The next course will begin on January 5, 2026. Please click HERE to apply.

Please read the course description review below before applying.

This national-level training from COCO and the USDA Forest Service is designed for current or future mitigation specialists, wildfire professionals, residents, and their communities to reduce wildfire risk. This training concentrates on science, methods, and tools that will help you engage communities/residents while also helping you eliminate ineffective practices.

Participants should come with a basic understanding of wildfires, how homes burn, and vegetation management practices. The course assumes you know how to mitigate, but that you could use support to engage your community. In this workshop, you will work through some of the greatest challenges facing our wildland-urban interface communities. The course will help you break down ineffective practices to make space for the more effective ones with a focus on on-the-ground mitigation activities.

The training takes place over the course of ten weeks, with three to five hours of estimated work per week. While the work is at your own pace, you are required to meet the weekly deadlines.

Selection to participate in the training will be based on your answers provided and on the submission date.

You may view a previous class syllabus HERE.

The short course is free to attend. If registering for a course held at a conference, you are not required to register for the conference to attend, BUT you MUST STILL REGISTER through the conference website. For courses not associated with a conference, your registration link will take you to a Google Form where you will be given the selection to choose which Short Course you are interested in attending.

If you attend all course days you will receive a certificate of completion for the Short Course.

If you are interested in getting the Incident Qualification and Certification System (IQCS) N9073 Training Certificate, you must complete pre-work, attend and actively participate in all days of training, and complete a Mitigation Action Plan (MAP) within two weeks of course completion. More details will be provided during the course.