Education & Training
education
Online Degree & Certificate Programs
Natural resource and fire managers are most effective when they are committed and engaged in a process of life-long learning. Contemporary opportunities for continuing education are not limited to formal classroom experiences. This section provides summaries of a variety of training and continuing education opportunities available for natural resource and fire managers.
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UF Graduate Certificate Program
Online Degree Programs
Universities offer online degree programs to provide flexible formats for learning and achieving education goals. Some programs, such as the UF Graduate Certificate program listed below, are designed for working professionals who do not wish to go back to school full time. Currently, the Southern Fire Exchange knows of the following programs with a core structure built around fire science.
University of Florida
Online Ecological Restoration Masters of Science
The non-thesis Forest Resources and Conservation MS program in Ecological Restoration consists of 30 credits. Students may choose from School of Forest Resources and Conservation courses or any graduate course offered by University of Florida, with the approval of your advisor. Electives should typically be related to environmental sciences.
Ecological Restoration Graduate Certificate
The Graduate Certificate aims to address the growing demand for ecological restoration professionals in areas such as restoration ecology, natural resource management, environmental science, environmental consulting, fire and wildlife ecology, watershed management, wetland sciences and wetland restoration, and mine rehabilitation.
University of Idaho
Masters of Natural Resources: Fire Ecology and Management
This 30-credit hour masters program can be completed completely online with a professional non-thesis project that incorporates fire science, applied tools and technology, management, planning and policy, as well as human dimensions.
Fire Ecology, Management and Technology Certificate
This 15-credit hour certificate program is designed for traditional and non-traditional students who would like to receive in-depth information about the science and tools currently used in fire ecology and management.
Courses and Training Programs
National Interagency Prescribed Fire Training Center (PFTC)
The Center is headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida and training locations are dispersed throughout Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Attendees travel to several remote sites to take advantage of prescribed burning and learning opportunities with a variety of agencies, fuel types, and challenges.
National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG)
NWCG courses are the core of wildfire and prescribed fire training. These courses are offered throughout the year by several organizations and agencies. Below are links you may find helpful in understanding what courses are available and which ones you may need to take.
Southern Area Wildland Fire Interagency Training (SAWFIT)
SAWFIT is designed to connect wildland firefighters and prescribed fire practitioners with training opportunities and resources across the southeastern US.
Online Training Resources
Please note that inclusion on this list does not indicate specific endorsement or review of the information provided by the educational programs.
Prescribed Fire Training Courses
Burn Smart Training Video
Tall Timbers & Georgia Department of Natural Resources
This 15-minute training video, produced by Tall Timbers in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, offers a practical introduction to conducting safe prescribed burns. Designed for both new and experienced burners, it provides a step-by-step overview of essential safety practices and serves as a valuable refresher on prescribed fire procedures.
Southeastern Prescribed Fire Training Course
Southern Fire Exchange & NCSU
The Cooperative Extension Service Prescribed Fire (CESRx) Training Course provides participants with a basic understanding of the purpose, use, and benefits of prescribed fire and directs participants to locally applicable resources they can use to learn more or share with their fire community.
Introduction to Southeastern Prescribed Fire
North Carolina State University
This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental basics of prescribed burning in southeastern forested ecosystems. At the end of the course the student should have a working knowledge of fire law, fire terminology, fire prescriptions, fire safety, firebreaks, smoke management, and a basic understanding of how to conduct a prescribed burn.
eFIRE
North Carolina State University
An interactive online course that uses 360 degree videos to provide information on how to prepare, conduct, and evaluate a prescribed burn. While targeted towards private landowners in the Southeast, the principles are applicable for burners anywhere.
Introduction to Prescribed Fire
Oklahoma State Extension
This course features interactive learning activities and custom videos that teach students best practices for conducting a safe and effective burn. Topics include 1) Introduction to Prescribed Fire, 2) Prescribed Fire Law and Liability, 3) Fire Prescriptions, 4) Fire Effects, 5) Firebreaks, 6) Ignition, 7) Smoke Management, 8) Burn Seasons, and 9) Fire Equipment.
