What is Wildland Fire Associates?
Wildland Fire Associates (WFA) is a consortium of career wildland fire and natural managers who are retired, but want to continue working. WFA provides a platform that includes business management, social media access and a directory of wildland fire and natural resource specialists to collaborate on projects. WFA often directly provides contract opportunities, but Associates also have the ability to bring contracts to WFA and let us handle the business management.
WFA provides the flexibility and freedom for Associates to pursue work without having to worry about business management. The flexibility also extends in to the amount of time Associates choose to work.
WFA History:
Four former federal wildland fire and natural resource managers established Wildland Fire Associates (WFA) in 2001. The idea behind WFA is that the career experience of these individuals was still valuable even though they were retired. For the first decade, WFA:
- wrote fire management plans
- wrote environmental assessments
- facilitated meetings
- conducted hazard fuels assessments and wrote fuels management plans
- developed Community Wildfire Protection Plans
- provided professional consulting
The second decade has seen more fire management and hazard fuels planning, CWPP development and writing, meeting facilitation, with new opportunities such as:
- providing professional consulting for legal cases
- wildland fire fatality investigation
- development of spatial fire management planning
Business Model:
The WFA business model is to define the current needs of the market and provide a place where people with the skills and experience to provide the services can succeed. WFA does not have employees and does not provide benefits. All people working for WFA sign an Associates Agreement (appendix A) that outline expectations of and services provided by WFA.
In return for agreeing to the tenets of the Associates Agreement, WFA will provide:
- access to the website and social media
- business management services including
- invoicing
- payment
- tax services (W-2)
- insurance coverage
- access to a variety of other associates to assist with projects
In return for this access, WFA charges a 20% overhead fee for consulting services provided by Associates. Actual expenses, such as travel and supplies, are reimbursed at actual cost.
WFA Future:
WFA continues to be successful providing professional consulting to communities, developing CWPP’s, writing fire management plans, and providing legal consulting. We have an extensive network to help us identify new areas of work, and find good people to work with.
WFA currently has an active group of owners who meet regularly to discuss new trends in wildland fire and natural resources management, track upcoming state and federal budgets and budget priorities, and steer the company towards upcoming opportunities.
If you are Interested in WFA:
Please submit a cover letter outlining your interests and areas of specialty and a complete resume to info@wildlandfireassociates.com.