Boy Scouts of America

Wildland Fire Management
Test Lab

Wildland Fire Management

NOTICE

These test lab requirements are available for Scouts until June 30, 2026. At that time, these requirements will disappear and the surveys will be closed. Learn more About the Test Lab.

Wildland Fire Management Overview

Every year, millions of acres, throughout the United States are lost to destructive wildfires. Billions of dollars are spent annually and the loss of property and life is catastrophic. Smoke from American and Canadian wildfires can spread across the country affecting the public health of millions of people annually. Wildfire has become a national crisis in the United States.

 

As destructive as wildfire can be, managed wildland fire can also be beneficial. Fire plays a critical process in many ecosystems and can enhance habitats, reduce fuel loads and support forest regeneration.

 

Understanding and managing wildland fire is a complex undertaking. Striking a balance between preventing and supressing harmful human-caused wildfire while promoting beneficial fire in the landscape will be the challenge as we continue to live with fire in the United States.

 

As Scouts, we can learn and do our part to make our homes, our camps and our communities more resilient and resistant to wildfire and we can understand the natural role that fire plays in our nation’s wildlands. We can explore and consider careers in wildland fire management or even become wildland firefighters, The future of wildland fire management in the United States will require leaders who are conservation-minded.

 

Welcome to Wildland Fire Management Badge, where you will learn about these concepts and more! Watch these videos to get started:

Wildland Fire Management REQUIREMENTS

1. Explain the history of wildland fire, its suppression, prevention and management in America.

 

  1. YouTube: WFSTAR: The Fires of 1910
  2. YouTube: A History of Wildfire Prevention

2. Explain the harm caused by wildfire in the United States.  Discuss the negative impacts that wildfire can have on the following resources.

 

  1. Commercial forest products
  2. Fish and Wildlife habitat
  3. Soil and water
  4. Recreation and public use
  5. Homes, communities and human resources
  6. Air quality and public health

 

  1. YouTube: A Better Way to Think About Wildland Fires 
  2. YouTube: How Are Wildfires Making Us Sick 
  3. YouTube: How Wildfires Affect Water Supply

3. Define prescribed fire. Explain how it is used to accomplish the following:

 

  1. Fuel reduction
  2. Fish and wildlife habitat enhancement
  3. Ecosystem restoration
  4. Forest regeneration
  5. Insect and disease control

 

  1. YouTube: Misconceptions and Benefits of Fire
  2. YouTube: Wildlife That Depends on Fire to Survive
  3. YouTube: How does Fire Affect Wildlife?
  4. YouTube: Good Fire: Prescribed Burning

4. Explain defensible space and define the term wildland-urban interface.  Discuss how homes and communities in the wildland-urban interface can be protected from wildfire. 

 

  1. YouTube: Separating Your Home From Wildfire – The Zones of Defensible Space

6. Describe the Fire Triangle.  Explain how wildfires can be suppressed by removing each element of the fire triangle.

 

  1. YouTube: Fire Triangle Explained – How Oxygen, Heat, and Fuel Interact with Wildfire

7. Explain how the fire environment affects wildland fire behavior.  Give examples of the influences of weather, topography and fuel.  Draw a diagram to illustrate the parts of a wildfire.

 

  1. YouTube: How to Describe the Behavior and Parts of a Wildfire

8. Explain the following wildland fire suppression tactics and under which conditions they would be used to achieve objectives. Use your own diagrams if necessary.

 

  1. Direct attack
  2. Indirect attack
  3. Parallel attack
  4. Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics
  5. Mop-Up
  6. Use of machinery and aircraft
  7. Fire management for resource benefit objectives
  8. Repair and Restoration

 

  1. YouTube: How We Fight Wildfires
  2. Facebook: The Difference Between a Direct and Indirect Attack – US Forest Service
  3. YouTube: Evolution of Fire Management and the Role of Knowledge
  4. YouTube: Mop Up Operations on the Mosquito Fire

9. Describe 10 tools, equipment or apparatus that are unique to wildland fire suppression and explain how these items are used. 

 

  1. YouTube: West Metro Fire Rescue: Wildland Firefighting Tools
  2. Wildland Fire Engines
  3. Aircraft | National Interagency Fire Center
  4. Dozers
  5. Firefighting Equipment

10. Describe the personal protective equipment used by wildland firefighters.  Explain why personal protective equipment and proper training is necessary.

