PHOTOS: The 2026 Alaska Intermediate Wildland Firefighter Academy is now underway at Birchwood Camp in Chugiak, and it is already historic. Running from April 15 through graduation on Tuesday, April 28, this year’s Academy drew a record number of applications and a record cadet enrollment.
Twenty-nine firefighters from across the state will train together for two intense weeks that are designed to push them further than they’ve ever gone before. The Intermediate Academy is the second tier of Alaska’s Wildland Fire Academy program, a progression that takes firefighters who have already proven themselves on the fireline and challenges them on their path to leadership positions.
Cadets work through an intensive curriculum built around nationally recognized NWCG courses: S-131 (Squad Boss), L-280 (Leadership), and S-271 (Helicopter Crew Member). The S-271 course will culminate with a helicopter supported field day on April 27 at the Campbell Airstrip in Anchorage.
Together, these three courses equip cadets for both Alaska fire assignments and deployments nationwide. Alaska has just come through one of its coldest winters on record. Heavy snowfall, temperatures well below normal, and minimal melt-off have left the landscape around Birchwood Camp looking spring has yet to fully arrive.
Spring in Alaska has never promised warmth or convenience, and the Academy has never asked it to. Cadets run physical training at dawn in the cold, execute pump operations and hose lays in full gear on frozen ground, work through patient carries over uneven terrain and snow covered terrain, and complete field scenarios that mirror exactly what they will encounter when the smoke rises this summer.
