2025 Season Wildland Firefighter Job Postings/ FIREHIRE

Hiring season has already started for the 2025 season! Vacancies for many temporary seasonal positions will be open in USAJobs October 24 through November 6, 2024! Vacancies for many permanent positions in FireHire were open in USAJobs August 18 through September 25, 2024 (there may be another round of last minute perm hiring in the spring). Get your resumes ready and make sure to set alerts for wildland fire job postings on USAJobs.gov so you can apply for next season’s jobs as they become available.

I go into depth about how to apply and what to look for on this page of the website. I have a very in-depth resume post here. information on this blog post is specific to 2025 while the info on the website page is more broad.

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

DRUG TESTING

All temporary and permanent firefighter positions will be drug tested for 2025 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

Find job openings by visiting usajobs.gov; searching keyword: fire or use this link *(filtered by fire/ 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 fire jobs).

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 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. For DOI you will find jobs listed as Wildland Firefighter under a new series of 0456- Wildland Fire Management. For now the Forest Service is still using the old series of 0462 Forestry Technician (Fire). Just FYI that they aren’t going to look the same even though all federal wildland firefighter job postings are only on USAJobs.gov.

Example Outreach announcement

The above outreach is the 2025 temp 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. 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 will have its own job announcement. These can be found on outreach announcements or in job postings on social media or web pages.

LOCATIONS: You can select up to 10 duty locations.

If you want to be considered for additional locations, you need to mark location negotiable when you apply. If you do not mark it, you CANNOT be considered/hired for any locations other than the ones you select.

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 EXAMPLES:

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. For more info on fire regions click here

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

Positions Available Nationwide

Click on each region 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.

Vacancies for many temporary seasonal positions in FireHire will be open in USAjobs October 24 through November 6, 2024!

Vacancies for many permanent positions in FireHire will be open in USAjobs August 18 through September 24, 2024!

TEMPORARY SEASONAL POSITIONS BY REGION

Northern Region (R1) Updated weekly. Current job postings for all of R1, including fire. Also resume help! Amazing resource
Rocky Mountain Region (R2)
Southwestern Region (R3)
Intermountain Region (R4) Click on individual forests for more info. It’s a mixed bag, not going to lie some have way more info than others, but heaps better than most regions
Pacific Southwest Region (R5) Basic info and application open/close dates. More overall R5 fire position info HERE
Pacific Northwest Region (R6) Overall R6 Fire position info HERE
Southern Region (R8) Linked to list of forests in R8. No real info on fire positions. All linked to USAJobs so best to contact each forest individually or save a search on USAJobs.gov
Eastern Region (R9)
Alaska Region (R10) Very basic info on all temp jobs in R10. Best to set a saved search in USAJobs.gov