Wyoming Interagency Hotshots

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Greybull, WY
Wyoming Interagency Hotshots

Welcome to the Wyoming Hotshots' page. The Wyoming Hotshots are a highly trained wildland fire suppression crew that is hosted by the Bighorn
N.F.
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10/29/2025

Last call today for seasonal fire apps. The applications for 2026 close tonight.

FAQ - How often is too much for calling. That's totally up to you. We look at it as just part of our jobs this time of year to really get to know the applicant pool. It benefits both sides. You get a chance to get to know us and decide if we're a good fit for you and we get a chance to see if you'd be a good fit for the crew. The biggest thing is try to be smart about the times you're calling us or any crew. No one wants their phone ringing after hours or on weekends to talk about work stuff.
Tentative timeline for our hiring though is we'll get the applications on December 8th or 9th. Feel free to reach out between now and then.

10/17/2025

Our home forest, the Bighorn National Forest has a variety of other fire resources. If you're interested in a fire job on one of the districts on our forest, applications for next summer are open now, and close Oct 29th. Scroll through and you'll find the job announcements for the different positions available as well as the duty location.

You'll need to go to USAJOBS.GOV and create a profile if you haven't to apply. To find the specific jobs use the announcement number to search in Usajobs. Then when you apply, select any of the duty locations you'd like to be considered at. You'll see a bunch of locations in region 2 (WY, CO, SD, NE,KS). You can select up to 10, but if you want considered for a job on the Tongue Ranger District, you'll have to have selected Sheridan, WY as one of the 10.

The GW levels are the position levels. A GW-3 is an entry level, new to fire position. A GW-4 is typically a returning firefighter and a GW-5 is someone who is qualified as a FFT1 and has taken S-290.

Lastly, I always recommend reaching out and expressing interest to any of the fire resources you're interested in working on. They'll also be able to address any of the specific questions you have about their crew.

10/15/2025

This is just your friendly reminder that applications open on Usajobs.gov today for the 2026 fire season. You can search USAjobs using the announcement numbers for the GW-4 or GW-5 or I've got them both linked on our crew page. It's the second link down on the Wyoming Hotshots bio on IG.

FAQ - What can I do to increase my odds of being hired? Whether it's us or anywhere else my recommendation is always reach out and talk with the hiring managers. Expressing a level of interest lets hiring managers know you selected their duty location purposefully and that you'd like to be part of that team specifically and that they're not just part of a shotgun approach to applying. It'll benefit you as well as them by allowing you to get a feel for the program so you know whether it'll be a good fit for you. Regardless of whether it's a good crew or not, not all crews might be a good fit for you. Whether it's us or any other hotshot crew, no crew is going to make everyone happy with the way they operate. It's really on you to put the effort into finding that best fit for you so you have the best summer you can.

10/07/2025

Are you interested in starting a career in wildfire but don't know where to start? The Bighorn National Forest is home to a variety of fire and fuels resources including 3 type 6 engines, a wildfire fire mod, a fuels crew, and a hotshot crew. Applications for all, for the 2026 season, open October 15th and close October 29th on Usajobs. Check out our story for a link to a page with more information applying as well as contact information for the various units.

Why the Bighorns? Besides having excellent support for the fire program at all levels, the Bighorns offer excellent recreation opportunities including hunting, fishing, hiking and rock climbing. Overall it's a small program across the forest meaning you have the opportunity to know everyone. The best way to really get to know more about it is reaching out and talking to the programs you're interested in. The link in our story has the contact information for the different program leads.

09/25/2025

End of season vibes. When you're a kid, you look forward to the last day of school or maybe Christmas. When you're in wildland fire and north of 1000 hours of overtime for the season, it's day 14 of the last roll of the season. We enjoy what we do and the people we work with, but constantly being away from home and family in the summer is hard and at this point many of us are looking forward to a normal work schedule and being home.
The crew is heading home today after finishing up our last roll of the season out in Washington. Everyone has different plans they're looking forward to. Some are gearing up for hunting season, while others scheme out what countries they're heading to in the coming weeks. At least one's ready to go make sure the flower colors and arrangements his fiancee picked for their upcoming wedding are what he envisioned. Myself, I'm looking forward to being home with the family more.

09/24/2025

Getting a mopup demo from Hayden. Normally we'd just buck the heat off the end of the log so it quits slowly burning down the log, but being green this one was too heavy to easily do that on steep ground. The next option is throw a little dirt in it to draw the heat out and mop it up.

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09/22/2025

One of the things I've enjoyed over the years on the crew is getting out and working to develop our sawyers. We're almost always taking care of the hazard trees on our piece of the fireline so there's good opportunities to get out and pass along what knowledge I've gained as well as share mistakes I've made in similar situations. I put a heavy emphasis on building an efficient cutting plan that's focused on the ideal lay rather than where the tree happens to be leaning, which means we spend a lot of time learning about wedging techniques and wood fiber characteristics based on species. I believe in challenging our sawyers when time and safety permit with more difficult lays to help them develop the slides and knowledge to be more effective and safe fallers when they're out on their own. I get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing new concepts starting to take hold in our sawyers and it's one of the primary reasons I've enjoyed working on a hotshot crew.

