Annual South Dakota Wildland Fire Academy
We are pleased to announce the 11th Annual South Dakota Wildland Fire Academy.
The 2024 academy will be held in Pierre, SD Thursday, March 14 through Sunday, March 17.
All wildland fire training presented at the South Dakota Wildland Fire Academy meets the standards
set forth by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG).
*New this year: most classes will be held at the Capital City Campus.
Click here to register no later than March 1. Registration fee is a non-refundable $35 per student, payable by credit card or check. Please make checks out to SD Dept of Public Safety. Checks should be mailed to: Attn Tamara Dierks, SD Wildland Fire, 3305 W South St, Rapid City SD 57702 or brought to the first day of class.
- No meals are provided with this training, but the area has a variety of food options including fast food and sit down restaurants.
- Students must attend the entire class to receive credit. No exceptions will be made.
- Students must provide all wildland PPE to participate in field exercises; hard hat, eye protection, leather gloves, Nomex shirt/pants, fire shelter, line gear (if available), and boots.
- Classes will begin at 0800 (Central Time Zone) on their respective days where listed in the class schedule.
- We want to thank the agencies and individuals that help ensure the academy's growth and success each year.
Although the 2023 fire season picked up nationally from 2022, it was very slow in our region and South Dakota.
I was glad to see many firefighters get a chance to fight fires in states that are unusual to us including Kansas, Louisiana, Oregon, and many more. Not only does this provide experience in different fuel types, but firefighters get to network with new agencies and regional staff.
With that, we continue to see a need both locally and nationally for mid level qualifications such as Heavy Equipment Boss and Task Force Leader. SD Wildland Fire will continue to concentrate our class offerings on those that help with upward growth. There is no doubt our local fire season will return one day and we need to be ready. I hope to see you at some trainings this winter season and have a safe 2024 fire season!
Sincerely, Tamara
S-130 Basic Wildland Firefighter, S-190 Introduction to Fire Behavior, L-180 Human Factors in the Wildland Fire Service
Start: Thursday, March 14, 2024, 0800
End: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1700
Location: Drifters Conference Center, 325 E Hustan Avenue, Fort Pierre, SD
Prerequisites: Complete IS100 and IS700 online (information sent with class letter).
Course Description: The intent of S-130 is to train new firefighters in basic firefighting skills and includes a required field exercise. S-190 Introduces students to the basic concepts of wildland fire behavior including: the primary wildland fire environment components; how characteristics and interactions of fuels, weather, and topography affect fire
behavior; and how fire behavior affects risk to firefighters. L-180 exposes students to human performance concepts as
part of basic wildland fire training. These courses are required to become a basic wildland firefighter (FFT2).
S-131 Firefighter Type 1 Training
Start: Saturday, March 16, 2024, 0800
End: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1400
Location: Capital City Campus, 925 E Sioux Avenue, Pierre, SD
Prerequisites: Qualified as Firefighter Type 2 (FFT2)/No pre-course work required.
Course Description: S-131 is a course designed to meet the training needs of the Firefighter Type 1 (FFT1) and/or Incident Commander Type 5 (ICT5). It is designed to be interactive in nature and contains class discussion and several tactical decision games designed to facilitate learning the objectives. Topics include operational leadership, communications, LCES, and tactical decision making. This course is required for Firefighter Type 1 (FFT1) and Incident Commander Type 5 (ICT5).
S-230 Crew Boss and S-231 Engine Boss (Blended Course)
Start: Saturday, March 16, 2024, 0800
End: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1700
Location: Capital City Campus, 925 E Sioux Avenue, Pierre, SD
Prerequisites: Must be qualified as an Firefighter Type 1 (FFT1) and have successfully passed S-290 Intermediate Wildland Fire
Behavior. Must also satisfactorily pass the pre-work modules.
Special Instructions: Pre-course work instructions will be sent to all students who have submitted nominations.
Course Description: This course was developed using a blended approach to learning, meaning that it contains a mix of
online and instructor-led training (ILT). Students are required to complete the online training portion of the course and pass an
online assessment prior to taking the ILT. The ILT will reinforce the content learned online and provide opportunities to apply this knowledge to realworld scenarios and practical ex-ercises. Upon completion of the ILT, students must then take and pass a final assess-ment in order to receive credit for the course. The final assessment covers content from both the online and ILT portions of the course. This course is required for all Single Resource Boss Positions.