 

  1. YouTube: Dressed for Fire

11. Describe the following and explain why each is an important consideration for maintaining personal safety and situational awareness during wildland fire suppression activities.

 

  1. 10 Standard Firefighting Orders
  2. 18 Watch Out Situations
  3. Lookouts, Communication, Escape Routes and Safety Zones  (LCES)

 

  1. YouTube: WFSTAR: Standard Firefighting Orders
  2. Bing Videos: WFSTAR: Watch Out Situations 
  3. YouTube WFSTAR: Is Your LCES Adequate

12. List the major government agencies involved with fire suppression in the United States, and the role that these agencies play in fire suppression. 

 

  1. About Us | NWCG (click on Member Agencies Tab)

13. Draw a diagram of the Incident Command System.  Explain the functions of the positions that make up the Command and General Staff.

 

  1. ICS Organizational Structure and Elements

14. Learn about three career opportunities in wildland fire.  Select one and research the education, training, and experience required for this position. Discuss this position with your counselor, and explain why a career in wildland fire might interest you.

 

  1. YouTube: Wildland Firefighting & Wildland Fire Ecology Jobs Explained for Beginners
  2. YouTube: Wildland Fire Recruiting Video

15. Do one of the following:

 

  1. Develop a fire readiness plan for a wildland area with which you are familiar.  The plan should include a map showing available resources, water supplies, natural and manmade barriers, and access.  The plan should discuss fuel loads, available fire apparatus, structure protection needs, values at risk, medical and evacuation considerations and potential fire suppression tactics. 
  2. Visit with a state or federal forestry official or your local fire warden.  Discuss the causes of and types of wildland fire that occur in your area.   Discuss the prime fire season(s) in your area.  Identify the agency responsible for wildland fire suppression in your area.  Write a brief report about what you learned during your visit.
  3. Conduct a fire wise assessment of a home or a building in the wildland-urban interface, which could include a Scout camp building or facility.  Identify potential risks and fire hazards.  With your counselor’s approval, complete a project to reduce the wildfire risk and increase the preparedness of the building.  Write a brief report about what you did and learned from the assessment and project.
    NFPA – Firewise USA®
  4. Participate in a fire prevention campaign with your local fire department or forestry agency.  Write a brief report about what you did and what you learned from it.

16. Research an historic catastrophic wildland fire incident that has occurred in the United States.  Write a report of no less than 500 words describing the incident, the conditions that led to the incident, how the incident was managed, and how the incident could have been prevented.  Explain what lessons were learned and how this incident affected future fire suppression policy or suppression tactics. There are many historic fires that can be researched online, here are four examples.

 

  1. YouTube: The Tillamook Burn forest fire of August, 1933
  2. YouTube: The Story Behind the Yellowstone Fires of 1988 | Retro Report | The New York Times
  3. Bing Videos: The Smoke Jumper Tragedy of Mann Gulch
  4. Bing Videos: Storm King Mountain Tragedy

17. Complete the survey below to complete the test lab requirements

About The Test Lab

Scouts can complete these requirements in order to provide feedback and receive a certificate

You decide if this activity becomes an official Merit Badge of Scouting America.  By filling out the survey, you vote for or against this becoming a Merit Badge.  You can also suggest changes to make the merit badge more engaging.  The fate of this potential merit badge rests in your hands.  Come back and complete the survey after you finish the requirements to make your voice heard and to get your certificate of completion.

Bray Barnes

Director, Global Security Innovative
Strategies

Bray Barnes is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Silver
Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Learning for Life Distinguished
Service Award. He received the Messengers of Peace Hero award from
the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he’s a life member of
the 101st Airborne Association and Vietnam Veterans Association. Barnes
serves as a senior fellow for the Global Federation of Competitiveness
Councils, a nonpartisan network of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and
national laboratory directors. He has also served as a senior executive for the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, leading the first-responder program
and has two U.S. presidential appointments

David Alexander

Managing Member Calje

David Alexander is a Baden-Powell Fellow, Summit Bechtel Reserve philanthropist, and recipient of the Silver Buffalo and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the founder of Caljet, one of the largest independent motor fuels terminals in the U.S. He has served the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, Teen Lifeline, and American Heart Association. A triathlete who has completed hundreds of races, Alexander has also mentored the women’s triathlon team at Arizona State University.