Fire Hire 2027: When Federal and State Wildland Fire Jobs Open and How to Apply

“Fire Hire” is the Forest Service’s name for its big yearly push to fill permanent fire jobs. It is only one of several windows for the 2027 season, and it has already closed.

Seasonal federal crews, state agencies and contract crews each hire on their own clock, mostly months before the first fire. This is the calendar as of October 26, 2026, from each agency’s own pages. Where 2027 dates are not out yet, you get the latest cycle and its year.

For crew types, see wildland firefighter jobs. For pay, see wildland firefighter pay.

When is Fire Hire 2027?

The Forest Service’s Fire Hire for the 2027 fire year ran August 24 to September 22, 2026, and it is closed. The Pacific Northwest Region used one announcement for every GW-3 through GW-10 job, and Montana’s Lolo National Forest ran the same window.

Fire Hire step	Date
Announcement opens on USAJOBS	August 24, 2026
Applications close	September 22, 2026, 8:59 p.m. Pacific
Lists of qualified applicants go to hiring managers	October 27, 2026
Selections, made by phone	November 2 to December 11, 2026
First possible start date for new hires	March 2027

Source: Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region, Fire Hire page, updated September 25, 2026.

During selections you get 4 hours to answer a voicemail or email from a hiring official. Higher grades are usually filled in the first week and lower grades in the second, so entry-level calls tend to come later.

Fire Hire is not the only permanent window. The Northern Region says it hires permanent firefighters year-round in phases, and the Southwestern Region (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma) has published three more permanent phases for 2027.

Permanent phase	Grades	Apply	Selections	Start no later than
2	GW-10 and above	Jan 12 to 21, 2027	Feb 11 to Mar 1, 2027	May 16, 2027
3	GW-3 and above	Mar 9 to 18, 2027	Apr 8 to 26, 2027	Jul 11, 2027
4	GW-7 and above	May 18 to 27, 2027	Jun 16 to Jul 6, 2027	Sep 19, 2027

Source: Forest Service Southwestern Region, Fire Hire page, updated October 1, 2026. Each phase also covers wage-grade (WG) jobs.

Phase 3 is the one to circle if you are new. It is the next permanent window that reaches down to GW-3, the entry grade.

When do seasonal federal fire jobs open for the 2027 season?

Several are open right now, and they close between October 30 and November 12, 2026. Interior’s temporary hiring office says most temporary fire jobs are posted October through March. These were open or announced on October 26, 2026:

• U.S. Wildland Fire Service, Wildland Firefighter (Multiple Crew Types) (Seasonal): GW-3 to GW-5, $21.14 to $29.90 an hour, engine, hand, helitack, fuels and module crews at 60 locations. Open October 20 to November 3, 2026.
• U.S. Wildland Fire Service, Wildland Firefighter (Hotshot) (Seasonal): GW-3 to GW-5, $21.14 to $25.86 an hour, Sierra Vista, Arizona, and two other locations. Open October 21 to November 4, 2026.
• U.S. Wildland Fire Service, Wildland Firefighter, career-seasonal: a permanent job at GW-3 to GW-5, $44,112 to $68,844 a year, at 82 locations. Open October 9 to October 30, 2026.
• Forest Service Southwestern Region, temporary Phase 3: GW-3, GW-4 and GW-5 firefighters, plus lookouts and packers, across Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Opens October 30 and closes November 12, 2026.

The Forest Service fills temporary fire jobs in rounds. The Southwestern Region lists four a year, and its calendar shows how far ahead each one hires.

Temporary phase	Apply	Selections	Earliest start
1	Jul 1 to 14, 2026	Aug 19 to Sep 17, 2026	Oct 19, 2026
2	Aug 1 to 14, 2026	Sep 19 to Oct 20, 2026	Jan 11, 2027
3	Oct 30 to Nov 12, 2026	Dec 15, 2026 to Jan 27, 2027	Mar 8, 2027
4	Dec 31, 2026 to Jan 13, 2027	Feb 24 to Apr 7, 2027	Jun 28, 2027

Source: Forest Service Southwestern Region, Fire Hire page, updated October 1, 2026.