Preparing for Wildfires with Firescaping
University of Georgia
A free course for Master Gardeners and others that provides interactive training on fire-resistant landscaping. The course also provides training and resources to prepare course participants to share the information with their local communities.
Prescribed Fire Basics
Oregon State University
The goal of the Prescribed Fire Basics collection of modules is to provide introductory-level information to increase understanding of the importance and mechanics of prescribed burns. Modules include: 1) Prescribed Fire: Why We Burn, 2) The Ecological Effects of Fire, 3) Fire Behavior, 4) Smoke Management, 5) Planning a Prescribed Burn, 6) Managing a Prescribed Burn, 7) Fire Weather, 8) Fuels, 9) Ignition Techniques and Tools, 10) Monitoring and Evaluation, and 11) Safety.
Prescribed Burn School
Texas A&M University AgriLife
This paid, online course on prescribed burning is designed for ranchers and private landowners in Texas. It places an emphasis on fire behavior, how to employ correct firing techniques, and equipment & safety. After the successful completion of this course, participants will be eligible to schedule their official exam and field component to apply to become a Certified and Insured Prescribed Burn Manager (CIPBM) from the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Non-NWCG Wildland Fire Training Resources
FEMA National Fire Academy Online Courses
offer several self-study and online-mediated courses of interest to wildland fire professionals.
Wildland Fire Learning Portal
offers several on-demand self-enroll courses.
World of Wildland Fire Video Series
(1.5 hrs) is a series of technical YouTube videos that cover topics ranging from fire ecology to fuel moisture to fire behavior and fuel load sampling. For more information on this program, see the Wildland Fire Education & Training Collaborative (WETC) includes multiple sources of media, including but not limited to books, videos and classroom exercises, for the purpose of synthesizing the knowledge in fire science.
Fire Ecology Virtual Field Trips
(interactive, 360 environment, and VR compatible)
NWCG Training Resources
Wildland Fire Learning Portal
provides interagency wildland fire courses in an online course format. The Portal includes NWCG and non-NWCG approved courses. Some courses are synchronous while others are asynchronous.
Fire in the Field
wildland firefighter training courses are offered online or on CD-Rom by Interactive Training Media, Inc. The courses are currently recognized as National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) training equivalents in many states. Training may require partnering with a fire agency or NWCG qualified Instructor.
Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center
has much to offer to the wildland firefighter and prescribed fire practitioner. With a focus on safety, the center provides feedback and a place to share knowledge to improve safety, performance, efficiency, and organizational learning throughout the entire wildland fire community.
National Wildfire Coordinating Group Training Catalog
includes a variety of resources, including downloadable training courses for some positions. NWCG has also made the following courses available for download: S-131 | S-190 | S-200 | S-203 | S-211 | S-212 | S-215 | S-230 | S-260 | S-290.
The Wildland Fire Safety Training Annual Refresher (WFSTAR)
library contains the entire catalogue of RT-130 videos and resources developed for annual fire line refresher courses.
WFSTAR Firefighting Orders and Watch Out Situations Immersive Activity
developed and hosted by the WFTSTAR team that creates learning resources for RT-130 programs.
S-290 Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior
(15 hrs.) is the second course in a five course sequence developing wildland fire behavior prediction skills and knowledge. In the Wildland Fire Qualifications System Guide, PMS 310-1, this course is required of those planning to work as one of the Single Resource Bosses or a Fire Effects Monitor on wildfires, fire use fires, and prescribed fires. It builds upon the basics in S-190, Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior, but with more detailed information about characteristics and interactions of the wildland fire environment (fuels, weather, and topography) that affect wildland fire behavior for safety purposes.
Fire Weather Training Resources
COMET Advanced Fire Weather Forecasters Course
(18 hrs.) The Advanced Fire Weather Forecasters Distance Learning Course addresses advanced training needs of Incident Meteorologists (IMETs), Fire Weather Program Leaders (FWPLs) in NOAA’s NWS weather forecast offices (WFOs), and Regional Program Managers. These individuals are responsible for maintaining local fire weather programs and supporting all-hazards incidents on site including wildfires, hazardous material releases, and incidents of national significance.
