Professional re-Certification

To maintain the highest professional certification standards, AFE implemented a mandatory, 5-year re-certification program in January 2023. 

This re-certification program will provide employers, collaborators, and evaluators valuable information on the time relevance of the certification. AFE will post the year of re-certification along with the year of the original certification on the list of certified professionals. 

The Details

  • Applying for re-certification is very easy.  Applicants submit a letter that details the continued education, coursework, and professional improvement that has been completed since their last certification. See below for the application instructions and evaluation criteria.

  • The cost of re-certification is $25.

  • Applicants can only be re-certified in the same pathway and position that they were previously certified. If an applicant wishes to enhance their certification, such as become certified in a different pathway or go for the senior level, they must apply as a new certification. 

Transition

We will transition into this new requirement over the next decade with the following schedule:

  • All certifications awarded after January 1, 2023, are current for five years (with a one-year grace period). After five (+one) years, these new certifications will need to be re-certified.

  • All certifications awarded prior to 2013 are given a ten-year (10 yr) lifespan with a three-year (3 yr) grace period for re-certification. For example, if you were certified before 2010 (13 years ago as of 2023), you need to be re-certified by January 1, 2025.

  • All certifications awarded after 2013 but before 2023 are given a ten-year (10 yr) lifespan, but with only a one-year (1 yr) grace period. For example, if you were certified in 2015, you would need re-certification by 2025, with a grace period of one year extending the deadline to 2026.

What Happens If You Don’t Re-Certify?

If a person doesn’t re-certify by the end of the one-year grace period, their name will be moved from the list of certified individuals on our website to the list for lapsed certifications. If a lapsed certification isn’t recertified within 10 years, it will end up on a list of retired certifications; individuals with retired certifications will need to apply for a new certification to be re-certified.

How to apply

  1. Prepare a letter documenting the continued education, coursework, and professional improvement that you have completed each year since your last certification. Make sure to include the required information for specific activities in the evaluation criteria below (click here for a sample letter). Save the file as a PDF and include your last name in the file name (for example: Oxarart_Recert_2020). The file must be under 10MB to upload properly.

  2. All applicants must agree to follow the AFE Code of Ethics; those certified professionals who fail to follow the code risk losing their certification.

  3. Submit the letter via the online application below by September 1. 

  4. After you submit your application, you will be directed to an online payment webpage to pay your $25 application fee or be given the option to send your payment by mail. 

  5.  You will receive confirmation and a copy of your application by email upon submission, and we will notify you with the results by December 1.

Evaluation Criteria

The Professional Certification Committee will evaluate applications and apply points according to the criteria below. The requirement for re-certification is an average of one point per year since the last certification or re-certification. The total points earned should at least equal the number of years since certification. For example, if it has been five years since certification, you need at least five points to be re-certified and those points can be awarded during any year. Partial credit will be awarded.

Full attendance at symposia, conferences, and workshops

  • 1 point per event for full attendance (partial attendance not given any points)

  • Information to Submit: Date, title, and host of each event and detail any role played at the conference (e.g., presenter, moderator)

Full attendance of eight seminars or webinars

  • 1 point per 8 seminars/webinars for full attendance (partial attendance not given any points)

  • Information to Submit: Date, presenter, host, and the title of attended webinars

Presentation of four seminars or webinars

  • 1 point per 4 seminars/webinars

  • Information to Submit: Date, title, host, and any weblink for recording if available

Completed university courses

  • 1 point per credit hour

  • Information to Submit: Year of completion, name of course and instructor, number of credit hours, and the institution or university that hosted the course (transcripts are not required but gladly accepted)

Taught university courses

  • 1 point per credit hour

  • Information to Submit: Year of completion, name of course, number of credit hours, and the institution or university that hosted the course

Completed NWCG courses

Taught NWCG courses

Training Sessions

  • Full attendance at training sessions is given 0.5 points for each day of attendance. Training sessions must be in the broad field of fire science. Fire Behavior training is given 0.25 points for each day of attendance.

  • Information to Submit: Dates of attendance, name of training session, and host institution is required. 

Published papers

  • 1 point if applicant is senior author; 1/2 point if applicant is junior author

  • Information to Submit: Full citation and a link to the paper on the publisher’s website

AFE’s journal, Fire Ecology, publishes peer-reviewed articles on all ecological and management aspects relating to wildland fire. Freely access journal articles and get details about submitting a manuscript.