NAFRI partners with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG), National Training Priorities and subject matter experts to manage and deliver advanced level curriculum for the Interagency Wildland Fire and Aviation Management Community.
For Information about NAFRI's 2022 and 2023 Courses, please visit the NAFRI Course Catalog Page on the Wildland Fire Learning Portal.
For General Course Information, please visit the NWCG L580 Leadership is Action Course Information Page.
For information on upcoming sessions, please visit the L580 Leadership is Action Course Page on the Wildland Fire Learning Portal.
This course is targeted to resource managers, wildland fire planning personnel and line officers who want to enhance their knowledge and understanding of fire management and fire ecology.
Through lectures, case studies, a field trip, and interaction between students and faculty, the course will:
Course Size is limited to 100 Students
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This course is intended for line officers with a journey level of experience overseeing a wildland fire program. Forest Service Forest Supervisor/Deputy Forest Supervisor levels, National Park Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs, Superintendent/Deputy Superintendent levels, Bureau of Land Management Field Office/District Manager levels, and Fish & Wildlife Service Refuge Management Project Leader level, and state and local Agency Administrators.
This course was developed using an experiential and collaborative approach to learning. It is designed to be highly-engaging in dialogue, exercises, interactive scenarios, and simulations. The course is a comprehensive look at the Agency Administrator’s leadership role in highly complex issues within fire management programs. Topics include Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy, Fuels and Prescribed Fire Policy, risk management and decision-making, critical relationships, development of adaptive and resilient programs, and hosting complex incidents. The complex fire situation is highlighted with the intent to provide a comprehensive understanding of the processes necessary to effectively manage the situation. Included are the Agency Administrator’s briefing, developing and conveying clear intent and objectives, creating a healthy command climate and relationships within their teams and among partners and stakeholders, and other critical items.
M-581, Fire Program Management, an Overview, OR
LFML, Local Fire Management Leadership.
For General Course Information, please visit the NWCG RX510 Advanced Fire Effects Course Information Page.
For information on upcoming sessions, please visit the RX510 Advanced Fire Effects Course Page on the Wildland Fire Learning Portal.
S-495 is an intensive course which prepares the long term analyst (LTAN) and fire behavior analyst (FBAN) to use a variety of geospatial fire analysis tools in order to provide short-, mid-, and long-term fire behavior forecasts. It is the equivalent of a graduate-level class on geospatial fire modeling, conveying the latest processes and technology to assess weather, climatology, historic fires, fuels, and biophysical attributes to develop deterministic and probabilistic fire growth assessments.
This course is presented using a blended learning approach. It employs a mix of required online distance learning and a final instructor-led session in a formal classroom setting. Students must allow for up to 120-hours to complete the distance learning portion of the course spread over a five-month period from November-March (extended to May due to partial government shutdown). The online distance learning is officially part of the course and is not pre-course work. Distance learning includes a number of quizzes that count toward the overall student score and final course grade. As such, students are required to successfully complete the online distance learning section with a satisfactory score on all tested materials in order to attend the final classroom portion.
Due to the intensive nature of S-495, participants can expect long days during the classroom portion of the class with short lectures followed by hands on individual and group exercises, breakout discussions, daily quizzes, a final exam, and optional evening help sessions.
Training Prerequisites:
All nominees are required to have successfully completed the following courses prior to applying to the course for the November start of online course work.
Online Assessment:
All nominees are required to successfully complete a pre-selection qualifying exam testing knowledge of fire behavior principles, practices, and skills taught in S-390, S-490 and S-491. This is a 4-hour time limited exam taken online.
Students not seeking certification can access the online self-paced lessons without prerequisites or tested material. The self-paced modules may be accessed here.
Computer Requirements:
All participants attending S-495 will need to provide their own laptop and should be proficient in its use. A detailed listing of hardware and software needs will be included in the course selection letter.
Additional Information:
Success in S-495 will depend on the student's commitment to completing the distance learning training. Distance learning materials are meant to provide the appropriate level of background, foundational knowledge and concepts to be successful in the classroom. This information will be further developed through instruction and exercises during instructor-led training in the classroom.
