The first step to becoming a trained wildland firefighter is to complete the Introduction to Wildland Fire series of courses, commonly referred to as S-130/S-190, which are directed by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). Nearly all Iowa natural resource agencies and non-governmental organizations require that a person complete at least the basic courses, which covers basic national emergency management organization (FEMA training), basic wildland fire behavior and the factors that influence it, basic wildland firefighter training, and human factors in firefighting (NWCG training).
These courses are available online at no cost, or occasionally in-person. Training is not complete until you have attended an Introduction to Wildland Fire field day, several are offered each year around Iowa and the Midwest. The field day may have a cost associated with it, depending on the sponsoring organization.
Expect to spend about 3-5 hours completing the FEMA courses and 20-24 hours completing the NWCG courses, and between 6-12 hours in a field day, or around 40 hours to complete the entire course series.
To participate in the online course series:
- You must have a FEMA Student Identification Number (SID#) to take most online courses. Register for your FEMA SID# at https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid/.
- You will need a free account to register and access the NWCG online courses. Go to https://wildlandfirelearningportal.net/login/index.php to obtain your User ID and password.