The Central California Forensic Fire Death Investigation Academy (CCFFDIA)
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Fatal fires along the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are becoming a common part of existence in the western U.S. For 2025, the Cal Fire incident archive reported over 2,353 wildfires, 30 fatalities, 16,253 structures destroyed and 76,292 acres burned (Cal Fire, 2025). Not only are WUI events deadly, but they are also devastating. In 2018, the town of Paradise was almost completely destroyed by the Camp Fire killing 85 people and costing 13 billion dollars in losses. In 2025, 30 individuals perished in the Palisades and Eaton fires which are currently the two most expensive fires in history with a combined total of 65 billion dollars of losses.
While these WUI mass disasters share some similarities especially in the amount of destruction they caused, the response to these events can vary dramatically. This is particularly true from the search and recovery perspective. These differences are due to various factors including the size and nimbleness of the incident command structure, familiarity with the skills of various specialized units, and a general lack of established standardized training for WUI disaster recovery. A core issue is that the majority of search and recovery training available focuses on urban fire scenarios. WUI fires differ from urban fires in the sheer magnitude of destruction. In most cases, urban fires undergo suppression which can result in more limiting degrees of damage to structures and secondarily to victims who may remain inside. WUI fires proceed over large swaths of territory, unsuppressed, with structures and vehicles self-extinguishing, creating a field of damage well beyond that encountered in urban fire scenarios.
For first responders, forensic scientists and others that study and respond to WUI events there is very little interdisciplinary collaborative education, training, and even fewer research opportunities that exist focusing on WUI fires and the fatalities resulting from these events. A new academy in Central California seeks to improve this situation by providing a yearly, week-long, hands-on intensive training with research opportunities focused on wildfire search and recovery.
The Central California Forensic Fire Death Investigation Academy (CCFFDIA) is a partnership between California State University Fresno, Fresno City College and Fresno Fire and includes several stakeholders throughout the state of California including several other fire and law enforcement agencies and the UC anatomical donation program. The CCFFDIA advances wildland fire-related science and education through communication of cutting-edge education, research and data analysis opportunities, ideas sharing, novel collaborations, and workforce development. The academy employs both tried and novel networking strategies and collaborative training technologies to enhance coordination among an interdisciplinary group of professionals and knowledge holders including industry first responders, scientists, medical doctors, legal professionals, and students. CCFFDIA does this through its two major AIMS: 1) creating collaborative educational and communication spaces which promote both practical and research worthy approaches to WUI events; 2) offering a hands-on implementation approach with cutting-edge training and research involving realistic scenarios.
This year, the CCFFDIA will be held April 20-24, 2026 at the Fresno City First Responder campus, a 40-acre state of the art first responder training facility with classroom and conference rooms as well as a large outdoor training facility. The yearly academy will host 50 first responder attendees including professionals from fire, law enforcement, and coroner fields as well as forensic scientists, medical examiners, K9 handlers and students in advanced study related to the topic. In partnership with the UC anatomical donation program the CCFFDIA will utilize the bodies of 10 individuals that have consented to donate their bodies to science and specifically to the CCFFDIA. These donors are a critical part of the training and research program and will be represented in the field exercises that take place during the academy training.
Training Experience
The goal of the classroom-based education portion of the academy is to provide attendees with the data and knowledge needed to create well-informed trained interdisciplinary teams of first responders that understand how WUI fires function. The basis of this education also includes both the mistakes and successes of past responses. Attendees will receive three days of intensive lectures covering a wide range of topics including how WUI fire develops and progresses, incident command structure and coordination in a mass disaster setting, case studies of past fires, the roles of specific actors such as fire investigators, coroners and forensic anthropologists. Attendees will learn the science behind how bodies burn and how to identify human remains in WUI contexts. Perhaps most importantly attendees will receive specific training on the most up to date interdisciplinary search and recovery techniques for burned human remains in WUI contexts. Such training focuses on how individuals from various backgrounds (e.g., coroners, fire, forensic anthropologists, law enforcement, search and rescue) come together to respond effectively and efficiently to find and recover human remains in a manner that maximizes recovery and minimizes damage. Past experience with major WUI events has indicated that this focus is a critical part of the future success of large wildland fatal fire response.
Following their lecture time attendees will be arranged into interdisciplinary teams and will enter the field portion of the academy where they process their own assigned unique WUI fire scenes which include thermally altered human remains. Within the two-day field period attendees will have the opportunity to work with search and recovery trained K-9s and take a series of additional hands-on field workshops on topics such as rapid DNA use and the finger printing of burned human remains within the context of the larger staged WUI mass disaster event. The five-day workshop will end with teams providing a brief report on their scene findings prior to watching a series of pre-fire scene videos which clarify the actual circumstances of each fire scene. Attendees will end the academy with a class exam covering all academy topics. The academy is currently in the process of obtaining IAI certification for crime scene investigations and we are currently seeking POST certification for attendees for the 2027 academy. The CCFFDIA is open to national and international applicants. For more information on who exactly can qualify to attend the academy please visit the website at https://www.firedeathacademy.com/. While the 2026 academy is currently full, the application period for the 2027 academy will open October 1, 2026.
Research Potential
The CCFFDIA was created as a partnership between field practitioners, forensic scientists and academics that balances training and research that studies wildfire and forensic science. The academy is designed with 10 mock fire scenes with five unique scenarios to provide for scientific reproducibility within the context of the same academy year. Donated human remains in duplicated scenarios are specifically selected for their morphological similarities. Beyond within-year duplication the academy also maintains the same scenario for a period of five years, allowing researchers a minimum of ten data points for each study. Each WUI fire scene has been specifically designed to maximize research potential for a variety of current research questions including areas involving blood spatter testing, analysis of pre-existing trauma, finger printing techniques and rapid DNA analysis to name a few. Researchers that are interested in applying to conduct research at the CCFFDIA can visit the website to fill out a research form. We also encourage scientists to reach out to CCFFDIA via the email with their questions at ccffdia@gmail.com.
Citations
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). (2025). 2025 Fire Season Incident Archive. https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2025.