News Release

Gillian Fay named wildland fire budget officer for National Park Service

Gill Fay is the new budget officer and program lead for budget and policy for NPS Wildland Fire.

NPS/C STEVENSON

News Release Date: January 12, 2024

Contact: Tina Boehle, 208-387-5875

Gillian “Gill” Fay has been selected as the wildland fire budget officer and program lead for Policy and Budget within the Branch of Wildland Fire. Between 2016 and 2023, Gill worked as the national fire budget officer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Branch of Fire Management at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho. She has an extensive background with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Colorado, where she worked between 2005 and 2016 in several capacities as the Colorado State Office Fire and Aviation budget analyst/incident business program analyst, Front Range District Office budget analyst, contracting officer, purchasing agent, and property/fleet manager. Additionally, after earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Regis University in Colorado, she worked as a municipal government accountant. Gill is also a U.S. Navy veteran, having served on active duty for eight years as an aircraft mechanic for A-6 Intruder and P-3 Orion aircraft.

Gill was drawn to the wildland fire community as it provided a similar sense of family and purpose and filled a void that leaving the military created. During fire season she gained experience at BLM Colorado’s Front Range District Office supporting the Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) Base operations as a retardant loader. While there, she acquired qualifications to work in the Finance Section for incident management teams (IMTs). With the FWS she became a qualified cost unit leader and was assigned to Great Basin IMT 6 and 7. “Gill's leadership and technical skills will certainly help further the program. She has a practical focus on business and budget implementation to support program accomplishment,” added Jason Fallon, Wildland Fire Branch Chief. “We are very excited to welcome Gill to the National Park Service team."

Gill loves being “Gigi” to her grandkids, taking trips to the beach (especially to Hale Koa in Hawaii), and working in her garden. She looks forward to having miniature ponies to take care of during retirement one day and living close to family.