NWCG wildland fire qualifications (e.g. firefighter, prescribed fire burn boss)

USA · National Wildfire Coordinating Group · professional · unverified source

20practice questions written to this syllabus
4subjects

Format

Unverified. Position task books and required courses rather than a single exam; entry courses cover fire behaviour and suppression basics.

Sections

Over the years

Unverified. Required for most US forestry jobs with fire duties; similar national systems exist in Canada and Australia.

Official source: https://www.nwcg.gov/

Subjects this exam draws on

Forest Meteorology & Climatology8 questionsRemote Sensing & Photogrammetry for Forestry5 questionsForest Fire Science & Management4 questionsForest Administration, Protection Enforcement & Office Practice3 questions

Five practice questions, worked

Original questions written to this exam's published syllabus and pattern. Not past papers.

1. Using the Angström index I = R/20 + (27 − T)/10, what is the value at 25 °C and 30% relative humidity, and what does it indicate?

  1. 1.7; high fire risk
  2. 1.7; low fire risk
  3. 3.5; low fire risk
  4. 0.4; no fire risk
Answer and working

A. 1.7; high fire risk

I = 30/20 + (27 − 25)/10 = 1.5 + 0.2 = 1.7; values below 2.5 indicate high risk.

Forest Meteorology & Climatology · Fire weather and fire danger indices

2. VIIRS active-fire detections have a resolution of about:

  1. 375 m
  2. 30 m
  3. 1 km
  4. 10 m
Answer and working

A. 375 m

VIIRS active-fire products are at 375 m, finer than MODIS active fires at 1 km. 30 m and 10 m are Landsat and Sentinel-2 class resolutions, used for burned-area mapping rather than daily active-fire detection.

Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry for Forestry · Fire detection and burned-area mapping

3. Using Byram's flame length L = 0.0775 × I^0.46, what is the flame length for I = 720 kW/m?

  1. 1.6 m
  2. 55.8 m
  3. 0.2 m
  4. 7.2 m
Answer and working

A. 1.6 m

L = 0.0775 × 720^0.46 = 1.6 m. 55.8 multiplies 720 by 0.0775; 7.2 divides I by 100.

Forest Fire Science & Management · Fire behaviour: rate of spread, intensity, flame length

4. In the Incident Command System, each person reports to one supervisor. This principle is:

  1. Span of control
  2. Unity of command
  3. Modular organisation
  4. Common terminology
Answer and working

B. Unity of command

Unity of command avoids conflicting orders; span of control limits the number of people each supervisor directs.

Forest Administration, Protection Enforcement & Office Practice · Disaster and emergency response in forests

5. Fire weather stations feeding the Canadian FWI System take their daily observations at:

  1. Midnight
  2. Sunrise
  3. Any convenient time
  4. Noon local standard time
Answer and working

D. Noon local standard time

The FWI System is calibrated to noon LST observations; consistency of timing is essential.

Forest Meteorology & Climatology · Weather instruments and forest weather stations

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