Dense conifer forest on a steep mountainside under heavy cloud.

Wildland firefighter salary

Q: What is the GW pay scale?

A special base rate table created in March 2025 that replaces standard General Schedule rates for qualifying wildland fire positions, raising base pay about 36% at GS-3 tapering to 18% at GS-9. Because it is base pay it counts toward retirement.

Q: Do I need qualifications to become a wildland firefighter?

No formal credential is required. Agencies provide training as part of employment and entry positions are typically GW-3 or GW-4 seasonal crew roles. A physical fitness test is required.

Q: How do you become a smokejumper?

Smokejumper positions sit in the GS-0456 series and typically require a season of fire suppression experience at the GS-5 level. It is a specialisation for experienced firefighters, not an entry route.

Federal wildland firefighting moved onto an entirely new pay table in 2025 — permanent, retirement-creditable, and worth up to 36% more than the old rates. Most salary pages have not caught up.

OPM salary tables, effective January 2026 Updated 11 August 2026

Highest paying outdoor jobs → Wildland firefighter

Ignore any wildland firefighter salary based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. BLS publishes a median of $59,530 for "firefighters" — an occupation that is overwhelmingly municipal structural firefighting. Federal wildland firefighters are not paid on that basis at all. They are paid on a federal schedule, and since 2025 on a schedule that did not previously exist. Every figure on this page comes from the Office of Personnel Management's own tables instead.

Entry (GW-3, step 1): $37,683
GW-5, step 1: $45,239
GW-9, step 10: $78,813
Series: GS-0456
Season: Seasonal & permanent
Apply: October, on USAJOBS

What changed, and why it matters

From 2022, federal wildland firefighters received a temporary pay supplement. It was a stopgap: it could lapse, and critically it did not count toward retirement.

In March 2025 that was replaced with something permanent. Rather than adding a payment on top of the General Schedule, Congress created a separate special base rate table — commonly called the GW table — that replaces standard GS rates for qualifying wildland fire positions. Because it is base pay, it counts toward retirement.

Alongside it came a new occupational series, GS-0456 Wildland Firefighter. Previously these roles were classified as Forestry Technician (0462), which is why older advice tells you to search USAJOBS for "forestry technician" — still worth doing, but the dedicated series now exists.

The 2026 GW table, against standard GS

Both columns are base rates before locality pay. The uplift is largest at the bottom, which is deliberate — it targets the entry grades where recruitment and retention were hardest.

Special base rates for wildland fire

OPM, effective January 2026

Grade	GW step 1	Standard GS step 1	Uplift	GW step 10
GW-3	$37,683	$27,708	+36%	$47,736
GW-4	$41,367	$31,103	+33%	$52,401
GW-5	$45,239	$34,799	+30%	$57,303
GW-6	$49,265	$38,791	+27%	$62,401
GW-7	$53,451	$43,106	+24%	$67,706
GW-9	$62,218	$52,727	+18%	$78,813

Base rates only — locality pay is added on top and varies substantially by duty station. The uplift tapers from 36% at the bottom of the scale toward the top, so the reform is worth proportionally far more to a first-season firefighter than to a fire management officer.

One number that captures the whole reform. A brand-new GW-5 step 1 firefighter earns $45,239. Under the standard General Schedule, $45,239 is what a GS-5 earns at step 10 — the top of the grade, reached after roughly eighteen years of service. The new table starts wildland firefighters where the old one finished.

What else is on top

Locality pay. The tables above are base. Locality is added according to duty station and is a substantial addition in most fire-prone regions.
Incident deployment. Firefighters deployed for more than 36 hours can earn an additional 25% of base pay, capped at $9,000 a year.
Overtime and hazard pay. Fire assignments generate significant overtime, which is how many wildland firefighters end a season well above their base rate. It is also why comparing a base figure with a municipal firefighter's total compensation misleads in both directions.
Retirement credit. The single most important structural change: because the GW rates are base pay, they count toward the federal retirement calculation. The old supplement did not.

