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College of Natural Resources
Forestry and Environmental Resources

Wildland Fire Courses

Wildland Fire Science: Fire Ecology,Behavior, Controlled Burn and Firefighting

The U.S. has experienced historic levels of extreme fire behavior recently with more acres burned, more homes and resources destroyed, more human mortality and more money spent in fire suppression. The following series of online courses in Wildland Fire Science will teach the benefits, risks and methods to manage fire in natural landscapes.

“Fire experience enabled me to go straight from graduation to working with The Nature Conservancy, restoring ecosystems.”

Per Frisk, 2016

These courses can be taken by any current graduate student or individually, by anyone with an undergraduate degree.  If you are not a current student and want to take courses, apply to the non-degree studies program.

If you have questions about these courses, please email Dr. Joseph Roise at Joe_Roise@ncsu.edu.

FOR 531: Introduction to Wildland Fire Science

This course explores the physical, chemical, biological and ecological processes associated with wildland fire, with particular emphasis on fire behavior, fuels, weather, climate and the associated effects on ecology, management, fire suppression, prescribed fire, and smoke emissions and exposure. We also take a closer look at fire’s effect on national policy, social and natural history of North America, with in-depth exercises in fire and smoke modeling using established predictive systems.

  • 3 credits
  • 100% online
  • Offered in spring semesters
  • No prerequisites
  • Instructor: Joseph Roise

FOR 595 – 601: Fire Ecology

This course emphasizes the relationship between wildland fire and southeastern US ecosystems. Plants and animals of the region evolved with fire and many rare and endangered species are fire dependent.  However, modern day fire prescriptions must integrate our evolving knowledge of historical fire regimes with the challenges of applying fire in a landscape increasingly modified by the expanding human population. The course uses creative approaches to bring field-based concepts related to fire ecology and prescribed fire application into the online environment. Course topics include fire behavior, history of lightning and anthropogenic fire, fire adaptations of plants and wildlife, landscape fire ecology, restoration of fire-dependent communities, and planning and conducting a prescribed burn.

  • 3 credits,
  • Online except for one Saturday
  • Offered in spring semesters
  • Prerequisite: NWCG Firefighter Type 2 Certification or FOR 532
  • Instructor: Robert Mickler