Every now and again they even let me cut a little still, and even more rarely they take a picture of me doing something like here. This was the downhill side of a schoolmarmed green larch that was burning in the center of each stem. The side leaning downhill over the road was too comprised to leave but I thought I could put out the upper one. The best lane was quartered back uphill so the face needed to be just above where they were fused, hence the high face I'm putting in. The best lay was about 120 degrees off it's lean so it was a good demo tree for some directional felling.
Photo by: Jake Lang formerly known as honeybadger on IG

09/18/2025

Today's post is from Sage McGinnis, a senior firefighter and sawyer on our crew.

"Whether you are interested on getting on Wyoming or another hotshot crew, make sure you are willing to dedicate a large part of yourself to being there. We take an immense amount of pride in our work and crew culture. We want people to leave here being a better person, but in order to do that you have to buy in to the effort, discipline, selflessness, and camaraderie.

Going into hiring, call and get in contact with the captains. Keep your name on their radar. You also need to take PT very seriously. There is no excuse for coming into the season out of shape. Hike with weight, run, lift, stretch and take care of yourself. The summers are long and the more prepared you come in physically, the more successful you will be and the better your body will feel in October.

The standard on this crew forces you to grow as an individual and as a professional. The overhead challenge you and push you out of your comfort zone which allows you to learn quickly. Efficiency is required, and you will be put in a position where you are able to succeed in meeting that standard. You are taken seriously here and everyone truly cares about your well-being.

I have never experienced a group of people that has such a high level of drive and dedication towards common goals. The culture is something I feel fortunate to have been apart of since the first day of my rookie year.
I have also never met a group of people who likes to have as much fun as the guys on this crew. I laugh with them until my stomach hurts and I have tears in my eyes every day. We are a family and many of the relationships you build here will be with you throughout life. The crew works hard and focuses, but we also remember that there is life outside of this job.

“Never give an inch” is our crew motto. When you show up for critical 80, you are expected to live by that. Whether it refers to PT, mental endurance during long days on the line, or personal growth, you must give everything you have and more.

Make it your goal to show up and exceed the expectations, and always remember to enjoy the process of how you got to this point!"

09/17/2025

Every year I take a lot of questions regarding how to get started in wildland fire. I've been building a webpage that's piggybacked off my personal website where I'm working on providing information about how to start a career in wildland fire and I'm providing a lot of information about our home forest and all the fire resources based there, including us. Check out this link if you want any of that information and don't hesitate to reach out with questions. The Bighorns NF and our crew page are linked at the top of the page.
https://www.kylemillerphotography.com/Learn-About-Wildfire-Careers

09/14/2025

Today, we're doing "Ask a crew member." It's always just my perspective here, so I asked Patrick Daly, a rookie on the crew, to give us his thoughts on the crew and his experience in general.

"Ask yourself if you really want to be here. There isn’t a single inch of room for complaining, bad attitudes, and low effort. This is not a place for selfishness and ego. “Crew before you” becomes an instinct, and when everyone buys into it, the crew operates at its highest efficiency.

With so many applicants, and limited seasonal spots, it’s important to get your name on the radar of the crew’s overhead as early and often as possible. Build relationships with the captains so they can get to know you better. Your resume will give them a sense of your work experience, and your references will speak to your work ethic and character. A common theme among those of us who got hired is that we were persistent in our communications, and we made our goals of coming here abundantly clear to the overhead.

If you know you want to come here, be persistent. Show interest, show tenacity, and show dedication to the goal. Be willing to take no for an answer, and stay after it. Next, start PT early. The most important component by far is weighted hiking. After that is running and calisthenics. Your body takes a beating, so being flexible and strong will keep you from getting hurt. When you’re here, you will work very hard. You will swing your tool as hard as you can, and you will swamp as hard and as fast as possible. Maximum effort is demanded, and is the operational standard. The crew has one working pace and it’s quick to maximize production.

This crew has a culture unlike anything I’ve ever experienced, the people here feel proud to be a part of this organization, and feel responsible for upholding the crew’s long-standing tradition. Our crew’s strength rests in the collective identity built on our core values, which are embodied from the top to the bottom of the org chart.

My rookie class is full of guys who made this place their goal, and it took some of us years to get here. We all made up our minds years ago that this was going to be the place we ended up."

09/11/2025

Your hiring season FAQs

FAQ2 - Is there housing available?

Yes, we've got barracks available that can house 16 crew members. There are two kitchens each with double sinks, stoves and fridges. There's a tv/lounge area, conference room, laundry room and a weight room.

Apps open on Usajobs.gov October 15th to 29th. See pinned post on our page for contact info and/or drop any questions you have about the crew in the comments.

09/05/2025

The crew is off the Derby Fire heading home. The last couple of days on the fire were spent spiked up on the Flat Tops to access the north side of the fire. It was one of the nicest spike spots we've had in recent memory but being at over 11,000ft you also felt it hiking around and working.

Address

1220 N 8th Street
Greybull, WY
82426

Telephone

+14065319358

Website

https://www.kylemillerphotography.com/Wyoming-Hotshot-Pages/Wyoming-Hotshots

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