ve previously uploaded a resume to USAJobs.gov make sure it fits to this new guideline.

My Best Tips for Creating a Great Fire Resume

The other major change in the Federal applications are the long form questions. You DO NOT have to answer them. It will not be counted against you in hiring. It says so right in the first paragraph.

See the questions HERE

Vacancies for many permanent positions in FireHire are open in USAJobs.gov August 22 through September 23, 2025. Depending on the region and agency they may’ve been open sooner or later than this (there is usually another round of last minute perm hiring in spring 2026)

Vacancies for many temporary seasonal positions will be open in USAJobs October 23 through November 11, 2025

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

Find job openings by visiting usajobs.gov; searching keyword: wildland firefighter or use this link (filtered by 0456 series/ open to the public/ GS-03/04).

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 firefighter jobs).

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 0456- Wildland Fire Management.

Jobs used to say 0462- 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, but for the 2026 season everything has switched over to this new series and classification.

2025 Wildland Firefighter GS Pay Scale Tables

TEMPORARY SEASONAL VS PERMANENT JOB POSITIONS

All entry level jobs are temporary seasonal except for federal apprenticeship positions labeled 0456- Wildland Firefighter - Apprentice and a new one labeled 0456- Wildland Firefighter - Fire Suppression, which are permanent positions.

CLICK HERE for current GS-03/04 Permanent Wildland Firefighter 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

DRUG TESTING

All temporary and permanent firefighter positions will be drug tested as a preemployment requirement 90 days prior to first work day. This was new for seasonals as of 2024. Previously only permanent employees were drug tested prior to hiring.

OUTREACH ANNOUNCEMENTS

Outreach announcements are put out by each individual forest/national park/BLM zone/ etc. They usually come out shortly before the jobs are posted in USAJobs. They have all the fire jobs broken down by job announcement, crew type, location, and how to contact hiring officials for each crew. As well as a timeframe for hiring and when to expect interest calls and when they are making hiring decisions. They are the best resource for finding fire positions in each region/ forest if contact information is not listed in the Summary or Agency Contact sections of the job posting on USAJobs.

I’ve currently work for the Forest Service so I’m most familiar with their hiring process (because it’s what I see the back end of to hire for my module) and I get internal emails about their timelines. The BLM and National Park Service (NPS) fall under the federal Department of the Interior (DOI) so they have some different hiring practices and their job postings are generally open for longer time periods than the Forest Service.

Example outreach announcement

The above outreach is the 2026 permanent job outreach for the Payette NF in Idaho. I linked to any I could find below next to each region. But they finally made all available outreaches searchable and include contact info for specific positions. Type “wildland firefighter” in the search bar to get to the right ones.

Here it is: Outreach Search 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 may have its own job announcement or be lumped in with other regions. These can be found on job postings on USAJobs.gov, outreach announcements or on social media or web pages.

LOCATIONS: You can select as many duty locations as you want

PERMANENT POSITION/ FIREHIRE EXAMPLE:

26-FIRE-P1R14610-FFTR-34DH

26- Year
FIRE- Position
P1- Phase 1 (there’s usually multiple phases of hiring)
R14610- Regions 1, 4, 6 & 10 (this can also be confusing because sometimes states are in multiple regions. If you have specific places you want to apply, always try to filter by town and/or state first instead of relying on region so you can find what you’re looking for)
FFTR- Crew Type (WFAP/ HCREW/ IHCRW (Hotshot Crew)/ HTK (Helitack)/ ENG can also be seen here)
34- GS 03 & 04 pay grade
DH- Direct Hire

TEMPORARY POSITION EXAMPLES FROM 2025 (will update when released for 2026):

25-TEMPF3-R4-3867-3DH

25- 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

25-TEMPF3-R4-0003-4DH

25- 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

US Forest Service (USFS) Jobs

The best link

Careers in Wildland Fire | US Forest Service (usda.gov) Explains the different types of positions (crew, engine, helitack, etc). Heaps of information on where/ how to apply/ who to contact in different regions.

Video series put out by NIFC on everything USAJobs and how to apply

Positions Available Nationwide

Click on each region below for more information including location information, outreachs with job announcements, hiring contact info, and application dates. I will add outreaches next to the region when they become available. Some regions are better than others with their website and info provided.

FIRE POSITIONS BY REGION