Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (WTREX)
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T R A I N I N G A N N O UN C E M E N T
Women-in-Fire
Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (WTREX)
Southeastern Virginia - March 30-April 10, 2020
When the US fire management system was conceived in the early 1900s, women’s roles in the
workforce were much different than they are now. Yet even today, women constitute a
relatively small proportion of the workforce, filling roughly 10 percent of wildland fire positions
and only 7 percent of fire leadership roles. In recent years, there has been an increased effort to
recruit women into fire, yet social and cultural challenges remain. New recruits often find the
dominant fire management system to be dismissive of female perspectives and strengths, even
as its increasing complexity requires fresh approaches and insights. We believe that the groups
who are generally under-represented in fire, including women, have unique talents and
perspectives, and that they can play a critical role in advancing fire problem solving.
During the Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (WTREX), we invite participants
of all genders and ethnic and racial backgrounds to explore the growing role of women in fire
management, while conducting prescribed fire operations designed to advance their formal
qualifications in wildland fire management and enhance their understanding of fire ecology and
effects, communications and outreach, prescribed fire policy and planning, and more.
Key things to know about WTREX:
• WTREX is an intensive 12-day training exchange that combines practical live-fire training
with indoor learning and discussion to advance participants’ qualifications and experience
in wildland fire operations.
• This year, we will be staying at the Airfield Conference Center & Southeast 4-H
Educational Center near Wakefield, VA and burning in the VA Southeastern Coastal Plain
with the potential of also burning in the mountains of VA.
• WTREX will engage participants of all genders in building a support network for female
fire practitioners working to advance their leadership in wildland fire management.
• WTREX participants will work together to accomplish much-needed prescribed burning in
a variety of fire-adapted ecosystems.
• The WTREX serves as an opportunity to elevate diversity in perspective, background, and
talent in order to create solutions for today’s complex fire problems.
• The WTREX is an interagency event, bringing together fire managers and practitioners
from various federal and private agencies.
Join us for hands-on burning and learning in Southeastern Virginia!
Target Group: Prescribed fire and wildfire personnel and other natural resource managers involved in fire and
ecosystem management, including federal, state, tribal, non-governmental, and private practitioners. Participants of all
genders are invited to attend this event, though a higher proportion of female applicants will be selected.
Description: The training will be organized as an incident and will utilize the Incident Command System. Participants
will serve in qualified and trainee firefighting positions on a burn team and will assist with preparing, scouting, briefing,
igniting, holding, mop-up, and patrol on numerous controlled burns in the area. We will also complete pre- and post-fire
monitoring, train with equipment, practice fireline leadership skills, and learn about local fire ecology and fire
management. The work will take place in diverse ecosystems, including on some lands managed by state and federal
agencies and The Nature Conservancy. The training will include trips to prescribed fire and fuels treatment project sites,
as well as presentations from local scientists, land managers, practitioners, and women who are leaders in various
aspects of fire management. In addition, participants will have the chance to practice for media interviews.
Childcare: We recognize that childcare concerns can be a major barrier for people who work in fire. We are exploring
opportunities to provide childcare during the WTREX for people who would not otherwise be able to attend. Please let
us know on your application form if you are interested in learning more.
Requirements:
• All participants’ qualifications must be current. At a minimum, everyone must have completed NWCG courses
S-130 and S-190, as well as FEMA IS-700A and ICS-100. Self-study materials for these courses will be offered to
participants who need them.
• Participants must complete a work capacity test at the arduous level before the start of the event. Completion of
a moderate level work capacity test is acceptable if coming as a TNC volunteer and serving in a RXCM (prescribed
fire crewmember) position. A practice shelter deployment will be offered to those who need it.
• All participants must have insurance (e.g., workers’ comp, health, or travel insurance) to cover any injury they may
sustain during the training exchange.
• Participants should come with all appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), including fireline-approved
boots (all leather work boots, 8-inches tall, non-slip soles, no steel toe), a new generation fire shelter, headlamp,
hard hat, Nomex clothing, leather gloves, eye protection, and canteens for drinking water. If you do not have
proper PPE, we can arrange for you to borrow some. Please indicate your need on the application form.
Cost: Each participant is responsible for a $300 non-refundable registration fee, due after participants have been
selected and confirmed. There will not be a charge code for participants’ wages during the training; wages and travel
costs will be the responsibility of the home unit.
