Prescribed Burn Associations

What is a PBA? A Prescribed Burn Association (PBA) is a group of volunteer landowners and other interested citizens that collaborate to conduct prescribed burns. Association members pool their knowledge, time, resources, and equipment to help other people in their association conduct prescribed burns. No two PBAs operate or function exactly the same, but a main goal is to use fire safely and effectively. Similarly, a Cultural Burn Association (CBA) is a group of Tribal members (and sometimes other interested citizens) that collaborate to conduct cultural burns.

*For clarity and consistency on this website, we’ll be referring to collaborative burn groups, including CBAs and others like Prescribed Fire Cooperatives, as PBAs.

Where are PBAs found? More than 150 PBAs/CBAs are now found in 21 states across the U.S., most of which are depicted on this map. Don’t see your PBA or the coverage area needs updating? Add or update a PBA.

Some individual PBAs have their own websites, such as: Central Alabama; Florida’s Northwest Florida and North Florida; Georgia’s Chattahoochee Fall Line Prescribed Fire Cooperative, Savannah River, and Southwest Georgia; Southern Illinois, and North Carolina’s Sandhills, Piedmont, Southern Blue Ridge, NC Triangle and Down East PBA.

Statewide PBA websites that serve as a hub for multiple local PBAs in their state include: Arkansas, California, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

In addition to the information provided on the above PBA websites, numerous resources and opportunities are available. Some of these have been compiled and are provided below.

Resources for PBA Coordinators/Leadership:

An informal group of PBA Coordinators from around the country has been developed. The group meets online three times per year to provide information on prescribed fire, updates from PBAs in different parts of the country, and the national PBA survey work, in addition to networking opportunities with other Coordinators. Please contact Jennifer Fawcett at jennifer_fawcett@ncsu.edu if you would like to be added to the email list.

Resources for PBAs:

Educational Courses

CES Rx Fire – This free online course is designed to provide individuals with prescribed fire knowledge and resources to better accomplish their land management goals and to cultivate fire-educated communities.
e-FIRE – An interactive video course designed for landowners and those new to prescribed fire to learn how to plan, conduct, and evaluate a burn.
Online courses – The online “Introduction to Southeast Prescribed Fire” course can be found at Extension Foundation Campus (search term: prescribed fire).
Certified Burner Courses – If your state provides a Certified Prescribed Burn Manager course, look for upcoming dates in your area!

Educational Resources

Guidebook for Prescribed Burning in the Southern Region – This guidebook will take you step-by-step through the processes involved in planning, preparing for, and conducting a prescribed burn on your land.

Burn Demonstration Resources

A South Central Texas PBA member developed this small-scale demonstration method for reaching school children and 4-H members, but it could also be used to teach landowners who are new to burning.

Mobile Apps

GroupMe App (useful to connect with many people about the burn by only sending a single message)
RxBurn Tracker (helps you monitor the long-term effects of burning by storing basic information about a prescribed fire and take pre- and post-burn photos from exactly the same spot over time)
Smoke Management Pocket Guide (has 12 basic smoke management guidelines to keep in mind, and a fuel calculator to determine how much available fuel is in your burn unit)

Capture Your Burn Data

John Weir (Oklahoma PBA) is interested in collecting information on all prescribed burns being conducted around the country, especially those from PBAs. Take a few minutes and log your burn into the OPBA burn entry form, or on the OPBA website at www.ok-pba.org under burn entry form.

Fact Sheets