Forestry Technician (Fire Dispatch)

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary.

GW-04: Applicants must have six months of general experience (any type of work that demonstrated the ability to perform the work of the position, or experience that provided a familiarity with the subject matter or processes of the broad subject area of the occupation) AND six months of specialized experience that is directly related to the work of the position; OR successful completion of 2 years of study that included at least 12 semester hours in any combination of courses such as forestry, agriculture, crop or plant science, range management or conservation, wildlife management, watershed management, soil science, natural resources (except marine fisheries and oceanography), outdoor recreation management, civil or forest engineering, or wildland fire science (no more than 3 semester hours in mathematics is creditable); OR an appropriate combination of experience and education above high school as described above.

The education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university and include courses that are related to the occupation of the position.

Examples of General Experience includes: Performed farm/ranch labor, such as feeding/tending livestock or general maintenance of farm/ranch facilities; worked in a greenhouse, nursery or landscaping e.g., planting, moving, watering, and tending plants; animal caretaker in a laboratory, zoo or pet store; volunteer work at a park, hospital, community sports league, local fire department, etc. Examples of specialized experience include: Assisted in filing and retrieving documents in a dispatching office.

Assisted in receiving and processing requests for equipment, personnel, and supplies in conjunction with wildland fire and emergency incidents. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social).

Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Serves as a dispatcher performing the full range of standardized support duties commonly found in the work area, such as receiving, filling, and tracking resource requests for fire and other emergency incidents.,Follows detailed procedures in initiating requests to higher organizational levels for additional resources as needed.,Maintains resource status and tracking systems and operates telecommunications systems.,Collects, processes, collates and submits incident information to support fire operations (e.g. fire reports, smoke permits, spot weather forecasts, prescribed fire burn requests).,Organizes and reviews completed records of all orders placed and actions taken to ensure adherence to established operating procedures.,Processes weather information (e.g., spot weather forecasts, weather station observations, current and forecasted weather, lightning detection, and fuel moisture levels).,This information is used to determine burning indices, preparedness levels and staffing levels for suppression and aviation resources.,Inputs data into a number of fire-related computer applications (e.g., incident qualification records, fire reporting systems, and automated dispatch systems) and makes the initial assessment of outputs.,Assists in providing critical logistical support information to supervisor.,Records and maintains communication logs.,Coordinates and may assist with fire and aviation operational-type training/simulations and orientation in addition to initial attack dispatch and aviation dispatch training.,Gathers information for the development and maintenance of the dispatch mobilization guide and internal dispatch operating guides.,Shares information with cooperators and other interested entities.