Department: Department of Veterans Affairs
Location(s): Hot Springs, South Dakota
Salary Range: $74678 - $97087 Per Year
Job Summary: This position is located in the Facilities Management Service at VA Black Hills Health Care System - Hot Springs VA Medical Center in Hot Springs, SD. The Supervisor Firefighter (Basic Life Support)'s primary duty is to serve as a Deputy Fire Chief and provide fire prevention, protection, suppression, and safety for all medical center patients, employees, visitors, structures, and facilities.
Major Duties:
Qualifications: MINIMUM REQUIREMENT: The following are minimum requirements for appointment as a Supervisory Firefighter (Basic Life Support) in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which all applicants must met. Specialized Experience (GS-11): You must have one (1) year of specialized experience that demonstrated the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform successfully the duties of the position. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Such duties may include: (1) controlling or extinguishing fires as a member of an organized military, industrial, volunteer, or governmental fire department or brigade; (2) rescue operations; (3) detection, reduction, or elimination of potential fire hazards; (4) operation of fire communications equipment; (5) controlling hazardous materials incidents and/or (6) developing, implementing, or providing training in fire protection and prevention. (CLEAR DETAILS OF EXPERIENCE REQUIRED: Your resume must show complete information for each job entry, such as beginning and ending dates of employment, duties performed, and/or total hours worked per week.) AND To be eligible for employment as a VA Firefighter, applicants must have obtained the following certifications as required by VHA Directive 7718 dated June 19, 2020 prior to the closing of the announcement. SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR: This position includes a Selective Placement Factor (skill, knowledge, ability, or other worker characteristic basic to - and essential for - satisfactory performance of the job). Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirement for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. (NOTE: COPIES OF YOUR CURRENT CERTIFICATIONS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY THE CLOSING DATE TO RECEIVE CREDIT.) The Selective Placement Factors for this position are: Certification as Firefighter II in accordance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1001 ~AND~ Certification as Hazardous Materials Operations Level Responders in accordance with Chapter 5, Core Competencies of, in NFPA 472 ~AND~ Certification as Driver/Operator pumper in accordance with NFPA 1002 ~AND~ Certification as Fire Officer II in accordance with NFPA 1021 ~AND~ Certification as Fire Inspector II in accordance with NFPA 1031 ~AND~ Emergency Medical Technician certification in the state in which the VA fire department is located (i.e., South Dakota) or the National Registry certification ~AND~ Certification as Hazardous Materials Incident Commander in accordance with NFPA 472 ~AND~ Certification as Fire and Emergency Services Instructor II in accordance with NFPA 1041 AND DRIVER'S LICENSE: You must possess and maintain a current valid Driver's License from a State. (NOTE: We cannot accept photographs, therefore; please do not submit a copy of your driver's license with your application package. If an interview is requested, you may be required to provide a copy of your current and valid state-issued driver's license.) AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. AND MAXIMUM AGE REQUIREMENT: This position requires a maximum entry age for an initial appointment; applicants cannot have reached their 37th birthday by the date of appointment. Applicants who have passed the designated entry age limit, but who have previously served as a Federal employee in a covered position, may be eligible to re-enter the fire service provided that they: (1) meet all applicable qualifications for the position and (2) will be able to complete a total of 20 years of covered and creditable Federal firefighter service by the time the firefighter reaches the age of 57. Prior service in covered positions and creditable towards retirement may be subtracted from the applicant's age to determine if the Federal firefighter meets the maximum entry age. You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: Fire Management Industrial Equipment Operation Managing Human Resources Patient Care IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. 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. 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 can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Physical Requirements: Prior to employment and annually thereafter, all firefighters (GS-0081) must be certified by a qualified physician as meeting (a) and (b) and (c) and (d):(a) Medical and physical requirements for performing their assigned duties;(b) Requirements of NFPA 1582;(c) Requirements of NFPA 1583; and,(d) Requirements of NFPA 1500, Chapter 10. 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/.
How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 03/11/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12899505. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. NOTE: Firefighters earn annual leave at a rate (6, 9, 12 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served. Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities (i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities), and/or disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. For more information on how to apply using this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator within the office, contact the facility Human Resources Department at (605) 347-2511. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced Federal competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies. To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation and be found well-qualified (have a final rating of 85 or more before any Veterans preference points) for this vacancy. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/.
Application Deadline: 2026-03-11