Fire Management Specialist (Prescribed Fire and Fuels)

Company: Department Of The Interior
Location: Farmington
Posted on: June 5, 2021

Job Description:

* Duties

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Duties

Summary

Explore a new career with the BLM - where our people are our greatest natural resource.

This position will be located in Farmington or Taos, New Mexico. Information about these locations can be found at: Farmington, NM and Taos, NM.

When submitting your application, please select only the location(s) you wish to be considered for.

* ATTENTION* The organization may offer a recruitment incentive to attract high quality applicants.

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

* Prepares wildland fire risk assessments. * Implements and administers prescribed fire activities, wildland fire use, and fuels management activities and surveys. * Monitors fire behavior, evaluates fire effects, identifies potential problems and takes appropriate action. * Serves as a Contracting Officer's Representative on fuels management contracts and is responsible for the preparation of contract specifications and performance measures. * Provides professional guidance in the development and implementation of multiple resource objectives. * Develops fuels treat alternatives while adhering to applicable laws, regulations, policies, and guidelines. * Evaluates fuel treatments and effectiveness of the overall program to make recommendations for improvement. * Coordinates with internal and external customers to develop interagency fuels strategies. * Provides input and recommends strategies for fuels and fire management. * Provides input and reviews the fire management plan.

Travel Required

50% or less - Travel is required to attend training, conferences, workshops, and/or field visits. Frequent travel may be required during peak fire activity.

Supervisory status

No

Promotion Potential

11 - If filled at a lower grade level, subsequent promotion to the next grade level will be processed without further competition dependent upon administrative approval and the continuing need and performance of higher-level duties.

* Job family (Series)

0401 General Natural Resources Management And Biological Sciences

* Requirements

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

* U.S. Citizenship is required. * Be sure to read the HOW TO APPLY and REQUIRED DOCUMENTS Sections * You cannot hold an active real estate license; nor can you have an interest or hold stocks in firms with interest in Federal Land. * Direct Deposit Required. * Background Investigation Required. * Appointment will be subject to a favorably adjudicated background/suitability investigation/determination. Failure to possess or obtain a favorable determination will result in the cancellation of the offer or will be grounds for termination. * You must meet specified levels on annual physical fitness tests, and pass periodic medical exams for wildland fire personnel, commensurate with current incident management qualification. * You must pass a pre-employment physical. * Applicant(s) tentatively selected for this position will be required to submit a urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use and to pass the test prior to appointment. In addition, this position is subject to random testing for illegal drug use. * May require completion of a one year probationary period. * Applicants appointed to this position must possess and maintain a valid state driver's license. * Your resume must contain enough information to show that you meet the qualification requirements as defined in the announcement.

Qualifications

Basic Education Required: Must have a 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.

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 the GS-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 the GS-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.

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 in the online application or resume with specific to and from dates, description of work performed, and hours worked per week.

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

To meet IFPM requirements for Prescribed Fire and Fuels Specialist- Moderate 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); AND

B.) Single Resource Boss, Crew (CRWB); or Single Resource Boss, Engine (ENGB); or Helibase Manager (HEBM).

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

This is a secondary/administrative firefighter position under the special retirement provisions of 5 U.S.C. 8336(c) (CSRS) and 5 U.S.C. 8412(d) (FERS). While secondary positions are not subject to the maximum entry age policy, the selectee must have prior service in a primary position and meet the transfer requirement for movement from a primary to secondary position to be eligible for special retirement coverage. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure this office has enough information to determine your retirement status to ensure you do not lose benefits (normally through submission of your SF-50). YOU MUST LET US KNOW IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN A PRIMARY POSITION.

Education

See Qualifications Section

Keywords: Department Of The Interior, Farmington , Fire Management Specialist (Prescribed Fire and Fuels), Other , Farmington, New Mexico