FS Line Officer / AA Desk Guide for Fire Management
The desk reference guides were created to aid Line Officers who oversee fire program management in both wildland fire and prescribed fire/fuels treatments – pre-season planning, management of the incidents, post fire activities and prescribed fire implementation. The FS guide was sponsored by the National Line Officer Team (NLOT) and was developed by the WFM RD&A with recommendations from Agency Administrators and Line Officers.
USFS Line Officer/AA Desk Guide (updated August 2025)
Additional Resources
Analytics for Fire Support (updated June 2025)
2026 FS Chief's Letter of Intent for Wildland Fire
2026 USDA Secretary Memo
2026 DOI Secretary Memo
2026 USDA Direction to Wildland Fire Leadership
2026 WFDSS & ISAP Integration and CIMT
Line Officer Guide Forms and Templates
USFS Post Fire Line Officer Guide
National Post-Fire Program site
Redbook Appendix C - Sample Delegation for Unit Fire Chief/Fire Management Officer
Redbook Appendix D - Agency Administrator/Bureau Representative Briefing to Incident Management Team
Redbook Appendix E - Sample Delegation of Authority Agency Administrator to IMT and Leader’s Intent
If there are additional resources you would like to see on this page please let us know.
Forest Service Agency Administrator Qualifications
The AA taskbook has been in place since 2019, and this was initially referred to as AA Certification for wildfire and prescribed fire positions and has transitioned to a Qualification. The process has continued to evolve providing more efficiency with AA resource ordering, AA qualifications, consistency with documentation standards and training requirements. The positions are tracked within IQCS, similar to other fire positions to track experience, training, and qualifications. The original taskbook covered 6 positions based on the competency of the individuals for either wildfire or prescribed fire, but is now being split into 2 separate books, one Wildland Fire and one for Rx Fire. Additional information can be found within Chapter 5 of the Red Book.
Agency Admin Task Books (continue to use the combined book for Rx until the individual book is ready)
The following documents will need to be downloaded to initiate the taskbook, track task accomplishments and evaluation feedback from the evaluators. Submit the task book AND Eval record to your RLOT for certification.
- NWCG USFS Agency Admin Taskbook WFA1/2/3 - March 2024
- NWCG USFS Prescribed Fire Agency Admin Taskbook RXA1/2/3 (Only use for Rx not Wildfires) - January 2023
- USFS Agency Admin Evaluation record
Additional Guidance
- 2026 Federal Wildland Fire Qualifications Supplement - provides required training, experience, information on maintaining currency etc. for WFA1/2/3 pages 143-147; RXA1/2/3 pages 72-77
- IQCS Responder Update Sheet - for documenting Wildfire and Prescribed fire experience, submit to training officer annually.
- IQCS WFA1 / RXA2 – Example - IQCS Responder Update Sheet example
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If you have feedback regarding the FS Line Officer AA Desk Guide, AA Qualification process (including task book, ordering, levels) or other items that would be beneficial to the program please contact your Regional Line Officer contact.