These employees are hired both as permanent and temporary employees. In fact, many of the temporary employees return year after year and consider working in the Bureau's fire program as a second career. Many have progressed from entry-level fire crew positions to leadership positions on engine crews or as elite firefighters on Hotshot Crews or as Smokejumpers. Permanent employees in the Bureau's fire program have opportunities to progress even further as Fire Management Officers and Fuels Program Managers. All positions, except Dispatcher and Fire Prevention, require that you successfully pass a pre-employment physical examination.
All positions require pre-employment drug testing.
Most permanent positions require that you be no older than 35 years old upon appointment. If you are interested in being a firefighter and have little or no wildland firefighting experience, this where you begin. As a Fire Lookout, you will serve as a lookout at remote tower stations. You will observe, plot, and report fire starts, report locations, estimate size, and fire behavior. You will interact with fire suppression crews and dispatch them through radio communications.