The career ladder

Grades map to responsibility rather than time served:

GW-2 to GW-4 — entry crewmember. Firefighter Type 2. This is where almost everyone starts, typically seasonal.
GW-4 to GW-5 — senior firefighter, engine operator. A season or more of experience.
GW-6 to GW-7 — squad boss, engine captain, crew boss. Leading small crews.
GW-8 and up — superintendent, module leader, fire management officer.

Smokejumping sits alongside this ladder rather than above it: positions are classified in the same GS-0456 series, and entry typically requires a season of fire suppression experience at the GS-5 level. It is a specialisation for experienced firefighters, not an entry route.

How to get hired

Federal fire hiring runs on a tight annual cycle, and missing it costs you a year.

BLM and the National Park Service typically post temporary fire positions on USAJOBS from around 1–21 October.
The Forest Service typically posts from around 15–29 October, sometimes extended into mid-November. This is the largest single intake.
Search both "wildland firefighter" and "forestry technician" — the new series has not displaced every legacy posting.
Have your USAJOBS profile and documents ready in September. The window is three weeks and the application is long.

See the full outdoor hiring calendar for how this sits against park and resort seasons.

The training is free and you are paid for it. Agencies train their firefighters — basic wildland fire training and the qualifications that follow are provided as part of employment. Nobody needs to buy a wildland fire certificate to be hired as a seasonal firefighter. If a private provider suggests otherwise, check with the hiring unit first.

Housing

Barracks accommodation is provided at many federal fire duty stations, particularly for seasonal crews at remote bases. Terms and costs vary by unit and are not published centrally, so we are not going to give you a figure — ask the specific unit before you accept, in the same way you would ask a park concessionaire what their deduction covers.

Common questions

How much do wildland firefighters make?

Federal wildland firefighters are paid on the GW special base rate table. In 2026 that runs from $37,683 at GW-3 step 1 to $78,813 at GW-9 step 10, before locality pay. Entry crew positions are typically GW-3 to GW-4. The BLS "firefighters" median of $59,530 describes municipal structural firefighting and does not apply.

What is the GW pay scale?

A special base rate table created by Congress in March 2025 that replaces standard General Schedule rates for qualifying wildland fire positions. It raises base pay by about 36% at GS-3 tapering to 18% at GS-9, and because it is base pay rather than a supplement, it counts toward retirement.

Do I need qualifications to become a wildland firefighter?

No formal credential is required to enter. Agencies provide the training as part of employment, and entry positions are typically GW-3 or GW-4 seasonal crew roles. You do need to pass a physical fitness test and the federal hiring process.

When do wildland fire jobs open?

Temporary federal fire positions typically post on USAJOBS from around 1 October for BLM and the National Park Service, and around 15 October for the Forest Service, sometimes extended into mid-November. Search "forestry technician" as well as "wildland firefighter".

How do you become a smokejumper?

Smokejumper positions sit in the same GS-0456 series and typically require a season of fire suppression experience at the GS-5 level. It is a specialisation for experienced wildland firefighters rather than an entry-level route.

Sources

Pay tables: U.S. Office of Personnel Management salary tables, effective January 2026 — the special base rate table for wildland firefighters (GW) and the standard General Schedule table, read directly from OPM. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
Uplift figures: Calculated from those two tables: GW step 1 divided by GS step 1 at each grade, giving +36% at grade 3, +33% at 4, +30% at 5, +27% at 6, +24% at 7 and +18% at 9.
The reform: Permanent pay reform enacted March 2025, replacing the temporary supplement in place since 2022, and creating the GS-0456 Wildland Firefighter occupational series. Deployment incentive of 25% of base pay beyond 36 hours, capped at $9,000 a year.
Why no BLS figure: BLS has no wildland firefighting occupation. Its "firefighters" data (median $59,530) is overwhelmingly municipal structural firefighting and describes a different job on a different pay basis.
What we did not publish: Total seasonal earnings including overtime and hazard pay, or barracks costs. Overtime varies enormously with fire activity, and housing terms are set by individual units and not published centrally. Both would be guesses.
Corrections: If a figure here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it and note the change.