Other regions follow a similar rhythm. The Northern Region’s Phase 2 announcement ran July 31 to August 14, 2026, for start dates of January 10 to April 4, 2027. One winter round for the 2026 season ran December 31, 2025, to January 14, 2026, with starts from June 28, 2026.

How does federal wildland fire hiring work now?

Two federal employers hire wildland firefighters, and both post every job on USAJOBS in the 0456 Wildland Fire Management series at GW grades. The Forest Service sits in the Department of Agriculture.

The other is the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, set up in January 2026 to unify Interior’s fire programs at the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs. It employs 5,780 federal fire personnel a year and supports about 900 tribal personnel.

Announcements come in three appointment types:

• Temporary (seasonal): capped at 1,039 hours in a service year, with no permanent status.
• Career-seasonal: permanent, with career benefits, but you work a tour of at least 6 and at most 11.5 months a year and sit in non-pay status the rest.
• Permanent full-time: year-round work.

Every 2027 fire announcement cited here uses Direct Hire Authority. Anyone who meets the minimum qualifications is referred, nobody is rated or ranked, and veterans’ preference does not apply. Some Interior locations on tribal lands apply Indian Preference.

Your grade depends on what your resume proves. GW-3 takes six months of any work experience, or one year of education above high school.

GW-4 adds six months of specialized experience such as fire suppression or rescue work. GW-5 takes a year of fireline experience or a four-year degree in a related field. The GW pay scale shows what each grade pays.

Set up USAJOBS alerts so the short windows do not slip past you:

1. Create a Login.gov account, then a USAJOBS profile. You need both to apply or save a search.
2. Search “wildland firefighter,” or filter by the 0456 series, then narrow by location and grade.
3. Select “Turn on job alert,” name it and choose Daily. USAJOBS recommends daily emails for competitive jobs.
4. Make separate alerts for different regions. You can keep up to 10, and each expires after one year unless you renew it.
5. Check the Forest Service Outreach Database, which the agency points to for current and upcoming vacancies.

On Interior announcements you can pick up to seven locations, and you are not considered anywhere you did not pick. Similar jobs run on separate announcements, so you must apply to each one.

What do “referred” and “tentative offer” mean?

“Referred” means HR found you qualified and sent your name to the hiring manager. A tentative offer means you were picked but must clear background and drug checks before a real offer. USAJOBS says agencies post a status at four points:

1. Application received. Nobody reviews it until the announcement closes.
2. Application reviewed. USAJOBS says agencies can take up to two weeks after a job closes to review applications. Interior’s fire office usually finishes within 15 business days.
3. Referred or not referred. Interior emails a Notice of Results and Referral. Hiring managers then request references; the Lolo National Forest tells applicants to warn their supervisors that requests are coming.
4. Selected or not selected. For Fire Hire, this is the phone call with the 4-hour reply window.

Selection starts onboarding, which the Forest Service says takes around 60 days. The first phase, tentative selection, usually takes 30 to 45 days, and the agency warns it is not an official job offer. Do not quit your current job or move yet.

In that phase you complete Form OF-306, get fingerprinted through Fieldprint for an FBI check, and take a drug test. Fail the drug test and the Forest Service cancels the offer and bars you for at least 6 months.

The official offer comes next, by email, with your duty station, salary and report date. That phase can take 30 days or longer if you are moving. Put together, the Fire Hire calendar runs more than five months from the September 22 deadline to the first March 2027 start dates.

When do state wildland fire agencies hire for 2027?

Most of the big Western state agencies open between November and January. CAL FIRE takes applications November 1 to 30, Washington DNR opens in November 2026, and Montana DNRC opened its last round in January 2026.

