Supervisory Firefighter (Basic Life Support)

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/10/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS 9 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS 8. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: GS 9 Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS 8. Such duties may include (1) Effectively controlling and extinguishing fires, operates various nozzles and hose lines, makes connections to, and operates fire hydrants, performs forcible entries, ventilates structures, carries, raises, and lowers ground ladders, performs, or assists in rescue operations, uses a variety of hand tools, hydraulic tools, portable fire extinguishers, and performs salvage and overhaul; (2) Responds to all emergency calls on Tomah VA Medical Center Grounds as well as requests for Mutual Aid by surrounding communities to extinguish fire when requested and approved by management; (3) Operate pumps, foam generators, and other specialized firefighting equipment, determining proper pressures for the type of nozzle or equipment, size of hose, and distance to be covered; (4) Provides medical care as a Basic Life Support/Emergency Medical Technician-(EMT) following TVAMC protocols and directives as outlined in MCP MS-03 in providing basic life support; (5) Independently performs fire inspection duties in areas where hazards are expected to be encountered. Incumbent inspects medical and psychological facilities, multiple story buildings, administrative buildings, public assemblies, industrial shops, warehouses and residential quarters for fire safety violations and other conditions contributing to more extensive fire hazards; (6) Performs initial and on-going focused patient assessment and physical examination to determine priority of patient care based upon initial findings, which may include providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), using the automated external defibrillation (AED) and the use of the LUCAS device. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Decision Making Interpersonal Skills Planning and Evaluating Technical Competence 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Effort: The Supervisory Firefighter/EMT (Captain) must maintain an adequate level of physical fitness to react quickly and have the stamina to endure the physical exertion and stress of firefighting, they must complete 1 hour of physical activity per day per the NFPA 1500 and annually complete a Fire Department Physical Agility Test outline in NFPA 1500 and NFPA 1583. Fire Department personnel must complete an annual Firefighter physical with Employee Health to be cleared for duty. Incumbent must maintain physical condition to don personal protective equipment consisting of coat, helmet, boots, gloves, bunker pants, and self-contained breathing apparatus, which weighs 75 pounds. Incumbent must wear this equipment when responding to and during all emergency calls regardless of temperature. Incumbent is expected to enter buildings and atmospheres that are unsafe due to fire, oxygen deficiencies, etc. and perform very strenuous types of work carrying heavy equipment and victims. The requirements of the job are such that the incumbent must maintain alertness, self-control and emotional stability when working under conditions of stress, confusion, panic and where physical injury or death are present. Working Conditions: Will include heavy physical exertion, extreme heat, smoke, and dust in enclosed smoke-filled places, in all types of weather. Incumbent is subject to overtime call-back and mandatory overtime to ensure mandatory compliance with minimum crew staffing requirements. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.