Meals and Travel: Meals and dormitory space will be provided during the training. Participants are responsible for
their own travel to and from the WTREX. The Incident Management Team and burn boss trainees will be expected to
arrive on Sunday, March 29, 2020 for a pre-event planning day. All other participants should arrive at the training site
on Monday, March 30, 2020. Specific meeting times and locations will be announced after participants have been
selected. The training concludes on Friday, April 10, 2020.
Application: Visit the application website at https://goo.gl/forms/Dz9PBWofO6cBLT2F2 and submit your form by the
end of the day on December 13, 2019. Email Lenya Quinn-Davidson with any questions at lquinndavidson@ucanr.edu.
Space is limited to approximately 25 trainees; selections will be made with diversity and inclusion goals in mind.
WTREX is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agree-
ment between The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service, and agencies of the Department of the Interior.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
WOMEN-IN-FIRE PRESCRIBED FIRE TRAINING EXCHANGES: BUILDING A MORE INCLUSIVE FIRE MANAGEMENT CULTURE FOR RESILIENCE & SUSTAINABILITY Wildfire is complex and multifaceted: depending on circumstances, it can be an essential ecological process, an important conservation tool, or a threat to natural and human communities. And fire-related threats to nature and people—from too little rejuvenating fire to catastrophic wildfires—are worsening across the U.S. at an alarming pace. We face a new fire reality. We need new approaches. Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together (PERFACT)—a cooperative agreement between The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the Interior—is leading the way with new approaches. Work under PERFACT includes finding ways to significantly expand controlled burning across the U.S., which will require providing additional formal and experiential training opportunities, as well as diversifying the fire management workforce. Investing in Diversity Benefits Us All As with any complex issue, diverse perspectives are essential to finding workable solutions. The majority of professional fire workers today are white, male and agency-based. This has created a self-perpetuating culture that excels at rapid response—but is less effective than it could be at addressing emerging challenges. While the Forest Service is currently led by a woman, Chief Vicki Christiansen, only about 10 percent of federal agency fire positions are filled by women, and the proportion in key leadership roles is much smaller. In the Conservancy and across training burns hosted by PERFACT projects, about a quarter of burners are women. We are working together to do even better.
“ I’ve been in fire suppression for seven years and have always
loved the work, but it’s been difficult to keep coming back
each season to a culture that doesn’t feel accommodating
to women.... we have some work to do as an entire group on
creating a new culture that encourages diversity of all kinds.
Nationally, efforts to recruit women into fire have increased in recent years,
but many agencies have problems retaining female fire professionals. The
challenges women face range from feelings of isolation and being undervalued,
to overt harassment and even assault. Women find that it’s hard to secure
coveted training slots, balance work and family expectations, compete for
promotions, and advocate for themselves when they are the only woman on
their district or on their crew, and when they don’t have strong mentors and
role models to support and encourage them. Few women work in fire, and even
fewer fill leadership roles, so for women coming up through the ranks, it’s hard
to be what they rarely see: women as empowered, valued fire leaders.
Enter Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges
Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (WTREX) are modeled
after the Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) that got started in Great
Plains Fire Learning Network landscapes in 2008. The TREX model assembles
diverse participants for two weeks of hands-on training, treatments and
outreach; it melds live-fire training with deeper learning on fire ecology,
policy and social dynamics. WTREX reframes this model around women in
fire, bringing both women and men together to burn and learn together in a
supportive, positive environment.
The inaugural WTREX was held in northern California in October 2016. Lenya
Lenya Quinn-Davidson leads the WTREX Quinn-Davidson, lead organizer of WTREX, and others on the team were
program, working with local and national nervous about how the fire management community might perceive it, and
partners from government agencies, were unsure about participants’ expectations. As it turned out, the event was
universities and across the Conservancy. a resounding success.
“ WTREX felt like a natural extension of the Prescribed Fire
Training Exchanges the Conservancy had been offering since 2008.
Women-in-Fire Training Exchanges provide unique
training opportunities, mentorship, awareness
and social connections. As a grassroots network
that engages fire practitioners of all genders and
backgrounds, WTREX is dedicated to evolving
the fire culture through the empowerment and
advancement of women, as well as bringing
awareness to the value of diversity in the workforce.
