All 2026 Courses are still on schedule.
No course closures are expected for 2026.
Classroom:
The classroom is indoors and is generally comfortable, but it can be slightly cold; having a sweater available may be desirable.
Field:
The field is located in San Luis Obispo, California, where temperature and humidity can vary significantly throughout the day. If you have not been to Southern California during this time of year, you are highly encouraged to do your homework. Some students from areas with mild weather and who are not accustomed to the local weather may have difficulty acclimating to the sun, heat, and dryness. The weather can also be cold and humid during the mornings and evenings.
July High Temp 91°F (32.8°C)
July Average Temp 72°F (22.2°C)
July low Temp 57°F (13.8°C)
Average High Humidity 94%
Average Humidity 76%
Average LowHumidity 26%
Winds Average 20 mph
Please email us at
If you are unable to log in with your email address and password are not working, in addition to:
- