Fire Behavior Analyst

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Department of the Interior

Job Summary

Explore a new career with the BLM - where our people are our greatest natural resource. For additional information about the BLM, please visit our website. This position is located in Fairbanks, Alaska. Information about the surrounding area may be found here https://www.fairbanksalaska.us/.We expect to fill one vacancy at this time; however, this announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

Major Duties

Evaluates associated data and techniques to develop improved incorporation into wildland fire management and planning.

Analyzes Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) outputs to assess fuels and fire danger concerns, and anticipated fire behavior.

Communicates differences between the Canadian and the National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS), and is able to articulate why the Canadian system is used in Alaska.

Determines appropriate method and system(s) to develop fire behavior predictions.

Institutes or recommends changes in the development and trial of new methods and approaches for fire behavior analyses.

Establishes and maintains contact with all levels of fire management officials within federal and state agencies.

Qualifications

Basic Education Required:

Degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position. –OR- Combination of education and experience: courses equivalent to a major in biological sciences, agriculture or natural resources management, or at least 24 semester hours in biological sciences, natural resources, wildland fire management, forestry, or agriculture equivalent to a major field of study, plus appropriate experience or additional education that is comparable to that normally acquired through the successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in the biological sciences, agriculture, or natural resources.

Additional Experience Required:

In addition to meeting the basic education requirements, you must meet specialized experience requirements.

Specialized Experience Requirements:

In order to be rated as qualified for this position, we must be able to determine that you meet the specialized experience requirement; please be sure to include this information in your resume. To be creditable, this experience must have been equivalent in difficulty and complexity to the next lower grade of the position to be filled.

To qualify for the GS-11 grade level, 1 year of creditable specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09 is required. Experience must have included ALL of the fire program management elements described as: 1) developing, reviewing and evaluating fire management plans for ecological soundness or consistency with land management goals and/or potentially adverse impacts to cultural and natural resources; 2) conducting field inspections before and after prescribed or wildland fires to determine if resource objectives were achieved and/or evaluating the effectiveness of actions taken; and 3) analyzing the ecological role of fire and its use and/or exclusion, and smoke management. IN ADDITION to fire program management elements listed above, appropriate experience must have included EITHER prescribed fire/fuels management - OR - fire management operations.

1) Prescribed fire/fuels management: examples include: performing professional forest or range inventory methods and procedures, (e.g. Brown's planar intercept for dead and down fuels; live fuel loading assessments); analyzing fuel loadings and determining appropriate fuel treatment methods and programming; performing land use planning and environmental coordination; and/or evaluating prescribed burn plans or fire management plans to ensure fire containment is possible and identifying appropriate suppression contingencies if fire containment is not obtained; -OR- 2) Fire Management Operations: experience in analyzing and/or applying fire management strategies in at least five of the following activities: a) Mobilization and dispatch coordination; b) Fire prevention and education; c) Training; d) Logistics; e) Equipment development and deployment; f) Fire communication systems; g) Suppression and preparedness; h) Aviation.

To qualify for the GS-12 grade level, 1 year of creditable specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 is required.Examples of specialized experience include: provide ongoing analysis of wild land fire potential and decision support to federal and state agencies. Communicate with federal and state fire managers at their regional/state/area offices. Utilize and train agency employees with Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System.

Substitution of Education for Experience:

GS-11: 3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D degree of Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in a field of study that is directly related to this position -OR- an equivalent combination of specialized experience and education.

There is no substitution of education for experience at the GS-12 and above grade levels.

Federal employees in the competitive service are also subject to the Time-In-Grade requirement in accordance with 5 CFR 300.604. If you are a current Federal employee in the General Schedule (GS) pay plan and applying for a promotion opportunity, you must have completed a minimum of 52 weeks at the next lower grade level in the normal line of progression for the position being filled.

You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days of the closing date of the announcement.

Selective Placement Factor(s): This position requires a special qualification that has been determined to be essential to perform the duties and will be used as a screen out element. Those who do not provide evidence they possess the following selective factor(s) will be rated not qualified.

1) Prior on-the-line firefighting: The Department of the Interior defines wildland firefighting experience as any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. Wildland firefighting experience is gained through work on the fire line in containment, control, suppression or use of wildland fire. This experience can be met by serving in a temporary, seasonal, or equivalent private sector fire position for no less than 90 days. Wildland fires are categorized into two distinct types: (1) Wildfires – Unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires; and (2) Prescribed Fires – Planned ignitions. This description includes only fireline experience on a Prescribed Fire; it does not include experience in the planning stages. Prescribed fire experience must be supplemented by fire suppression experience in order to be creditable as previous wildland firefighting experience. This experience must be documented with specific dates in the online application or resume.

2) Applicants must be currently qualified in one of the two following positions: Fire Behavior Analyst (FBAN) OR Long Term Analyst (LTAN).

You must meet all selective placement factor requirements by the closing date of the announcement unless stated otherwise.

Pay Range

$69,349.00 - $108,061.00

More information...

End Date: 

Monday, December 23, 2019