Lead Instructor: Ross Avichouser

Course Coordinator: Krissy Mitchell

Date: March 10-11, 2026

Time: 0900 -1600

Location: Virtual

Registration Closes: February 24, 2026 - Limited number of spaces. The waitlist is activated when the course is full.

DNR’s Wildland Fire Academy Program hosts interagency academy sessions to provide quality wildland fire training at no cost to Washington's in-state interagency firefighting partners. 

You must be affiliated with Washington State’s local, state, federal, or tribal firefighting agency participating in wildland fire suppression to be able to register for one of our academy courses. You must also meet the qualification and prerequisite requirements specific to each course.

Course Description - Virtual Instructor-led Training

This is a classroom course designed to produce student proficiency in the performance of duties associated with the single resource boss position from initial dispatch through demobilization to the home unit. Topics include operational leadership, preparation and mobilization, assignment preparation, risk management, entrapment avoidance, safety and tactics, offline duties, demobilization, and post-incident responsibilities.

Objectives

• Describe crew boss responsibilities prior to and during mobilization, on the incident, and during demobilization.
• Identify the hazards and risks on various incidents and describe how to mitigate them.
• Describe tactics which are appropriate to various wildland fire situations and procedures to implement them through the chain of command.

Target Group: Personnel desiring to be qualified as any single resource boss.

Prerequisite Qualifications and Training

• Qualified as Firefighter Type 1 (FFT1).
• Successful completion of Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior (S-290). 
• Satisfactory completion of pre-course work.

Cost

There is no registration fee for this course. DNR fire program staff will charge their normal program for salary, and non-fire program staff will receive academy program code for salary for course hours. Partner agencies will be responsible for their own costs while participating in all academy sessions.

If you have questions about this course, contact Lois Anderson at lois.anderson@dnr.wa.gov or 360-999-8259.