California State-Certified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss (CARX)

South Bay Training Center, Los Osos, CA

November 4th – 8th, 8:00am – 5:00pm 

This event has been canceled due to low registration.

This in-person course provides information about and develops the skills required for planning and managing prescribed fire on State or private lands. The curriculum includes portions of the NWCG courses RX301, RX341, and RX410 classes, but should not be considered a substitute for any of these RX classes. There is no course equivalency between this class and any NWCG course.  In addition, CARX certification is not equivalent to NWCG RXB1 or RXB2 qualification.

This course contains instructor-led training, including simulation exercises and a task book. Students will conduct one day of reconnaissance in the field in addition to classroom work.  Students are required to complete the prerequisites (coursework, firing, and leadership requirements) prior to taking the course.  As detailed in the course plan, this course was developed and formatted into the SFT curriculum development model. Stakeholders are 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 could include retired fire professionals, landowners and community members, NGO staff, private contractors, tribal members and cultural burners, state and local agency staff, and others.

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

IMPORTANT - Submit your PACE VI application to the lead instructor Phil Dye at phil@prometheusfireconsulting.com.  DO NOT submit your application to SFT.  Also, do not submit payment until requested by the lead instructor. 

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 (Must be instructor led. Online courses that do not have an instructor-led component are not accepted.)

Firing Requirements:

Option 1: Qualified NWCG/CICCS Firing Boss (FIRB)(Current or former)

Option 2: One of the following courses:

• S-219 Firing Operations, or
• CA-219 Wildland Firefighting – Firing Operations, or
• C-234 Ignition Operations, or
• S-234 Ignition Operations

AND Demonstration of leading firing operations as described in the PACE VI application. 

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).

Trainers:

Phil Dye, Founder and CEO of Prometheus Fire Consulting LLC

Phil Dye is the founder and CEO of Prometheus Fire Consulting LLC, a firm which specializes in prescribed fire planning, preparation, and implementation as well as providing training and incident management expertise. Phil has served in the California Fire Service for over 25 years and, in addition to his business,
works with California Interagency Incident Management Team 13 as a Planning Section Chief.

Phil has worked on prescribed fire projects with the U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, CAL FIRE, various local government agencies, and private landowners. His services have been used in California, New Mexico, Nebraska, and eight other states. Phil is a qualified
Prescribed Fire Burn Boss, Type 2 (RXB2).

Phil served on the cadre for the development of the State Certified Prescribed Fire Burn Boss (CARX) course. He has also served as the lead instructor for every CARX class offered to date. More information can be found at www.prometheusfireconsulting.com or via e-mail at phil@prometheusfireconsulting.com.

Anthony Stornetta, Deputy Fire Chief of Operations, Santa Barbara County Fire Department 

Anthony has over 30 years in the fire service and currently holds the position of Deputy Fire Chief- Operations for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. Anthony oversees the daily operations of 16 fire stations, a fleet of helicopters, handcrews, dozers, and special operations.

Anthony has been a member of Cal Fire and USFS Type 1 and Type 2 incident management teams for over 19 years as a Safety Officer, Operations Section Chief, and Operations Branch Director. Anthony is also the Incident Commander for the Santa Barbara County Type 3 Incident Management Team that has been deployed 42 times across the state and nation on All-Hazard incidents.

Anthony remains very engaged with state committees and continually is working with members of the legislature on bills pertaining to prescribed fire and training. Some of his state commitments consist of Chair of the CA-All Hazard Type 3 IMT committee, member of FIRESCOPE Ops group, committee member of CICCS, and past president and vice president of numerous training officer associations. Training is the foundation to success in the fire service and Anthony assists with teaching many classes across the state, and developing curriculum. Anthony is a state certified instructor and teaches over 30 courses. His passion is teaching prescribed fire, utilizing his experience burning on the ranch, and his many assignments across the nation conducting firing operations.

Anthony’s personal life is just as busy, his family has been in the dairy and beef business for 4 generations on the central coast and he continues that tradition to this day. Anthony and his wife run a commercial and registered herd of angus cattle in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Monterey Counties.

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

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.