The first WTREX daylighted deeper
needs than the organizers had “ in fire, and that I’m a part of thethere
What hit me the hardest was that is a very big problem
problem . I’ve always
anticipated: women in fire not only thought I was a good guy, but listening to these women speak
needed training opportunities, but candidly about their experiences as women in a man’s world, I
they were hungry to learn from realized how complicated the problems are. I’ve been guilty of
and connect with other women in
using language that is hurtful, of being degrading without meaning
fire—to feel a sense of community,
to. I’m conscious of this now, and I’ll be able to check myself. I’ll
comfort and shared passion in
their work. They were also eager to also share these things with the people I love—my crew—‘Hey
develop male allies—and the male man, do you know how that might make people feel?’ Those 10
participants at WTREX were equally days were full of so much ... I feel selfish because I think I took
eager to learn, grow and better away more from the WTREX than anyone else who was there.
advocate for women in fire.
Inclusive. Powerful. Transformative.
WTREX events are unique in
that they create a supportive “ I heard women ask questions
and express difficulties that
environment and build a network I’ve had, and I saw women
of relationships that last beyond answer those questions and
a single event. Participants learn
offer solutions. And for me,
they’re not alone in the challenges
seeing women doing the jobs
they face working in a male-
dominated field, and they return
of Firing Boss, Burn Boss,
home inspired and empowered. Operations and Incident
Women also gain practical Command is a big deal. I
information they wouldn’t find struggle to explain what it is
anywhere else, such as techniques that happens—it is a positive
for wielding a chainsaw if you shift, a door opening, a freeing.
happen to have a female build. In short, it was an amazingly
Participants of all genders are invited wonderful experience, one I
to apply, and about 10 percent of the recommend for everyone.
participants each year are men.
The WTREX has a strong focus
on women in fire, but the team
also recognizes the importance It was powerful;
of diversity more generally. Just
as biodiversity lends itself to
ecological resilience, human it was healing;
diversity will contribute to the
resilience and success of the fire
management system. The WTREX
it was motivating;
team recognizes a need for diverse
perspectives, backgrounds and it was inspiring;
experiences, and believes in
providing a training environment
where everyone—all genders, it was energizing.
backgrounds, and experience
levels—is honored and valued.
The third WTREX was held this March 2019 near Tallahassee, Florida.
Participants worked on formal fire qualifications and taskbooks, burned more
than 600 acres, enjoyed workshops on a wide range of topics, and developed
personal and professional relationships that will persist throughout their
careers. It’s fair to say that the experience offered through WTREX—with its
unique combination of live-fire training, professional development, personal
growth and social connection—is unlike anything else in fire. And the demand
is clear: every year, the team turns away about three-quarters of the applicants
due to lack of space.
Women-in-Fire Moving Forward
Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges have proved their value
to both the individuals who have taken part and to the wildfire community.
Planning for the 2020 WTREX is underway, and we are exploring ways to
support an expansion of this model, so that we can reach more people and
address additional aspects of diversity, and continue to grow the workforce
we need for resilient landscapes and communities.
“ Events like WTREX are essential to creating this new culture—one
that develops and solicits different perspectives, new ideas, innovative
approaches to problem-solving, and connection. Before WTREX,
I spent a lot of time trying to decide if it was still worth it to keep
fighting fire. I can’t say that now the answer is suddenly clear and
everything is fixed. But I can say that the women and men I met there
have inspired me. WTREX made me believe that we are capable
of creating a new kind of fire community that can be a good fit for
anyone who wants to be a part of it.
LEARN MORE
Prescribed Fire Training Exchange program (and upcoming TREX): http://nature.ly/trainingexchanges
“Indulging in Fire: Reflections from the Women-in-Fire Training Exchange” (blog post)
https://fireadaptednetwork.org/reflections-from-the-women-in-fire-training-exchange/
For more about WTREX, contact Lenya Quinn-Davidson: lquinndavidson@ucanr.edu
Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges are supported by
Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted
WTREX is lighting a new path—cultivating Communities Together (PERFACT), a cooperative
a more diverse, equitable, innovative and agreement between The Nature Conservancy, USDA
Forest Service and agencies of the Department of the
ecologically sound fire management system. Interior. For more about PERFACT, contact
Marek Smith at marek_smith@tnc.org.
An equal opportunity provider
v. 10 August 2019
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