Range Technician

Duties

As a Range Technician, you will be required to perform the following duties:

• Combat small, less complex fires.
• Perform fire suppression from extinguishing state to mop-up state.
• Move dirt and chop brush to build fire lines and extinguish fires by using hand tools.
• Apply water through hose line or backpack to extinguish or control the spreading wildland fires.
• Conduct back burns as directed.
• Clean, service, and store specialized fire tools and equipment.
• Operate portable, mobile, and stationary firefighting equipment.
• Perform first echelon maintenance of firefighting apparatus and equipment.
• Report all discrepancies that cannot be corrected to the supervisor.
• Conduct pre-burn activities such as firebreak maintenance and equipment preparation and maintenance.
• Patrol areas of prescribed burns.
• Conduct range surveys to locate and map disturbed and burned areas and to report conditions of roads and firebreaks.
• Assist with repair and reseeding of disturbed areas and erosion control projects.
• Erects and dismantles fire suppression wells.
• Check fire suppression wells for operation.
• Operate passenger vehicles, pick-up trucks and a military five-ton truck to transport, self, team members, equipment, and supplies to various work location on the installation.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the education and/or experience requirements described below. Your resume must clearly describe your relevant experience; if qualifying based on education, your transcripts will be required as part of your application. Additional information about transcripts is in this document.

Experience required: 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). You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

To qualify at the GS-04 grade level:

General and/or Specialized Experience: Six months of general experience AND six months of specialized experience. General experience is defined as: ability to perform range technician work or experience that provided a familiarity with range technician work under close supervision. Specialized experience is defined as: a trainee or assisting in range conservation or forest fire control, prevention, or suppression work. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-03)

To qualify at the GS-05 grade level:

Specialized Experience: One year of specialized experience which includes range conservation or forest control, prevention, or suppression work such as combating small wild fires, clearing brush to create fire lines, or conducting range surveys to locate and map burned areas to report on conditions of road and firebreaks; and skill in firefighting equipment operations. This definition of specialized experience is typical of work performed at the next lower grade/level position in the federal service (GS-04)

Seasonal Experience:  Seasonal experience may also be creditable. You must possess four seasons of seasonal experience. A season of experience is considered to be a period of no less than three months of continuous employment on a seasonal basis. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include work in the conservation, regulation, and use of public or Federally controlled lands for grazing; range research activities; work in the operation of a livestock ranch or in assisting in the management or preservation of lands comparable to the public range; or range or forest fire control, prevention, or suppression work.

You will be evaluated on the basis of your level of competency (knowledge, skills, abilities) in the following areas:

• Ability to Perform Range Management Duties
• Ability to Use and Maintain Equipment
• Knowledge of Operations and Plans

Education

Some federal jobs allow you to substitute your education for the required experience in order to qualify. For this job, you may qualify if your education meets the definitions below:

 

To qualify at the GS-04 grade level based on education only: You must have 2 years of high school with courses related to the occupation (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.

 

To qualify at the GS-05 grade level based  on education only: You must have 4 years of study above high school leading to a bachelor's degree with courses related to the occupation (forestry, range management, agriculture, or a subject-matter field directly related to the position.

 

Combination of Education and Experience: A combination of education and experience may be used to qualify for this position as long as the computed percentage of the requirements is at least 100%. To compute the percentage of the requirements, divide your total months of experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of education beyond two years (total semester hours minus 60) by 60. Add the two percentages.

 

Only degrees from an accredited college or university recognized by the Department of Education are acceptable to meet positive education requirements or to substitute education for experience. For additional information, please go to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and U.S. Department of Education website at: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications and http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html.

 

Foreign education must be evaluated for U.S. equivalency in order to be considered for this position. Please include this information in your resume.