Additional skills and knowledge useful for the course:
“See link to Session Details, above.”
Any person qualified to fill a national level interagency Type 1 Incident Management Team position as an Incident Command, Planning Section Chief, Operations Section Chief, Logistics Section Chief, Finance Section Chief, Safety Officer, or Public Information Officer, or any person to become certified in one of these positions at the Type 1 completxity level and Agency Administrators preparing for the potential to host Complex Incidents.
Using classroom lecture, dialogue, exercises and simulated incidents, students will develop their understanding and demonstrate the abilities to effectively function in a Command and General Staff (C&G) position of a Type 1 Incident Management Team and/or as an Agency Administrator hosting Complex Incidents. Students will discuss and practice the applicability of management principles to the incident management job, and the special considerations of incident management in differing geographic areas of the nation.
S520 incorporates experiential learning opportunities in the practice and application of critical concepts and responsibilities of Type 1 C&G Staff and Agency Administrators, coupled with active coaching, feedback and performance assessments.
Early Nomination Rationale: Early nomination has been requested to give those nominated the necessary mentoring and pre-course assignments for the course.
For current course information, refer to the NAFRI web site: http://www.nafri.gov
Given a simulated complex fire situation, students will effectively perform functional and team responsibilities. Individual performance must meet established criteria for successful completion of the course.
Individuals must be functionally certified and qualified at the Type 2 level for the position they will be filling at the course.
Nominees are required to submit a complete nomination package through their Geographic Area Training Representative (GATR), which must include a nomination form, a current fire qualifications record summary and a narrative statement giving a brief background of the person nominated, with a description of the intended use of the skills developed as a result of attending S520. Previous attendance at S-420 is recommended.
Satisfactory completion of UNIT-I (pre-course) work.
For General Course Information, please visit the NWCG S590 Advanced Fire Behavior Interpretation Page
For information on upcoming sessions, please visit the S590 Advanced Fire Behavior Interpretation Course Page on the Wildland Fire Learning Portal.
The target audience includes individuals:
Advanced NFDRS is the next level of analytical instruction above S491 which focuses on the role of fire danger rating in resource decision making, through development of a fire danger rating operating plan. Participants will be provided the skills to analyze and troubleshoot fire danger rating from the fire weather station scale to multiple fire danger rating areas. The course will provide individuals the technical skills to serve as instructors for geographic area level courses for all wildland fire agencies using NFDRS. Advanced NFDRS is a national level course. As such, participants can expect long days, evening and weekend work. In order to receive credit for course, participants must stay through entire course. Students will need to complete approximately 24 hours of pre-course work.
Computer Requirements
Students must bring their Agency laptop to use during the course at NAFRI. If you do not have a laptop available to you, there are in limited supply at NAFRI and are on a first come first serve basis; use of your own agency laptop is strongly suggested.
For people responsible for managing complex incidents that will be available to participate on a National Interagency Area Command team as an Area Commander (ACDR), Assistant Area Commander Logistics (ACLC), Assistant Area Commander Planning (ACPC) or Area Command Aviation Coordinator (ACAC).
This course was developed using an experiential and collaborative approach to learning. It is designed to be highly engaging in dialogue, exercises, interactive scenarios and simulations. The course is a comprehensive look at the Area Command Team's role(s) in the management of highly complex and/or multiple incidents, with an objective of understanding the interaction of Area Command and other incident organizations, agencies, and political entities.
Topics include; developing and maintaining interagency relationships, area command tools and planning cycles, functional responsibilities, evaluating organizational effectiveness, transitions,
transfer of command and demobilization. Also emphasized is the need to adapt to complex problem sets, engage in deliberate risk management practices, develop strategic alternatives and
use of decision support tools as well as procedures to identify, manage and prioritize incidents and allocation of critical resources.
Representatives and Subject Matter Experts from the Agency Administrator and State, Regional Operations Staff and Geographic Area Multi-Agency Coordinating Groups will participate fully in
the course to present the full range of coordination efforts necessary in managing incidents at the Area Command complexity level.
Given a simulated multi-incident fire situation, students will effectively perform functional and team responsibilities. Individual's performance must meet established criteria for successful completion of the course.
