Common Questions: What's The Difference Between Temporary, Seasonal, And Permanent Wildland Fire Positions?

Is year round employment the same as a stretched out seasonal job or is there extra duties and a permanent place to show up to most days?

No matter what you will show up to work in the same place every day (unless you are on a fire) no matter if you are seasonal or permanent.

Temporary seasonal employees (commonly just called seasonals) are on what is referred to as a 1039 schedule. They CANNOT work more than 1039 base hours in a year not including overtime. This comes out to about 6-7 months of work per year. This is great for people who like to move around and just work half the year for fire and half the year traveling or doing a winter-oriented job.

Permanent employees have extra duties and more responsibility. They also can get year round health care and retirement benefits. There are permanent seasonals who work what's called a 13/13 schedule or an 18/8 schedule. This means that they have to work AT LEAST 13 or 18 pay periods (a pay period is two weeks) in a year but there is no limit to how many pay periods they are able to work. So this turns out to be either 6 -9 months or more of work per year.

The only way to get on as an entry level wildland firefighter in a permanent position is as an apprentice. Here's more about the apprentice program: https://www.fs.usda.gov/working-with-us/jobs/fire-apprentice

Full permanent employees work 26/0 which means they work all pay periods in a year. This category used to be only for leadership positions like engine captains or crew bosses on up, but is becoming more common after the Wildland firefighter pay, classification in infrastructure law was passed in 2021. Check out this article for more info or the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters website for the most up to date info on federal wildland firefighter pay and classification.