Lead Firefighter (Crew Chief)

In this position you will work as a member of the Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center (MWEOC), Fire Services Branch. MWEOC is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, approximately 60 miles west of Washington, DC. The ideal candidate for this position will have experience in leading Fire and EMS companies during emergency and non-emergency situations with an extensive Fire and EMS background in Hazardous Materials.

Qualifications:

Current Federal employees must have served 52 weeks at the next lower grade or equivalent grade band in the Federal service. The qualification requirements listed below must be met by the closing date of this announcement.

To qualify for this position at the GS-09 level, you must possess one full year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-08 level in the Federal government, which has equipped you with the skills needed to successfully perform the duties of the position. Experience may be obtained in the federal government, a state or local government, or private sector, and must demonstrate the following:

• Providing advanced Fire/Rescue or EMS/Medical support for companies and personnel during incidents/emergencies OR;
• Assisting with leading of Fire and EMS personnel during Hazardous Material incidents/emergencies.

AND

In addition to the minimum qualifications described above, you must currently possess the following certification(s) to be considered qualified for the position. You must upload a copy of your Firefighter transcript(s) or each certificate at time of your application. Failure to upload your transcript(s) or each certificate will result in the applicant being removed from consideration.

• Firefighter I
• Firefighter II
• Driver/Operator Pumper
• Driver/Operator Aerial
• Current State Emergency Medical Technician Certification (EMT-Basic/Paramedic)
• Hazardous Material Technician Certification
• Current Driver's license in state of residence
• Fire Instructor I
• Fire Inspector I
• Fire Officer I

This is a primary firefighter position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336(c) and 8412 (d). Appointees to positions covered under these provisions must not have reached their 37th birthday at the time of initial appointment. Applicants over age 37 with previous firefighter experience under CSRS/FERS, may have their previous firefighter experience credited to determine if age requirement met.

Please read the following important information to ensure we have everything we need to consider your application:

• Do not copy and paste the duties, specialized experience, or occupational assessment questionnaire from this announcement into your resume as that will not be considered a demonstration of your qualifications for this position.

• Please limit your resume to two pages. The USAJOBS database will not allow an applicant to submit an application that includes a resume over two pages.
• Your resume serves as the basis for experience related qualification determinations, and you must highlight your most relevant and significant work experience and education (if applicable), as it relates to this job opportunity. Please use your own words, be clear, and specific when describing your work history. We cannot make assumptions regarding your experience.

Are you qualifying based on your work experience?

• Qualifications are based on your ability to demonstrate in your resume that you possess one year of the specialized experience for this announcement at a comparable scope and responsibility. To ensure all of the essential information is in your resume, we encourage you to use the USAJOBS online Resume Builder. If you choose to use your own resume, it must contain the following information organized by experience/position: (1) job title, (2) name of employer, (3) start and end dates of each period of employment (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY), (4) detailed description of duties performed, accomplishments, and related skills, and (5) hours worked per week (part-time employment will be prorated in crediting experience). Federal experience/positions must also include the occupational series, grade level, and dates in which you held each grade level.

• Are you a current or former FEMA Reservist/DAE employee? To accurately credit your experience from intermittent positions and Reservist Deployments, you must list the dates (from MM/DD/YY to MM/DD/YY) of deployments that are relevant to your qualifying experience, along with the job title and specific duties you were responsible for during each deployment.

• Determining length of General or Specialized Experience is dependent on the above information. Failure to provide the above information in your resume may result in your application being found "not qualified."

• 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 provides valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

• For additional information on crediting experience and/or education, please reference the OPM General Schedule Qualification Standards

Responsibilities:

All MWEOC staff have emergency assignments and are considered deployed in place. Exercises and activations are planned and unplanned, and may require long hours, nights, weekends and holidays.

All MWEOC employees are: (1) required to use a government-issued electronic device (to include cellular phones); (2) subject to recall during emergency situations; and (3) required to perform work in locations both above and below ground.

What will I do in this position if hired?

In this position, you will serve as a Lead Firefighter (Crew Chief), responsible for leading teams in Fire and EMS emergencies. Typical assignments include:

• Leading a crew of three or more fire and EMS personnel assigned to a company such as a pumper or aerial ladder truck in firefighting and rescue operations.
• Directing firefighting crew in the operation of firefighting vehicles and equipment.
• Directing assigned crew members in the performance of structural firefighting duties for a variety of facilities which may include research and/or large industrial complexes, and the performance of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) technician containment and control and/or Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support duties.
• Leading assigned crew members and performing emergency rescue and immediate first aid measures to mitigate further injury and prepare the victim(s) for transport to medical facility.
• Assigning crew members to perform maintenance of firefighting equipment and fire station facilities.

What else do I need to know?

At FEMA, our mission is to help people before, during and after disasters, and every employee at FEMA has a role in emergency management. Every FEMA employee has regular and recurring emergency management responsibilities, though not every position requires routine deployment to disaster sites. All positions are subject to recall around the clock for emergency management operations, which may require irregular work hours, work at locations other than the official duty station, and may include duties other than those specified in the employee's official position description. Travel requirements in support of emergency operations may be extensive in nature (weeks to months), with little advance notice, and may require employees to relocate to emergency sites with physically austere and operationally challenging conditions.

Salary : $121,785