California State-Certified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss (CARX)

College of the Siskiyous, Yreka Campus, 2001 Campus Dr, Yreka, CA 96097

January 13th - 17th, 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (40 hours)

Deadline to apply was October 28th

This in-person classroom-based course provides information about and develops the skills required for planning and managing prescribed fire on State or private lands. This course contains instructor-led training, including simulation exercises, development of a burn plan, and a task book. Students are required to complete the prerequisites (coursework, firing, and leadership requirements) prior to taking the instructor-led training. The curriculum includes portions of the NWCG courses RX301, RX341, and RX410 classes, but is not considered a substitute for any of these RX classes. There is no course equivalency between this class and any NWCG course. As detailed in the course plan, this course is developed and formatted into the SFT curriculum development model. Stakeholders will be encouraged to study this information carefully and seek clarification from SFT if questions arise. Certified persons may act as contractors within land designated as State Responsibility Area (SRA) by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

This course is intended for experienced prescribed or cultural fire practitioners who wish to be recognized by the state for their knowledge and expertise. This can included retired fire professionals, landowners and community members, NGO staff, private contractors, tribal members and cultural burners, state and local agency staff, and others.

Each student will be responsible to pay for the State Fire Training certificate fee of $140 to register for the course. For those submitting a PACE application for equivalency there is an additional non refundable fee of $200 to be paid to State Fire Training when submitting your application.

Students will receive a State Fire Training certificate upon successful completion of course.

For additional information regarding State Certified Prescribed-Fire Burn Boss Certification, Course Plan and Equivalency Information click here.

For PACE VI Application and prerequisite equivalency information click here.

Prerequisites:

Coursework Requirements: 

• IS-100 Introduction to the Incident Command System
• S-190 Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior
• S-130 Firefighter Training
• S-290 Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior (classroom only, online courses not accepted)
• Students will need a working knowledge of Behave Plus fire modeling system to be successful in the class.

Firing Requirements:

Qualified NWCG/CICCS Firing Boss (FIRB) or both equivalent firing experience and one of the following courses: S-219 Firing Operations, CA-219 Wildland Firefighting – Firing Operations, C-234 Ignition Operations, or S-234 Ignition Operations

Leadership Requirements:

S-131 Advanced Firefighter or L-280 Followership to Leadership or Qualified NWCG/CICCS Firefighter Type 1 (FFT1) or equivalent leadership experience (to see equivalency information click here).

Primary Instructor:

Woody Bouska, President and Owner, SURE-FIRE TRAINING INC.

The lead instructor, Woody Bouska, is the president of SURE-FIRE Training Inc., a corporation that specializes in delivering high quality professional wildfire consulting, analysis, planning, mitigation and education services. Woody has over 40 years of experience in the wildland fire service and is a wildfire risk analysis and mitigation specialist. Woody has extensive experience working with various agencies and organizations planning, and conducting, prescribed burns and wildland fuels management projects. Woody is also a registered California State Fire Training Instructor who provides a variety of consulting and training services for fire departments, land management agencies and other government and corporate organizations throughout the world. He received his formal education from UC Davis in Wildlife Biology.