Wildland Fire District Manager
Washington State Department of Natural Resources
Castle Rock, Washington
| Job Type | Permanent |
| Salary | $80,820 - $108,780 per year |
| Benefits | http://careers.wa.gov/benefits.html |
| Deadline | Feb 22, 2026 |
Wildland Fire District Manager, Natural Resource Specialist 6 (NRS6)
Salary: $6,735.00 - $9,065.00 Monthly
Review of applications is ongoing. We reserve the right to make a hiring decision or close this recruitment at any time after 2/11/26. It is in your best interest to submit materials as soon as possible.
Responsibilities:
This position is responsible for the comprehensive wildland fire management for state and private forest lands within the Pacific Cascade Region, ensuring suppression efforts are conducted safely, effectively, and with minimal risk to firefighters, the public, and property. Responsibilities include managing and developing staff, ensuring training readiness, mentoring employees, and providing performance evaluations while supervising multiple managers, coordinators, and a large permanent and seasonal workforce. The role ensures accurate forest land assessments, oversees thorough fire investigations to support cost recovery, and enforces wildfire-related RCWs and WACs, including determining fire danger ratings, industrial fire precaution levels, and burn restrictions. It also provides oversight of fire prevention planning, burn permits, compliance and enforcement activities, smoke management, and fire tools inspections. Additionally, the position builds strong internal and external partnerships and represents the department in complex and sensitive interactions with agencies, private operators, and the public to advance effective and innovative wildfire management solutions.
Required Qualifications:
- A Bachelor’s degree in a natural resource field or a related natural sciences field, AND 5 years of relevant experience
OR an equivalent combination of education and/or experience. - Knowledge of the principles, methods, and techniques of public administration, business administration, budgeting, economics, and management.
- Knowledge of leadership principles.
- Knowledge of wildfire qualification training and certification requirements.
- Current or past NWCG certification as Task Force Leader or Strike Team Leader and Incident Commander Type 4.
- Effective verbal and written communication skills.
- Accustomed to negotiating with diverse interest groups, such as other agencies, tribes, environmental groups, private industry, local government, media, and the general public.
- Commitment to fostering and supporting an environment that honors diversity, equity, inclusion, and environmental justice practices.
| Category | Forestry |
| Tags | Wildland Firefighter |