From planning principles to a defensible prescribed fire burn plan
A successful prescribed fire begins long before ignition. It requires a well-developed burn plan that connects management objectives and desired fire effects with fire behaviour, operational strategies, risk management and sound decision-making.
RX-341 Burn Plan Development is an interactive, instructor-led course for wildland fire professionals, land managers, restoration practitioners and others involved in writing burn plans.
Rather than simply learning how to complete a template, participants will develop their own prescribed fire burn plan throughout the course, applying each lesson directly to a project of their choosing.
What makes this course different?
You develop your own burn plan.
Bring a prescribed fire project you are working on, planning for the future or using as a learning exercise. Over five days, you will progressively develop your burn plan, receive feedback from other participants and examine the decisions that make a burn plan technically defensible. This plan could also be hypothetical.
Your draft receives an instructor-led technical peer review.
At the conclusion of the course, you may submit your completed draft burn plan for an individual technical peer review by the instructor. This review will focus on the clarity, completeness and consistency of your planning decisions, including objectives, desired fire effects, prescription development, risk assessment, operational feasibility and supporting rationale. You will receive feedback identifying strengths, gaps, assumptions that need further support and opportunities to improve the draft.
This is an educational technical peer review, not a formal professional authentication, regulatory or agency review, approval, or authorization to conduct prescribed fire. Responsibility for obtaining required professional reviews, permissions and approvals remains with the plan developer and applicable authorities.
RX-341 Learning Objectives
The course builds on the learning objectives of the original Prescribed Fire Plan Preparation (RX-341) curriculum developed through the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG).
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
Describe prescribed fire planning policies and guidelines.
Identify and describe the processes involved in preparing a prescribed fire plan.
Develop and defend a prescribed fire plan that safely meets management objectives.
These learning objectives are applied through contemporary prescribed fire planning practices, case studies, discussion and development of an individual burn plan.
A Course Designed for International Practitioners
Prescribed fire planning principles are transferable across jurisdictions, even when legislation, terminology, approval processes and agency templates differ. Throughout the course, we will use the British Columbia provincial Burn Plan Template as our primary teaching framework.
You are encouraged to bring the burn plan template used by your own agency, organization or jurisdiction.
There will be considerable overlap in the fundamental planning components, including objectives, fire behaviour, prescription conditions, risk, smoke, ignition, holding, contingency, and monitoring. Where your template includes additional requirements or uses a different planning approach, please let the instructor know. We can incorporate relevant examples and discuss how those requirements fit within the broader planning process.
The goal is not to teach everyone to write a British Columbia burn plan. It is to develop the knowledge and judgment needed to prepare a defensible prescribed fire plan within your own operating environment.
What You'll Learn
Day 1: Planning Foundations Establish the foundations of a burn plan, including project information, land status, management direction, site characteristics, fuels, values, burn objectives and desired fire effects.
Day 2: Fire Behaviour and Burn Prescription Development Connect desired fire effects with fire behaviour, weather, fuels and terrain. Develop and justify prescription conditions, operational limits and test-fire considerations.
Day 3: Risk, Smoke and Complexity Evaluate values at risk, smoke management, burn complexity, mitigation strategies and contingency requirements. Learn to identify and address credible operational consequences.
Day 4: Operational Burn Planning Develop pre-burn preparation, ignition, holding, resource, organizational, communications, mop-up and patrol strategies that support the prescribed fire objectives.
Day 5: Reviewing and Defending the Burn Plan Explore safety, Go/No-Go decisions, monitoring, documentation, technical review and approvals. Learn how to evaluate the completeness and consistency of your plan and defend important planning decisions.
Course Format
Five days of live online instruction
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Pacific Time daily
15 hours of interactive instruction, demonstrations, discussion, and small-group peer-review sessions
Approximately 15 hours of independent burn plan development
Instructor demonstrations using real prescribed fire planning examples
Participant Burn Plan Review Checklist
Opportunity to submit a draft burn plan for individual instructor-led technical peer review
Participants should plan for approximately three hours of instructor led sessions and three hours of independent work each day.
Total learning commitment: approximately 30 hours.
Who Should Attend?
This course is intended for practitioners involved in developing, reviewing, coordinating or implementing prescribed fire plans, including Burn Bosses and trainees, fire management personnel, land managers, resource professionals, restoration practitioners and agency staff. It is recommended that participants have foundational knowledge of wildland fire behaviour, prescribed fire operations and fire effects. Previous training equivalent to S-390 Intermediate Fire Behaviour and S-219 Firing Operations is recommended.
Your Instructor Colleen Ross, RPF, AFE Certified Wildland Fire Ecologist
Colleen is an AFE Wildland Fire Ecologist, prescribed fire practitioner and professional educator with extensive experience in the wildland fire management space. She holds a Master in Fire Ecology and is an agency certified Burn Boss, Fire Behaviour Analyst and Division Supervisor. Her experience includes prescribed fire planning, implementation, fire effects monitoring and training development.
Colleen develops and delivers professional wildfire and prescribed fire training, including S-390 Intermediate Fire Behaviour, S-219 Firing Operations and RX-310 Introduction to Fire Effects. She also teaches Fire in Ecosystem Management in the BCIT Bachelor of Science in Ecosystem Restoration program. Her instruction combines ecological understanding, operational experience and practical examples from prescribed fire projects.
What You'll Leave With
A developed draft prescribed fire burn plan, a clearer understanding of the decisions behind it, and individual technical peer-review feedback to guide further refinement. The value of this course extends beyond completing a document. Participants will strengthen their ability to explain why prescription conditions were selected, how operational strategies support desired effects, how risks have been addressed and what evidence supports their planning decisions.
Important course distinction: This course draws on the historical RX-341 curriculum and learning objectives but is independently developed and delivered by CR Professional. It is not represented as an NWCG-certified course, and completion does not confer NWCG qualifications or prescribed fire approval authority.
Registration
RX-341 Burn Plan Development
Format: Live online via Microsoft Teams
Duration: Five days, 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Pacific
Total learning hours: Approximately 30
Course fee: $595 CAD
Come with a project. Leave with a stronger plan.