The Prescribed Fire Practitioner Experience Database functions as a wildland and prescribed fire experience tracking system aligned with National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) standards. Paired with the Healthy Forest Alliance Training Database, these systems work together to document a member’s training history and operational experience in a structured, consistent, and reviewable format consistent with national wildland fire practices.

Members use the Experience Database to record prescribed fire and wildfire assignments, including roles performed, dates, fuel types, operational context, and level of responsibility. Experience entries are structured to mirror NWCG terminology and position expectations, supporting accurate documentation of on-the-ground participation. These records are intended to support experience documentation associated with NWCG Position Task Books and qualification review processes, when evaluated by authorized personnel and combined with required training.

The Training Database houses verified training records, including NWCG course completions, certificates, annual refreshers, and other required documentation. When used together, the training and experience systems provide a clear, auditable record that links formal instruction with documented field experience, consistent with NWCG’s emphasis on both training and performance-based evaluation.

Authorized Healthy Forest Alliance Training Officers may review experience entries in conjunction with training records to support records inspections, task book progress reviews, and currency verification, consistent with PMS 310-1 and related NWCG guidance. Experience records alone do not confer qualification; rather, they provide supporting documentation that may be considered as part of an approved NWCG or MOU-authorized qualification pathway.

This integrated, NWCG-aligned approach improves data accuracy, reduces duplicative paperwork, and helps ensure that experience documentation reflects real-world fireline and prescribed fire participation. By aligning experience tracking with national standards, Healthy Forest Alliance supports transparency, consistency, and professional development while maintaining appropriate separation between experience records and formal certification or qualification authority.

The Healthy Forest Alliance Fire Practitioner Experience and Tracking Databases are designed to support the documentation of prescribed fire and wildfire experience in a structured, transparent, and consistent manner. These systems provide fire practitioners, land managers, and community-based fire programs with a centralized place to record operational participation, leadership roles, and field experience associated with wildfire suppression and prescribed fire implementation.

The databases focus on capturing real-world, on-the-ground experience, including participation in prescribed burns, wildfire incidents, training burns, firing and holding operations, ignition support, contingency resources, and operational support roles. Entries reflect the type of activity performed, general conditions, supervision level, and scope of responsibility, helping practitioners build a clear record of their involvement over time. The primary purpose of the system is to support experience tracking, learning, and professional growth, not to independently confer certification or credentials.

Healthy Forest Alliance maintains active membership with the National Wildfire Suppression Association (NWSA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). IAFC is an NWCG member organization, and NWSA operates under a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). These affiliations inform the structure of HFA’s experience tracking systems and help ensure they align with widely accepted terminology, safety principles, and best practices used across the fire management community.

Experience logged in the Fire Practitioner Experience Database may be used by individuals to reflect on skill development, document participation for personal records, support resumes or program reporting, and demonstrate engagement in prescribed fire and wildfire operations. While experience records may later be referenced in formal qualification or review processes, the database itself functions primarily as an experience and participation log, not a credentialing system.

Fire practitioners and partner organizations are encouraged to confirm that any training or coursework referenced alongside experience entries is delivered by an approved provider by consulting the National Wildfire Suppression Association (NWSA) Accepted Training Providers list when experience is intended to support nationally recognized fire programs.

Policy Context and Data Integrity (PMS 901)

The PMS 901 provides national context on how training and experience are interpreted within wildland fire systems. It clarifies that training and credentials not issued through NWCG-approved courses or organizations operating under an NWCG Memorandum of Understanding are not recognized for formal NWCG certification or qualification purposes. To maintain clarity and transparency, the HFA databases are designed to distinguish between documented experience and recognized qualification credit.

By focusing on accurate experience tracking and clear documentation, Healthy Forest Alliance supports safer prescribed fire implementation, improved wildfire readiness, and long-term professional development. These systems help practitioners tell the story of their fire experience while maintaining alignment with national terminology and expectations, without overstating the role of experience records in formal qualification or certification processes.

The Healthy Forest Alliance Fire Practitioner Experience and Tracking Databases are intentionally designed to reflect the unique operational, regulatory, and ecological conditions of prescribed fire in California. Unlike generic experience logs, the system accounts for the complexity of California’s fire environment, where prescribed fire is implemented across diverse ownerships, fuel types, and governance structures.

California prescribed fire commonly occurs on private, tribal, local government, nonprofit, and mixed-jurisdiction lands, often outside of traditional federal incident frameworks. The database is structured to capture experience gained through pile burning, broadcast burning, cultural burning, training burns, cooperative burns, and community-based prescribed fire projects, including operations conducted through Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs) and local partnerships. This allows practitioners to accurately document experience that reflects how prescribed fire is actually implemented in the state.

The system also recognizes California’s regulatory and planning requirements, including burn permits, air quality coordination, burn plans, contingency resources, and compliance with state and local authorities. Experience entries can reflect operational roles tied to planning, ignition, holding, patrol, mop-up, monitoring, and contingency readiness—roles that are essential in California prescribed fire but not always visible in wildfire-centric tracking systems.

Because California’s prescribed fire workforce includes non-agency practitioners, landowners, volunteers, contractors, and agency personnel working side by side, the database is designed to support consistent documentation across varied backgrounds while using standardized terminology and role descriptions common to the broader fire management community. This helps ensure experience records are understandable, transferable, and meaningful across programs and organizations.

The database also supports long-term experience accumulation, recognizing that prescribed fire in California often occurs in small operational windows over multiple seasons rather than large, continuous incidents. Practitioners can build a cumulative, season-over-season record that reflects progressive responsibility, learning, and leadership development.

By being tailored to California’s prescribed fire landscape, the Healthy Forest Alliance experience tracking systems provide a realistic, transparent, and practical way to document fire experience—supporting safer operations, stronger collaboration, and sustained growth of California’s prescribed fire capacity without overstating formal qualification or certification authority.