Wildland firefighter holding the line on a smokey section of a wildfire — *Holding the line on a smokey section of a wildfire*

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 federal wildland firefighter positions are series 0462 - Forestry Technician (Fire) or 0456 - Wildland Fire Management. 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.

This video walks you through how to apply for an absolute entry level, no fire experience needed, GS-03 application for a Forestry Aid wildland firefighter position on USAJobs.gov, including how to find the job using job search filters, how to upload required documents such as your resume, what each question is truly asking, and how to track your application once it's submitted.

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 are released by each forest before hiring begins.

Example outreach announcement

The above outreach is the 2025 temp outreach for the Payette NF in Idaho so you know what one looks like and all the info it contains. They finally made all available outreaches searchable and include contact info for specific positions.

Here it is: Outreach Search Page

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

I’ve primarily worked for the Forest Service so I’m most familiar with their hiring process and 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.

Permanent Position/ FIREHIRE Example:

25-FIRE-P1R14-FFTR-34DH

25- 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 Example:

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