Learn to Burn: Foundations for Safe and Effective Prescribed Fire Online Course
100% Online | Self-Paced | OSU Extension Fire Specialists | Choose Your Price
Put good fire on the ground with confidence. Learn how to plan, carry out, and evaluate a prescribed burn in a self-paced online course from the Oregon State University Extension Fire Program.
Read the weather. Size up your fuels. Anticipate fire behavior and smoke. Then connect it all to the land you care about.
Built by Oregon's Extension fire specialists. Priced so more people can learn.
Finish Ready for Your Next Burn
Learn to Burn walks you through the full prescribed fire process, from fire's role on the landscape to evaluating a burn after it's out. By the end, you'll have:
The big picture. A clear understanding of how planning, implementation, and evaluation fit together, and why each step matters.
The ability to read conditions. Know how weather, fuels, and terrain shape fire behavior and smoke, and what that means for when and how you burn.
Better conversations. Speak the language of burn plans, so you can work confidently with your Prescribed Burn Association, agency partners, contractors, and neighbors.
A connection to your own land. Apply each lesson to the landscapes and situations that matter to you.
A trusted reference. The course follows the OSU Extension guidebook Prescribed Fire in the Pacific Northwest, so what you learn lines up with the resource you'll keep using.
Progress on your credentials. Oregon Certified Burn Managers can earn continuing education credits.
Why Learn Prescribed Fire at OSU
Built by Oregon's Extension Fire Specialists
Developed by OSU College of Forestry Extension faculty who work on fire in communities from the coast to northeast Oregon.
Grounded in the Pacific Northwest
The framework is OSU Extension's own guidebook, Prescribed Fire in the Pacific Northwest, so the content fits the fuels, weather, and landscapes you actually work in.
Learn by Doing
Interactive activities, real-world examples, and knowledge checks help you apply each concept, not just read about it.
Priced So More People Can Learn
Choose the price that works for you. Same course, same content, at every level.
Who This Course Is For
Landowners and land managers. You want to use fire on your property, or work alongside the people who do, and you want to understand every step.
Prescribed Burn Association members and volunteers. Go into your next burn knowing why each decision gets made, not just what to do.
Emerging prescribed fire practitioners. Build intermediate-level knowledge you can use during future burns, and earn CE credits if you're an Oregon Certified Burn Manager.
Community partners and curious learners. Understand why prescribed fire matters for wildfire risk, ecosystems, and resilient landscapes.
What You'll Learn
The course follows the prescribed fire process from start to finish.
Step 1
Fire's Role on the Landscape
Why fire belongs in Pacific Northwest ecosystems and what prescribed fire can accomplish.
Step 2
Weather
How temperature, humidity, and wind shape a burn, and how to recognize a good burn window.
Step 3
Fuels
How to size up what will burn and how it will carry fire.
Step 4
Fire Behavior
How weather, fuels, and terrain combine, so you can anticipate what fire will do.
Step 5
Smoke
How smoke moves and how to plan for neighbors, roads, and communities.
Step 6
Planning a Burn
How the pieces come together in a burn plan.
Step 7
Implementation
What happens on burn day.
Step 8
Evaluation
How to tell whether a burn met its goals and what to change next time.
Your Schedule. Your Pace.
Learn to Burn is self-paced and on demand. Log in when it works for you, whether that's early morning before chores or late evening after a long day.
Plan on about 20 hours total. Most learners can finish in 10 weeks at 2 hours a week, but you set the schedule.
Revisit any lesson as often as you need.
No set class times. No travel. No waiting for the next session.
One Course. Three Ways to Pay.
We want cost to keep as few people as possible from learning about prescribed fire. Pick the price that fits your situation.
Everyone gets the same course, the same content, and the same access.
Scholarship, $20. Cost is a barrier for you right now. Choose this option, no questions asked.
General Enrollment, $35. The standard course price.
Pay It Forward, $50. Cover your own seat and help make the course affordable for someone else.
Every Pay It Forward registration helps keep the Scholarship price available to another learner.
What Your Tuition Includes
20
hours of interactive, self-paced learning
2
hours a week, suggested pace over 10 weeks
5
OSU Extension fire and forestry faculty behind the course
2 CE
credits for Oregon Certified Burn Managers
Quick Answers
Do I need prescribed fire experience? No. The course starts with fire's role on the landscape and builds from there. If you've already worked on burns, it will deepen and organize what you know.
Will this course qualify me to lead a prescribed burn? No. Learn to Burn builds your knowledge of the prescribed fire process. It is not a certification or burn qualification. Oregon Certified Burn Managers can use it for continuing education credits.
How long does it take? About 20 hours. At 2 hours a week, most learners finish in 10 weeks, but the course is self-paced.
How much does it cost? You choose: $20 Scholarship, $35 General Enrollment, or $50 Pay It Forward. Same course at every price.
Developed by OSU College of Forestry Extension Faculty
Carrie Berger, Extension Fire Program Manager
Micah Schmidt, Northeast Regional Fire Specialist
Chris Adlam, Southwest Regional Fire Specialist
Aaron Groth, Coast Regional Fire Specialist
Jacob Putney, Extension Forester, Baker and Grant Counties
Ready to Learn to Burn?
Prescribed fire is an important tool for healthy, resilient landscapes. Using it well takes knowledge, planning, and collaboration. This course gives you the foundation.
We're glad you're here. Let's learn to burn together.
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