S-270 Basic Air Operations
Start: Friday, March 16, 2024, 0800
End: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1700
Location: Capital City Campus, 925 E Sioux Avenue, Pierre, SD
Prerequisites: Satisfactory completion of pre-course work.
Special Instructions: Pre-course work instructions will be sent to all students who have submitted nominations.
Course Description: This course covers aircraft types and capabilities, aviation management and safety for flying in and working with agency aircraft, tactical and logistical uses of aircraft, and requirements for helicopter take-off and landing areas. Upon completion of this course, the student will have obtained the basic understanding of the different functions of Air Operations.
This is a great continuing education course for a wildland firefighter.
S-215 Fire Operations in the Wildland Urban Interface
Start: Friday, March 15, 2024, 0800
End: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1700
Location: Capital City Campus, 925 E Sioux Avenue, Pierre, SD
Prerequisites: Must be qualified as a Firefighter Type 1 (FFT1), no pre-course work required.
Course Description: Instructional units include firefighter safety in the interface, managing human factors in the interface, pre-
incident planning, size up and initial strategy, structure triage, structure protection overview, tactics in the interface, tactical operations and resource use in the interface, action assessment, plan up-date, and after action review. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to operate safely and effectively in a wildland urban inter-face incident by using situation awareness, performing structure triage, using pre-planning tools, having a basic understanding of fire behavior, and using strategy and tactics unique to the wildland urban interface environ-ment. This course is required for Task Force Leader (TFLD).
S-219 Firing Operations
Start: Friday, March 15, 2024, 0800*
End: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1700
Location: Capital City Campus, 925 E Sioux Avenue, Pierre, SD
Prerequisites: Must be qualified as a Firefighter Type 2 (FFT2) and satisfactorily complete the pre-course work before class.
Special Instructions: Pre-course work instructions will be sent to all students who have submitted nominations.
Course Description: This course uses a blended approach to learning with both online and Instructor Lead Training (ILT). Students are required to complete the online training portion of the course prior to taking the ILT. The course introduces the roles and responsibilities of a firing boss (FIRB) and outlines duties of other personnel who may engage in firing opera-tions. It also discusses and illustrates common firing devices and techniques. Although comprehensive in nature, the course work is not a substitute for the dynamic fire environment. The course provides students with important information regarding general tasks required to be successful. This course is required for State of Souh Dakota employees and coopertors pursuing the Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 3 (RXB3) qualification. *The class may be shortened to two days if conditions aren't conducive to live fire.
S-290 Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior
Start: Thursday, March 14, 2024, 0800
End: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1700
Location: Ft. Pierre Volunteer Fire Department, 305 Deadwood Street, Fort Pierre, SD
Prerequisites: Completion of S-190 Introduction to Wildland Fire Behavior and satisfactory complete of pre-selection assessment and pre-course work.
Special Instructions: Pre-course work instructions will be sent to all students who have submitted nominations.
Course Description: This is a classroom-based skills course designed to prepare the prospective fireline supervisor to undertake safe and effective fire management operations. It is the second course in a series that collectively serves to develop fire behavior prediction knowledge and skills. This course is required for Prescribed Fire Burn Boss Type 3 (RXB3) and all Single Resource Bosses.
L-280 Followership to Leadership
Start: Saturday, March 16, 2024, 0800
End: Sunday, March 17, 2024, 1700
Location: Capital City Campus, 925 E Sioux Avenue, Pierre, SD
Prerequisites: Satisfactory completion of the pre-course work and successful completion of L-180 Human Factors in the Wildland Fire Service.
Special Instructions: Pre-course work instructions will be sent to all students who have sub-mitted nominations.
Course Description: This training course is designed as a self-assessment opportunity for individuals preparing to step into a leadership role. The course combines one day of classroom instruction followed by a second day in the field with students working through a series of problem solving events in small teams (Field Leadership As-sessment Course). Topics include leader-ship values and principles, transition challenges for new leaders, situational leadership, team cohesion factors, ethical decision making, and after action review techniques. Some course delivery may be arduous in nature. This is a great Leadership and Development Course.
Tamara Dierks
Training and Aviation Program Manager
Office: 605.393.4229
Fax: 605.393.8044
tamara.dierks@state.sd.us
