DFPC WFMS Firefighter III: Multi-Mission Aircraft Manager

Firefighter III

The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) is dedicated to safeguarding the people and protecting the property, resources, environment, and quality of life in Colorado. DFPC's vision is to be the nation's premier state fire organization by acting with foresight, providing bold leadership, enhancing our partnerships, and exemplifying the highest level of professionalism in fire prevention and protection, while building a safe and supportive work environment for our employees.

The Division achieves this mission and vision through its four sections:
Center of Excellence, Fire and Life Safety, Professional Qualifications and Training, and Wildland Fire Management. Each of the four sections serves Colorado's fire community in a different capacity- from training firefighters to technological advancements in public safety, responding to and managing wildfires to building code enforcement, DFPC is dedicated to serving and safeguarding the people of Colorado while protecting property, resources, environment and quality of life.

One of the Wildland Fire Management Section's (WFMS) primary roles is to assist and support local agencies with a range of wildland fire management programs including administrative, technical, preparedness, planning, response, and prescribed fire and fuels functions. Wildland fire management in Colorado is a cooperative, interagency partnership between local, county, state, tribal, and federal entities. Wildland fire protection responsibilities on non-federal lands in Colorado follow a hierarchy of: local jurisdiction >

county sheriff > and finally to the State of Colorado (DFPC). WFMS plays a crucial role in coordinating with external partners and representing Colorado at both regional (multi-state) and national levels.

Within the WFMS Section, the Fire Planning Branch is responsible for: maintaining situational awareness of potential and actual incidents within the State and nation; supporting fire operations by assessing and providing intelligence information on location, fuels, fire behavior, fire modeling, values at risk, etc.; facilitating communication and information sharing between federal, state, and local agencies within Colorado, the 5-state Rocky Mountain Area (RMA), and across the country;

assessing and compiling data, and developing products, reports and recommendations for various programs (e.g. fire occurrence and impacts, resource utilization, fuels treatments, etc.); and supporting DFPC and CDPS leadership decision making with recommendations and intelligence products.

The DFPC Multi-Mission Aircraft (MMA) Unit is an aviation-based Incident Awareness and Assessment (IAA) program that performs wildfire fire detection along with mapping, monitoring, reconnaissance, and surveillance of wildfires and other all-hazard incidents. The program consists of two Pilatus PC-12 airplanes outfitted with state-of-the-art Electro-Optical (EO) and Infrared sensors (IR) airborne imaging systems operated by sensor operators.

The Multi-Mission Aircraft Manager analyzes and synthesizes the data that is gathered, and integrates that information into Colorado's Wildfire Information Management System (CO-WIMS) so that it can be available to wildfire managers across the state. The MMA Manager provides decision support to all participants in Colorado's interagency wildfire management system. The MMA Manager may assist with performing aerial supervision and assistance to Incident Commanders (IC) regarding fire behavior, weather monitoring, assisting crews with access, operational mapping, and communication links.

This position requires unusual specialized experience and knowledge. This position reports to the MMA Captain.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Wildland Firefighting Preparedness
• Wildland Fire Detection and Flight Operations
• MMA Program Support and Other Duties as Assigned

Required Minimum Qualifications and Experiences include:

• Qualification to the NWCG Firefighter Type One (FFT1).
• Two(2) years of documented wildland firefighting experience.
• Interagency Aviation Training, Fixed Wing Flight Manager
  - Special Use within one year of hire.
• Must complete DFPC MMA Manager Task Book & Training Curriculum within six (6) months of employment.

Required Competencies include:

• Demonstrated effective computer based knowledge and skills.
• Ability to fly in a fixed wing aircraft for extended periods (up to 4 hours) in turbulent conditions.

Preferred Qualifications and Experiences include:

• Four (4) + years of documented wildland fire, fire service, fuels management or related experience.
• Additional documented experience in an aviation-based Incident Awareness and Assessment (IAA), or similar incident situation and intelligence program
• Previous experience with state level fire programs, with a preference for experience with the state of CO fire programs.
• Exceptional candidates will also have one or more of the following NWCG qualifications
• Previous aviation experience, qualifications, and…