For ACDR, ACLC and ACPC: Prerequisites include having successfully completed S-520 Advanced Incident Management, Complex Incident Management Course (CIMC) or All-Hazard Advanced Incident Management (AAIM), and are Qualified as ICT1, LSC1 or PSC1
For ACAC: Prerequisites include Qualified as AOBD and/or Unit Aviation Officer
NAFA II is designed to provide aerial firefighters an advanced training experience to NAFA, utilizing flight simulator hardware and software, sand table exercises and classroom interaction. NAFA II simulations and problem solving exercises will enhance the aerial firefighter’s effectiveness and safety awareness by providing complex problem solving tasks while simulating a multi-aircraft fire airspace environment.
Pilots will fight fires from a simulated cockpit and will experience various aircraft emergencies and responses while over a fire environment. Real time fire scenarios will be utilized from simple initial attack to a complex fire environment.
To provide aerial firefighters an advanced training experience to NAFA, utilizing flight simulator hardware and software, sandtable exercises and classroom interaction. NAFA II simulations and problem solving exercises will enhance the aerial firefighter’s effectiveness and safety awareness by providing complex problem solving tasks while simulating a multi-aircraft fire airspace environment.
NAFA II is for personnel who have attended NAFA, who are interested in building on that knowledge and want to obtain advanced level of mission simulation training in the wildland fire airspace environment.
Successful completion of NAFA
The Facilitated Learning Analysis(FLA) and Coordinated Response Protocol(CRP) are group learning approaches to review a broad spectrum of unintended outcomes or close calls ranging from fatalities and escaped fires to vehicle accidents. Through lectures, case studies, and interaction between participants and faculty, the course will:
• Illustrate concepts, technologies and methods to actively engage the FLA and CRP processes.
• Examine case studies that describe a paradigm shift from blame to learning in the wake of an accident.
• Demonstrate the use of storytelling to exploit accidents and other unintended outcomes as learning events.
• Underline the concept of sense-making to enable FLA and CRP team members to overcome hindsight bias.
• Move organizations towards a learning culture. The workshop is limited to 56 participants
Prepare participants to serve as FLA and CRP team members.
Personnel interested and available to participate on review teams analyzing all types of accidents and near-misses. The Workshop participation is not limited to Fire and Aviation Management employees.
None, However preference will be given to individuals with experience in risk management, safety management and accident investigations.
This course is designed to provide aerial firefighters an advanced training experience to NNAFA - National Aerial Firefighting Academy and N9048 - National Aerial Firefighting Academy II, utilizing sand table exercises and classroom interaction. These simulations and problem solving exercises will enhance the aerial firefighter’s effectiveness and safety awareness by providing complex problem-solving tasks while simulating a multi-aircraft fire airspace environment.
To provide aerial firefighters an advanced training experience to NAFA, utilizing sand table exercises and classroom interaction. These simulations and problem solving exercises will enhance the aerial firefighter’s effectiveness and safety awareness by providing complex problem solving tasks while simulating a multi-aircraft fire airspace environment.
NAFA III is for personnel who have attended NAFA and NAFA II and are interested in building on that knowledge and who do not need flight simulation.
NNAFA - National Aerial Firefighting Academy
N9048 - National Aerial Firefighting Academy II
The National Aerial Firefighting Academy (NAFA) is a training effort by and for personnel directly involved in aerial retardant and water delivery. The intent is to educate both Agency and Contract personnel using subject matter experts from both sectors.
This course is geared toward those who are new to the firefighting environment.
NAFA will provide participants information needed to safely and effectively work together in a congested airspace over a wildland fire incident. Tactics, operations and experience are integrated into this aerial firefighting training. The course provides a look into the “other pilot’s” job. which provides an important perspective needed to achieve the same goal: support the firefighters on the ground with aerial resources safely, effectively and efficiently.
By the end of this course, students will:
Contract and agency personnel directly involved in aerial retardant and water delivery:
Is a member of NAFA specified target group listed above.
This course is intended to give some guidelines for assisting employees, family, and other survivors of an employee who has sustained a major injury, or has died off-duty or in the line of duty.
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