KAMIAH, Idaho: October 26, 2023— The Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests have a variety of temporary-seasonal wildland firefighting positions open across the Forests! We are looking for folks interested in a wide variety of positions such as fire dispatchers and fire lookouts, as well as positions on our handcrews, engine crews, helicopter crews, or wildland fire use module. Duty locations are spread throughout the forests’ four million acres, including White Bird, Elk City, Grangeville, Kooskia, Orofino, and Potlatch.
Wildland firefighters perform a variety of tasks to prevent the spread of wildfire and protect forest communities: utilizing aircraft to drop water on an incident, running chainsaws and other mechanical equipment to reduce susceptible fuels to a flaming front, running hoses from engines to get water closer to a fire, and constructing line with various hand tools are just some of the ways wildland firefighters tackle their daunting jobs. The diversity in crew types provide versatility to our mission of caring for the lands and serving the people. Now more than ever, wildland firefighters are crucial players in combating large, unprecedented wildfires that impact our neighboring lands and communities. With portions of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests being designated as lands under the Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape, a program which takes proactive action to address wildfire risk, every wildland firefighter plays a vital role in preventing catastrophic wildfires and quickly suppressing fires that threaten communities and values at risk.
Dispatchers and fire lookouts are critical support components in wildfire incidents. These positions are eyes and ears for firefighting resources: lookouts are often the first people to see smoke from a wildfire and first to call the fire into dispatch centers. From here, dispatchers alert a near-by wildland fire crew. The quick and efficient response time from both lookouts and dispatchers plays a tremendous role in preventing wildfires from becoming increased in size and complexity. Additionally, both dispatchers and fire lookouts have a huge responsibility in providing for the safety and well-being of wildland firefighters by making sure they are given accurate and timely information that will help them in their decision-making process during a wildfire.
The application portal opens today, October 26, 2023, and will be closing on November 8, 2023. After this date has passed, you will not have another opportunity to apply for a wildland firefighter position with the U.S. Forest Service for the 2024 season. To apply, go on to USAJobs.gov and search the announcement number of the position you are interested in. The Forests are also hiring over 50 permanent and career seasonal positions outside of fire management right now, which can also be located on usajobs.gov.
If you would like to get in contact with someone for more information about positions, please reach out to the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest Fire Information Line (208-935-6134). We are happy to help answer any questions that you may have about the job or how to apply.
