Careers and Jobs

Salmon-Challis National Forest Fire Management

  Positions Outreach

GW-0456-03 thru GW-0456-09

Application Period: August 22nd, 2025 – September 23rd, 2025

The Salmon-Challis National Forest is planning to fill various fire management positions during the 2025 Fall hiring season. This outreach is for GW-0456-03 through GW-0456-09 current career permanent fulltime and permanent seasonal fire and fuels positions. The positions are at various duty locations and will be filled during the Region 4 Phase 1 Fire Hire event.  The positions will be filled through an Open Continuous Recruitment (OCR), each vacancy announcement number is listed below.  

About the Positions

The Salmon-Challis National Forest is looking for a hardworking and skilled workforce to manage wildfires and work in fuels management. The fire and aviation management program is very rewarding and requires talented and skilled people working safely as part of a team in a variety of specialized positions, including Rappel Helicopters, Engine Crews, Fuels management, Wildland Fire Module, Helitack, Prevention, Dispatch and Fire Management.

Apply to vacant announcements via the “USAJOBS” webpage, at www.usajobs.gov. Please visit the Region 4 Fire Hire Webpage for additional information on jobs and the application process. 

How to Apply: 
The Process and Timeline

August 22, 2025─ Announcements will be activated in USAJobs. Applicants are encouraged to apply for duty locations (where they would accept a position if offered), even if positions for certain locations which you are interested are not currently listed as vacant. Vacancies may occur during the hiring process and could be filled during Selection Week(s).

September 23, 2025 ─ Application deadline (11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard time). Applications must be submitted through www.usajobs.gov.

October 27, 2025 – December 17, 2025 ─Supervisory Reference Checks and Subject Matter Expert evaluations and interviews will occur during these weeks. Please ensure your references are notified of this and are available at the email address (preferred) or phone number provided on your application. Recommendations and Selections. Representatives from each forest will make recommendations for hiring. Candidates selected will be notified by a Forest Service representative via phone. It is highly encouraged for all applicants to be available via phone during this time period. Those not selected should check their USAJobs account for status updates.

Projected Entry On Duty (EOD) Date if selected 03/08/26.

Note:

In order to qualify for most of these positions, you must meet qualifications requirements as defined by Interagency Fire Program Management (IFPM) and Forest Service – Fire Program Management (FS- FPM)  at the time of selection. Because of these qualification requirements, a current copy of your IQCS/IQS Master Record will be required for positions in this outreach. An updated Master Record can be submitted at the time of selection if the IFPM/FS-FPM requirements were not met on the Master Record at the time of application. 

You must also meet the eligibility requirements as defined by OPM. For more information on the eligibility requirements for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Eligibility requirements must be met at the time of application. 

Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the eligibility requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

It is important that applicants understand, although a current position may not be vacant, it could become vacant and filled during the selection period. This is called the backfill process of fire hire. Interested individuals should apply to all positions and duty locations where they would be willing to accept a job offer, whether the position(s) are currently vacant or not. 

About the Region

The Intermountain Region in Ogden, Utah provides administrative oversight and support to thirteen National Forests located in Utah, Nevada, Eastern California, Western Wyoming, and Southern & Central Idaho. The region covers 31,816,792 acres in the National Forest Systems. 

About the Forest

The Salmon-Challis National Forest covers over 4.3 million acres in east-central Idaho. The Forest is bordered by the Bitterroot Range of the north-central Rockies on the east, and to the west includes over 1.3 million acres of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. Rugged and remote, this country offers adventure, solitude, and breathtaking scenery. The Forest also contains Mt. Borah, Idaho’s tallest peak and the Wild and Scenic Salmon River and Middle Fork of the Salmon River. The area is a highly desired destination for hunting, fishing, white-water rafting and many other recreation pursuits. It features diverse rough topography and geology, often severe weather conditions and miles of streams with anadromous fish spawning habitat creating a highly complex land management situation. The Forest Headquarters Office is located in Salmon, Idaho. There are currently six administrative units on the Forest: Salmon-Cobalt, Challis-Yankee Fork, Lost River, Middle Fork, North Fork and Leadore Ranger Districts. The forest has a very active fire/fuels program and fire workload averaging nearly 100 fires per year.  The fires often occur in very remote and inaccessible terrain.  Fuels on the forest consist of grass and sage in the lower elevations to Lodge Pole pine and Sub-alpine fir at the higher elevations. 

The forest currently staffs 4 - Type 6 Engines, 2 – Type 3 Helicopters, 2 – Rappel capable Type 2 Helicopters, 1 – Wildland Fire Module, an Interagency Dispatch Center, 2- Fuels Crews, and 2-Prevention Techs, and 2- Fire Operations Specialists, and 4- Zone AFMOs.

You can find us on the Internet at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/scnf/

Or you can find us on Facebook by searching for: 

U.S. Forest Service – Salmon-Challis National Forest 

**Because of the nature of the R4 Fire Hire process with employees in current positions applying to and potentially being awarded new appointments – positions that are currently filled may become open. Applicants are invited to apply to any permanent position for which they are qualified that may become open through the Fire Hire process. 

For more information concerning any of the above positions please contact the following: