Fire Education Resources

FireWorks is an educational program about the science of wildland fire, designed for students in grades K-12. FireWorks provides students with interactive, hands-on materials to study wildland fire. It is highly interdisciplinary and students learn about properties of matter, chemical and physical processes, ecosystem fluctuations and cycles, habitat and survival, and human interactions with ecosystems. Students using FireWorks ask questions, gather information, analyze and interpret it, and communicate their discoveries.

The FireWorks program consists of a curriculum and a trunk of materials, including laboratory equipment, specimens, and kits of specialized materials for educators. While many of the activities can be used in any ecosystem, many are applicable to specific regions. FireWorks has specialized curricula to learn about:

• Fire in the Northern Rocky Mountains and Northern Cascades
• Fire in the Sierra Nevada
• Fire in the Sagebrush Ecosystem
• Fire in the Missouri River Country (from the northern Rocky Mountain Front to the tallgrass prairies)
• How and why the Pikunii (Blackfeet) people carried fire

The program has also been adapted to Colorado ecology (implemented by Colorado Project Learning Tree), and we offer a 'generic' version for educators to adapt to their specific ecosystems.

Educator workshops are offered each year to teach educators, community leaders, and agency communicators how to use FireWorks. Two research projects have shown that FireWorks increases student and adult understanding of wildland fire (see FireWorks: Hands-on Education).

The FireWorks Educational Program is produced by the Fire Modeling Institute (FMI) of the US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program (FFS).

This recorded training was designed for landowners, land managers, and anyone interested in learning more about fire ecology, how to plan and implement prescribed fire. The webinar will highlight successes from other counties, including the PBA model that is currently gaining momentum in counties across California.

Whether you live in a mixed conifer forest, oak woodland, chaparral or grassland habitat, returning prescribed fire to California can be part of a well-managed property. This training will be conducted completely online in five 1-1/2-hour moderated sessions.

View the recorded training here

The California Fire Science Consortium is ‘a fire science network of scientists and managers that strives to accelerate the awareness, understanding and adoption of wildland fire science information by federal, tribal, state, local and private stakeholders within similar regions.' 

On their website, you can find webinars, 1-2 page research briefs and get newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest fire science.

The Center for Fire Research and Outreach at Berkeley Forests has a goal to develop and disseminate science-based solutions to wildfire-related challenges.

Visit their website to learn about current wildfire research taking place through UC Berkeley