The Wildland Firefighter Apprenticeship Program or WFAP is hosting its first-ever training session outside of California at Auburn University’s Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center during Feb 2018.
"The original set-up of the Dixon center was a place where you could learn in the classrooms and step out onto the field and do it, and that sounds to me like what they were looking for,” said the Dixon Center’s Director Joel Martin.
The Dixon Center is in Andalusia, Alabama and has over 5,300 acres of forest. The center has dormitories, a cafeteria, and classrooms.
Martin said other government agencies have trained at the Dixon Center before.
“The intent of [the Dixon center] is hands-on forestry education," said WFAP's Director Heath Cota. "We are the forestry service and a bunch of wildland firefighters so what better place to train them."
Cota said the WFAP started in 1989 in California and is designed to “develop highly-trained firefighters that will be the leaders and fire managers of tomorrow.” Around 300 firefighters go through the program each year.
WFAP is a part of the training all full-time U.S. National Forest Service firefighters must receive during their apprenticeship. The program consists of a month-long foundational course which is followed by the core course after apprentices have spent a fire season or a summer working.
“This is the first time that we’ve delivered this program outside of California,” Cota said. “Bringing the academy out to Alabama and into a different environment will make it more accessible for the rest of the country in the forest service and cooperating agencies.”
Apprentices and some staff are living at the Dixon center during their training. Training includes leadership and navigation skills and evaluating forests for fire potential.
“They’re doing the same thing our students do,” Martin said. “We bring our forestry and wildlife students down in summer, and they do sampling and orienteering and learn how to use the tools of the trade, and that’s exactly what these people are doing.”
Not only do U.S. Forest Service employees receive training, but firefighters from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Bureau of Indian Affairs also go through the WFAP.
“The benefit that some of the firefighters are getting that are coming from the western states is they’re getting this exposure to this ecosystem and this fuel type which they might not get exposure to for several years in their career,” Cota said.
Cota said he hopes apprentices will be able to participate in controlled burnings at the Dixon Center in the future. Martin said about a third of the Dixon Center is burned every year.
“The western half of the country is predominantly known for its wildfire season,” Cota said. “Land management agencies have firefighters all across the country and the southern region leads the country in prescribed fire activities and they have their fair share of wildland fires as well.”
The U.S. Forest Service has not yet decided to adopt the Dixon Center as a permanent training area, and Cota said some details are still being negotiated with the University.
“I think it’s a great partnership if we can pull it off long-term," Martin said. "I think it’s a benefit to the area and the school and definitely the Dixon Center."
The next training session at the Dixon Center is scheduled to begin March 18.
“I think the experience so far has exceeded our initial expectations,” Cota said. “What this facility has to offer and the overall educational experience has just been exceptional.”
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