COMET GOES-R/JPSS Case Exercise: Detecting and Monitoring US Western Wildfires
New-generation GOES-R and JPSS satellite products offer improved capabilities for detecting and monitoring wildland fires in the Western US and similar geographic regions. In the case of the northern California Kincade fire of October 2019, satellite monitoring capabilities provided useful tactical information to meteorologists who were working with fire agencies, emergency managers and first responders throughout the life of the fire. The lesson takes learners through two significant points in the life of the Kincade fire. Multiple satellite products are applied toward monitoring the conditions involving a potentially rapidly spreading fire. To identify how and when satellite information can be most effective, learners compare different products that can aid meteorologists in identifying fire starts and rapid spread associated with high winds and low relative humidity in the difficult terrain of California. The intended audience of GOES-R/JPSS Case Exercise: Detecting and Monitoring US Western Wildfires is operational meteorologists, including IMETs, and others needing to use satellite information for fire/smoke detection and monitoring. The lesson should also appeal to individuals from emergency operation centers and others (fire and land management agency personnel, USFS and state forestry fire behavior analysts) with interest in detecting and monitoring fires.
COMET Navigating the National Weather Service Fire Weather Program
(1 hr.) This lesson provides the latest Fire Weather Program information to new and veteran staff in the US National Weather Service. It includes an overview of the organizational structure and responsibilities of each Fire Weather Program branch, main policy documents, and partners that collaborate and use the program’s product and services. The learners will play a Jeopardy-style game and practice using a process map to resolve various problems at different levels of the Fire Weather Program. The lesson will take between 45 and 60 minutes to complete (not including the quiz).
Smoke Management Training Resources
Smoke Management and Air Quality for Land Managers
is a tutorial on smoke management and air quality. The refresher includes four lessons, each of which can be completed in about half an hour; however, links and interactions allow further investigation of several topics.
VSMOKE and the North Carolina Smoke Management Program
is a video designed as part of the NC Certified Burner class in regards to the state smoke guidelines. This 45 minute video is a great place for those that are interested in smoke impacts. The North Carolina Smoke Management Program has published
Guidelines for Managing Smoke From Forestry Burning Operations
with a section on how to calculate burn complexity for modeling that helps the burner determine what modeling programs to use or when smoke impacts are too high to burn.
Wildland Fire Personnel Smoke Exposure Guidebook
is a draft document and a work in progress. The authors feel the guidance information within will be useful to wildland fire personnel, however in the future content may be added and edited.
Other Tutorials and Instructional Videos
LANDFIRE Instructional and Tutorial Video Series
provides instructional videos, tutorials and case studies for accessing, using and analyzing LANDFIRE datasets.
The Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) webinar
and fact sheet describe how users can find Species Reviews, Fire Regimes, or Fire Studies by species’ name, location, plant community, and/or other criteria
Wild Turkey Manager: Advanced Habitat
UF/IFAS Extension
This paid, online course is curated for wildlife professionals, turkey hunters, landowners, and any constituent interested in continuing their education and gaining certification in wild turkey management. With material from across the region and modules in forest management, grassland management, and forest stand improvement, this course offers an opportunity for continued education in wild turkey management with relevance to wildland fire practice.
Fire Science Webinar Recordings
Check out the upcoming and archived webinar SFE webinars from the past ten years. Continuing education credits are often offered for participation in live webinars.
Forestry Webinar Portal
offers live and on-demand webinars on a variety of topics. Continuing education credits are often offered not only for live webinars, but recorded on-demand webinars as well.
Other JFSP Fire Science Exchanges
also provide fire science, wildland fire, and prescribed fire webinar opportunities that may be of interest.
The U.S. Drought Portal
maintained by the National Integrated Drought Information System, provides a calendar of webinars on drought conditions in various regions, including the Southeast.
USFS Southern Research Station
generates knowledge of forested ecosystems across the South and beyond – their management, threats they face, and the fundamentals of these varied ecosystems.