Forest Health Engine Captain, Wildland Fire Management Supervisor; WFMSup

Recruitment #2026-9-P453/P454
Full-time, Project, Represented position (WPEA)
Anticipated Project employment is October 2026 - March 2029

Location:

Northeast Region
- Deer Park, WA

Work Hours flexibility may be available and considered
Salary: $4,201.00 - $5,642.00 Monthly

Review of applications is ongoing. We reserve the right to make a hiring decision or close this recruitment at any time after 10/5/26. It is in your best interest to submit materials as soon as possible.

The Northeast Region of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is actively seeking two (2) Forest Health Engine Captains (Wildland Fire Management Supervisors) to support the goals and mission statement of the Department. The DNR is responsible for protecting over 13 million acres of both state- and privately-owned lands. Working with interagency partners, DNR embraces an all-hands, all lands vision.

DNR serves the communities of Washington and is a strong advocate of wildland fire prevention, suppression, and mitigation. During the non-fire season months of the year, this position will be a supervisor on the newly created River City Fuels Crew. During the fire season, this position will act as an Engine Captain conducting initial attack wildfire suppression.

The Arcadia District is responsible for forest health, wildfire suppression, prevention education, and regulation on all or parts of four counties (Spokane, Pend Oreille, Stevens, and Lincoln), including one hundred thousand acres of state trust land. The Arcadia District conducts suppression actions on approximately 300 fire starts annually, processes approximately 400 burn permit requests, and provides training courses to our local cooperators.

A large part of the Arcadia District is located in the Wildland Urban Interface of the greater Spokane area, where the primary focus on hazardous fuels reduction takes place and the heaviest loading of initial attack wildfire incidents. Interagency cooperation occurs on the majority of fuels project sites, wildland fires, and most training courses. Interagency cooperation includes working with local fire districts, state and federal partners, and is a key function of the position.

The Forest Health Engine Captains will be expected to excel at two separate jobs over the course of the project duration, depending on the time of year, and will be under the guidance of a Wildland Fire Management Specialist (Assistant Fire Management Officer). One of these responsibilities will be operating as a supervisor for the River City Fuels Crew, a 22-person fuels reduction crew following specific prescriptions to implement forest health plans for priority sites around the District.

This will include supervising one Wildland Fire Management Lead and up to four Wildland Fire Management Technicians. This position will be the primary leadership on the ground at the project sites and is responsible for assessing and monitoring the safety of the crew members while also comparing crew production output to project deadlines.

This position will be making recommendations on fuels reduction strategies and then driving the completion of the prescriptions while ensuring the guidance of the forester or project manager is being adhered to. The Forest Health Engine Captain will be operating alongside agency partners and is a critical part of the professional representation of the Arcadia District.

The fuels reduction crew will be implementing wildland hazardous fuels mitigation projects. These critical services protect public resources, natural resources, and public safety. The fuels reduction projects will help the agency implement Goal 1 of the 20-Year Forest Health Strategic Plan, Eastern Washington, by directly providing scientifically sound, landscape-scale cross-boundary management and restoration treatments in priority watersheds to increase forest and watershed resilience.

The treatment projects include non-commercial tree thinning using chain saws, tree pruning, and slash abatement. Slash abatement can be performed using prescribed fire, chipping, or wind rowing for mechanical mastication.

During the fire season, the Forest Health Engine Captains will be operating as a Wildland Firefighting Engine Captain on a Type 5 brush Engine in the Arcadia District, supervising up to 4 Wildland Firefighters, and responsible for responding…