Gatesville to host prescribed burn school for landowners this June
Coryell County landowners can learn how to use fire to cut brush, improve forage and lower wildfire risk before a burn turns costly.
A controlled burn can protect pasture and property when it is planned correctly, but one mistake can send fire beyond the fence line and leave a landowner facing damage and liability. That is the practical reason Texas A&M AgriLife Extension is bringing a prescribed burn school to Gatesville this June.
The three-day training will run Monday, June 15, through Wednesday, June 17, 2026, at the Gatesville Civic Center in Gatesville, right next to the Coryell County Extension Office. It is being hosted by Dr. Morgan Treadwell, West Texas Rangelands and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, and is aimed at landowners, fire professionals and agency personnel who want safer, more effective ways to use fire on rangeland.
Participants will spend time in the classroom and, when conditions allow, take part in multiple prescribed burns for hands-on field experience. The school follows the Texas Department of Agriculture’s 24-hour curriculum and meets the training requirement for people pursuing Certified and Insured Prescribed Burn Manager certification. For ranchers and rural property owners, that means the course is not just about theory. It is designed to help prevent the kinds of mistakes that can lead to escaped fires, spot fires and expensive cleanup.
Training will cover fire behavior, weather interpretation, prescribed burn planning, ignition techniques, smoke management and post-burn evaluation. Those topics matter in Coryell County, where landowners regularly balance brush control, forage production and wildfire risk across working pastureland. AgriLife says prescribed fire can improve rangeland health, manage woody brush, support wildlife habitat, reduce fuel loads, recycle nutrients, improve forage production and help mitigate wildfires.
The agency also warns that careless burning can create severe property damage and liability problems. That risk is part of why the school is being offered in Gatesville, at the county seat and the local extension office’s home base, where rural landowners can get direct instruction on how to use fire as a management tool instead of a hazard.
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