Illinois Prescribed Burn Manager Certification

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The Illinois Prescribed Burn Manager Certification is run by the IL Department of Natural Resources. The Fire Council provides information on this program to be helpful. For inquiries to DNR on this program contact Benjamin Snyder.

Several links are listed below and reading them will answer most questions. One link is the Illinois Prescribed Burning Act — Public Act, which is the law that was passed in 2009. Read that short act, but note that details to the act, the “Administrative Code” were delegated to DNR, so read the link to the Illinois Prescribed Burning Act – Administrative Code.

Here are a few highlighted points on page 11 in the Administrative Code . 

• The courses to get Certified are Basic Incident Command System (I-100), Fire Fighter Training (s-130) and Wildland Fire Behavior (S-190).  
• Participate in five prescribed burns and document them on a form provided by the department. Look at the application, part B, and there is a place to document those five burns.
• You need to do at least two burns as an apprentice prescribed burn manager. DNR created a Task Book to document these two apprentice burns. See the link to the IL Prescribed Burn Manager Apprentice Task Book.

1. Illinois Prescribed Burning Act - Public Act
2. Illinois Prescribed Burning Act - Administrative Code
3. Prescribed Burn Manager Application

Links to all the current state information and forms:
Prescribed Burn Manager Program

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Illinois Prescribed Fire Burn Manager Apprentice Task Book​

• Download Task Book PDF
• ​View (only) Task Book on SCRIBD. The SCRIBD download button will not work without a subscription. Download directly by using the link in the previous bullet point.

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​FAQ
Is this the “red card qualification system”? 

• No. That is the Federal NWCG training system. 

Is the Chicago Wilderness Burn Crew Training accepted for this certification?

• We are checking on this point but we think it is not currently accepted.

What is the benefit of obtaining this certification?

• It is one way for a fire leader to show that they are working to safely do prescribed burns and  follow the rules of the act. 

 
Again,  read the links on this page to become acquainted with the certification.

UPDATED 12/2021