Fire Management Specialist (Prescribed Fire and Fuels)

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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 Casper, Wyoming. Information about the surrounding area may be found here: https://www.casperwy.gov

MajorDuties

- Provide professional guidance in the development and implementation of multiple resource objectives.
- Develops fuels treatment alternatives to support management decisions while adhering to applicable laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines.
- Evaluates individual fuels treatments as well as the effectiveness of the overall program and makes recommendations for improvement.
- Coordinates with the next higher organizational level, other agencies, cooperators, and stakeholders to develop interagency fuels strategies.
- Provide input and recommend strategies for fuels and fire management.
- Participate in the development, review, and modification of the fire management plan.
- Prepare wildland fire risk assessments incorporating wildland/urban interface considerations into all agreements, operating plans, and land and fire management plans.
- Implement and administer prescribed fire activities, wildland fire use, and fuels management activities and surveys.
- Monitors fire behavior, evaluate fire effects, identify potential problems and take appropriate action.
- Participates in preparedness reviews, proficiency checks and drills, safety sessions, and after action reviews.
- Prioritize prescribed fire and fuels management projects.
- Serves as a Contracting Officer’s Representative on fuels management contracts and is responsible for the preparation of contract specifications and performance measures.

Qualifications

Basic Education Required:

A) Must haveA degree in biological sciences, agriculture, natural resource management, chemistry, or related disciplines appropriate to the position.

-OR-

B) 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 (see A above).

You will need to clearly state your undergraduate/graduate degree(s) and submit your college transcripts (unofficial).

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(s); 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-09 grade level, 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-07 is required. Experience must demonstrate an understanding of fire behavior relative to fuels, weather, and topography and how fire affects natural and cultural resources. Examples of experience may include: 1) participating in wildland fire activities (such as planning and/or implementing prescribed fire or managing wildfires) ensuring resource objectives are being met from a fire management standpoint; 2) developing and/or implementing initial attack incident management strategies and tactics to meet the stated resource objectives; and/or 3) implementing mitigation measures during wildland fire activities to protect sensitive habitats, endangered species, sensitive plants, or cultural values.

To qualify for the GS-11 grade level, 1 year of specialized experience equivalent to 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 (for the GS-11), 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.

Substitution of Education for Experience:

To qualify for theGS-9:Master's (or equivalent graduate degree) -OR- 2 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree, in a field of study that is directly related to this position. To qualify for theGS-11:Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree -OR-3 years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. degree in a field of study that is directly related to this position.

Time in Grade Requirements: 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.

This position has been identified as one ofthe key fire management positions under the Interagency Fire Program Management (IFPM) Standard. This position has been categorized as a Prescribed Fire and Fuels Specialist- High Complexity, and requires selectee to meet the minimum qualification standards for IFPM prior to being placed into the position.

Selective Placement Factors: 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. To meet IFPM requirements for Prescribed Fire and FuelsSpecialist– High Complexity, you must have possessed all of the following National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) incident management qualifications and training requirements to be considered eligible for this position (currency not required at time of referral, but may be required to obtain and maintain currency if selected):

A.) Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 2 (RXB2); ANDB.) Incident Commander, Type 3 (ICT3), OR Task Force Leader (TFLD); OR Helibase Manager Type 1 (HEB1)

*You must meet all selective placement factor requirements by the closing date of the announcement.

Pay Range

$52,905.00 - $83,210.00

More information...

End Date: 

Wednesday, March 11, 2020