Assistant Fire Management Officer

The Ember Alliance is hiring for a key leadership position in Colorado! The Assistant Fire Management Officer position will provide key operational support for day-to-day fire management activities of the Ember Alliance’s Fire Operations program. This position supports planning, developing, implementing, coordinating, and evaluating an integrated fire management program that supports our mission, vision, and values. The position has both field and office responsibilities, including but not limited to project planning and implementation, leadership roles on prescribed fires and wildfires, collaborative burn coordination, and young adult mentorship. Candidates should have a passion for increasing the pace and scale of prescribed fire, increasing diversity and inclusion in the fire practitioner community, and creating operational excellence.

Organization Description

The Ember Alliance is a national organization of wildland fire practitioners, researchers, analysts, and instructors dedicated to increasing the pace and scale of prescribed fire and planning. The Ember Alliance is dedicated to supporting fire as a natural process in fire-adapted ecosystems on a landscape scale to improve ecosystem function and health and increase wildfire resilience.

The Ember Alliance provides an open, transparent, and just organization and workplace. We strive for clear, open, and kind communication and are committed to centering, recruiting, hiring, mentoring, and supporting fire practitioners from traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities. We are dedicated to building a better way to do fire management, that recognizes the inherent value of our employees, that supports work / life balance, and provides an environment that supports growth. 

Responsibilities:

• Oversee daily prescribed fire and fuels management activities
• Apply the 5 principles of High Reliability Organizing to the ICS functions of Planning, Logistics, Finance and Operations and into everyday operations.
• Responsible for fleet management, supply/cache management and facilities maintenance at our Loveland, Colorado office.
• Manage and oversee Fire Operations staff members.
• Assist in the management of IQS, position task books and development plans for all fire qualified personnel
• Coordinate and organize remote fire crews.
• Serve as a subject matter expert, final reviewer, and/or author of burn plans.
• Coordinate wildland fire activities with federal, state, and local agencies/entities
• Ensure wildland fire policies are met.
• Deal with a variety of complex technical problems relating to fire weather, smoke management, fire behavior, and computer modeling.
• Provide leadership in the fire safety program and instills risk management principles in all program activities.
• Serve as Duty Officer for TEA fire operations
• May work in variable weather conditions, at remote locations, on difficult and hazardous terrain and under physically demanding circumstances.
• Ensure that fire personnel qualification records are maintained
• Plan, organize, and lead large scale collaborative burns.
• Demonstrate a strong work ethic, including a commitment to principles of Duty, Integrity and Respect. Actively participate in creating a kind, safe and healthy work environment which encourages the diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice of all people.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Passion for TEA’s ecological and social missions
• Strong communications skills
• Strong operational and logistical fire management subject matter knowledge
• Commitment to collaboration and partnership building
• Strong project and program management skills and ability to effectively multitask
• Excellence in organizational management with the ability to coach staff, manage, and develop high-performance teams, set and achieve strategic objectives, and manage a budget
• Double single resource boss (SRB, i.e. ENGB + FIRB) + ICT4
• Supervisory experience, including motivating, leading, setting objectives, and managing performance
• Experience managing organizational risk
• Effective knowledge of common software applications (e.g. Microsoft Office Suite)
• Desire to work in a fast-paced start-up environment
• Ability to live and work within commuting distance of Loveland, Colorado

Preferred Qualifications: 

• TFLD (Task Force Leader) and/or RXB2 + ICT4
• Experience authoring and reviewing programmatic pile and broadcast burn plans.
• Experience in partnership development with nonprofits, community groups and/or government agencies.
• Strong mechanical experience
• Strong business acumen

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

Fitness and Red Card Requirements: 

You must pass the arduous pack test.

Projects may require remote work outdoors in adverse conditions on steep and rugged terrain and/or in inclement and variable weather conditions. Employees must abide by The Ember Alliance’s current Covid policies.  

Schedule Requirements: 

The average work week is 40 hours, but the schedule may vary depending on operational needs. Projects may require working 10-12 hour days and/or outside of normal business hours, working during weekends and/or up to 14 days continuously, and travel for extended periods of time. Flexible work schedules will be considered to accommodate family or other commitments. 

Pay and Benefits:  

Full time hourly wage: $28 per hour. Some overtime is expected and will be based on operational needs. Benefits include 80% health and dental coverage for employee and $50,000 in employer-paid life insurance. 

Location: 

The Ember Alliance is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado; Gravitas Peak Prescribed Fire Module is based in Loveland, CO. This position will have a duty station of Loveland, Colorado. Our team works nationally on training assignments, suppression and prescribed fire, and fuels treatment projects. The job will require extended travel. Visit our website at: emberalliance.org.