I would recommend going to your nearest US Forest Service or BLM office and asking for info/app. After the 2000 fire season (Los Alamos, etc), huge $$ was given to the federal agencys to increase suppression. What it amounted to was more engines, hotshot crews, helitack crews, and more prescribed fire. People are needed, bad. You can get a job on an engine or helitack crew (maybe even a hotshot crew) with no experience and no red card. They will get you the training for going out on fires and getting red carded. It just depends on the needs of the district near you or if you're willing to move. Go to www.usajobs.opm.gov you can find all the vacancies for different gov jobs. To find the fire ones, search by specific agency (US forest service, BLM, or National Park Service) or job code 0462 or 0455 (Forestry Technician or Range Technician). I could go into mass details about what a great job it is, challenging, demanding, rewarding....... but I'm short on time right now. Feel free to email me if you have any questions about the job or want more info