Training

BehavePlus training material has been updated and expanded as part of Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) project 05-4-1-23. Development continues with support of Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management.

There is not a single BehavePlus "course". Lessons can be used singly or in combination to meet specific needs. Example course agendas are provided ( Table 3 ). As course coordinators/instructors develop and teach courses, it would be helpful to have feedback on what did and did not work. Please contact us with ideas for future course development and improvement. Suggestions will be posted on this website and shared.

Lessons are organized according to Units:

• Overview Unit — General overview of BehavePlus
• Introduction Unit — Four required lessons that provide the foundation for program operation
• Operation Unit — Optional lessons that cover various aspects of operation
• Modeling Unit — Modeling capabilities, limitations and assumptions, sensitivity
• Application Unit — Specific application examples

Table 1 is a listing of Lessons by Unit. Some lessons are available and others are planned. Table 2 gives more detail, including lesson objectives.

• Table 1 — BehavePlus Training Material: Unit, Lesson, Status (available or planned), Date of Last Change, and Download (ZIP of all lesson material)
• Table 2 — BehavePlus Training Material: Unit (with description), Lesson, Objectives, Notes, and Download (files of each element of lesson material)
• Table 3 — Supporting Material
• Table 4 — Change Log for BehavePlus training material and supporting material

Training material will be added to this page as it becomes available. When there are significant updates, a notice will be sent out through the News system. Be sure to subscribe to receive these updates.

The status of the lesson is maintained in Table 1.

• The Status of each lesson is defined as follows:
• Available — indicates the lesson is currently complete and available.
• Under development — indicates a lesson is actively being developed and will be available in the near future.
• Planned — indicates a lesson will be developed, but there are no immediate plans for release.
• The Date of Last Change provides the date on which the lesson material was most recently updated. Information on the update can be found in the Change Log ( Table 4 ).

Individuals and course coordinators can pick and choose lessons to support particular courses. For example,

• A single overview lesson can be used to present an overview of the BehavePlus fire modeling system at a Fire Management Officer meeting.
• Several selected lessons can be used for a half-day demonstration and discussion workshop.
• The four basic operation lessons in the Introduction Unit can be assigned as pre-work for a course that uses BehavePlus for fire behavior prediction.
• Selected lessons can be used by individuals as review of fire modeling concepts learned elsewhere.
• A course manager can select lessons for pre-work and for instructor-led, hands-on training for a course suited to the background of the trainees and the application (e.g., prescribed fire planning).

Unit and Lesson numbering is only to aid file management. The four lessons in the Introduction Unit must be done in order. Other lessons are optional. Prerequisites are listed in lessons, and in Table 2. Many lessons are suitable for self-study.

There are a number of possible files for download, which vary by lesson.

• ZIP files have all of the material for a given lesson in a folder titled with the lesson name and number. Use Table 1 as a guide to put the Lesson folder in the appropriate Unit folder.
• PowerPoint (PPT) files have been created primarily for Overview Lessons. Notes pages are provided for instructors and self-study. In addition to the PowerPoint files, we have developed PDF files containing both the PowerPoint slides and the accompanying notes for use by instructors and in self-study.
• Instructor guides are provided for most lessons, and are organized for use by a presenter.
• Handouts and Supplemental Material are provided as appropriate. In the ZIP file, these are separated into folders for ease of organization. They can also be downloaded separately from Table 2.
• Exercises begin at the top of a page to be used as a handout by the instructor if desired.