Wildland Fire Professional Certification Program
The Association for Fire Ecology developed a Wildland Fire Professional Certification program to further promote ecologically-based science and management in wildland fire and fuels through accredited professionals. We have multiple certifications to fit diverse career stages and focal areas.
Becoming certified formally acknowledges your education, experience, and accomplishments and offers employers a way to identify you as a recognized wildland fire professional. For students, the certification program provides a clear pathway to define and achieve your career goals.
The application cost is $72 to $180 with student discounts available. Applications are due September 1, and applicants are notified by December 1.
We awarded more than 200 certifications for wildland fire ecologists, managers, and technicians. You can be next—Get Certified!
Types of Certification
AFE offers a total of 11 certifications: 3 initial certifications, 4 certifications focused on management, and 4 certifications focused on science. Each certification requires varying requirements for education and experience, and an applicant can apply for more than one certification at the same time.
Click here for an overview of each certification level, minimum qualifications, and fees.
Re-certification
In an effort to maintain the highest professional certification standards, AFE offers a re-certification program. This program allows you to “freshen” your certification at least every five years through completing continuing education activities.
How to Apply
Please review the Professional Certification Guidebook to see if you meet the minimum qualifications and how you will be evaluated. Use the Application Checklist below to prepare your documents.
Complete application by September 1.
By applying for certification, all applicants agree to follow the AFE Code of Ethics; certified professionals who fail to follow the code risk losing their certification.
After you submit your application, you will be directed to an online payment webpage to pay your application fee or be given the option to send your payment by mail.
You will receive confirmation and a copy of your application by email upon submission, and we will notify you of the results by December 1.
Membership Requirement: If you are certified, you will automatically become an AFE member for one year. It is expected that your AFE membership will be renewed annually, and any individual whose membership has lapsed for five years or more will be placed in an inactive category on our certification lists. If maintaining membership represents a financial hardship, please contact AFE to apply for a fee waiver.
Application Checklist
Applications must be completed online using the link above. If you’d like to preview the application or draft responses, you can view the questions in this PDF version or Word document.
Prior to completing the online application, please make sure you have the following documents ready to upload. Save each file so the title includes your last name and document type (for example: Oxarart_Resume). Each file must be less than 10MB, and the combined total of all uploads must be under 20MB.
Current resume or CV
Transcripts: For certifications requiring a degree, have transcripts ready for all institutes of higher education you attended. Unofficial copies are OK; you may want to white out sensitive information.
Only for Wildland Fuels Certifications: A set of core competencies can be used in lieu of the academic degree for the Fuels Technician and Fuels Management certifications. For the Fuels Scientist certifications, both education and core competencies are required. Please complete the appropriate template below, save as a PDF, and have it ready to upload to the Core Competency section of the application.