Agency	Where to apply	Application window	What else it publishes
CAL FIRE, Fire Fighter I (seasonal)	CalCareers, via joincalfire.com	November 1 to 30, with possible later cutoffs; hiring may begin as early as January	18 at appointment; Class A, B or C license; applicants placed in Categories 0 to 3 by returnee status and documented training; up to 9 months
Oregon Department of Forestry	State of Oregon Workday careers site	“Late winter through early spring”; no 2027 dates posted yet	Most hiring processes finish about three weeks after the deadline
Washington DNR	careers.wa.gov	2027 summer wildfire jobs open in November 2026	Interview calls can come as late as spring; jobs last 3 to 6 months, about May to late September
Idaho Department of Lands	IDL seasonal jobs page, one posting per area office	No 2027 dates posted yet	Firefighter II needs no fire experience: 18 or older, arduous pack test; a driver’s license for some jobs
Montana DNRC	statecareers.mt.gov, keyword “firefighter”	2026 round opened January 2026; 2027 dates not posted yet	In-person interviews mid-March to mid-April; pack test the first or second week of May; cover letter required
Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control	governmentjobs.com/careers/colorado	Temporary Aide Crewmember posting closes November 2, 2026, 5 p.m. Mountain	$22 to $25 an hour, about March to November 2027; panel interviews tentatively mid-November; open to non-residents

Sources: Join CAL FIRE, ODF Jobs, Washington DNR, Idaho Department of Lands, Montana DNRC and Colorado DFPC pages, accessed October 26, 2026.

Looking for the Colorado State Forest Service? Its fire division moved to the state Department of Public Safety on July 1, 2012. State fire crews in Colorado now hire through the Division of Fire Prevention and Control.

Two state jobs ask for more up front. Colorado’s crew posting requires a Firefighter Type 2 qualification, or certificates for S-130, S-190 and L-180, when you apply. CAL FIRE places applicants who document all its required trainings in Category 1, as “fully trained.”

What should I have ready before I apply?

A two-page resume that lists month and year dates and hours per week for every job. Every federal fire announcement reviewed here requires it, and Interior lists missing dates and hours first among common application mistakes.

• Two pages, no more. Interior rejects longer resumes and sets 10-point body text and half-inch margins as the minimums.
• Dates and hours. Write dates as month/year to month/year. Interior counts a year as 12 months at 40 hours a week, so 05/2025 to 10/2025 earns 5 months at 40 hours but 2.5 months at 20.
• Duties in the announcement’s words. HR checks your questionnaire answers against your resume and makes no assumptions about your experience.
• Transcripts if you qualify on education. Unofficial copies are fine until you are selected.
• Proof of age for permanent primary firefighter jobs, such as a driver’s license, because they carry a maximum entry age of 37.
• References who know they may be contacted, plus Form BIA-4432 if you claim Indian Preference.

You do not need a red card or a pack test to apply for federal entry jobs. Agencies handle the fitness test and training after hire. The details, including the medical screening, are in wildland firefighter requirements.

How do private contract crews hire?

On each company’s own schedule, often with training classes set by the company rather than a federal calendar. The National Wildfire Suppression Association represents about 300 member contractors with about 10,000 employees, and lists openings its members post.

NWSA certifies instructors, and those instructors set their own rates and class schedules. Contractor training dates depend on the company and instructor, not on a federal hiring round.

• Grayback Forestry asks for a 40-hour basic firefighting course from a certified provider, or runs its own basic class free. It interviews from its applicant pool and starts new hires as seasonal; it puts the Western season at mid-June to early October.
• Miller Timber Services in Oregon requires five online courses (IS-700, IS-100, L-180, S-130 and S-190) before at least two days of in-person training and a pack test. Training is free if you plan to work for Miller. One 2026-season class ran September 14 to 18.

Contract crews are paid differently from agency crews; the numbers are in wildland firefighter pay. Casual emergency hires are paid under the AD pay plan.

For contract and state openings in one place, see wildland firefighter jobs. Federal jobs post only on USAJOBS. Non-fire seasonal jobs are in Forest Service seasonal jobs, and other trades are in the outdoor job hiring calendar.