Cultural Burning Specialist 

Job Description

The incumbent serves in a key fire management position in a field fire management organization as a Cultural Burning Specialist (Cultural Burning, Prescribed Fire and Fuels). The employee has program responsibility and provides professional advice and assistance to meet resource management objectives for cultural burning, prescribed fire, fuels management, smoke management, and wildfire response. Incumbent may be responsible for emergency stabilization and rehabilitation (ESR) or other community assistance programs.

The employee works as a member of an interdisciplinary/interagency team, analyzes fuels treatments in order to formulate and recommend land management alternatives. The work entails a variety of administrative and technical prescribed fire, fire management, and fuels management support functions, each involving numerous procedures and operating requirements.

At times, the employee will be required to work alongside a senior fire management specialist on assignments that are characterized by a number of complex variables such as weather, fuels (type and condition), topography, fire behavior, management objectives and resource protection concerns, strategies and tactics, resource availability and capability, employee and public safety, must be considered by the incumbent in making critical decisions under pressure. The employee will be required to interpret and analyze environmental influences and fire behavior, make judgments, and adjust tactics as conditions change.

Adding an additional laver to the complexity are factors such as different types of treatment; social, political, and economic issues; higher complexity fuels treatment projects; resource and property values at risk; smoke management requirements; multiple jurisdictions, frequent use of aviation operations or support; and intra/interagency coordination requirements.

Due to the nature of fire management work, the incumbent may have to react quickly and perform multiple, unrelated simultaneous assignments along with other competing demands in the work environment and when making critical decisions under pressure.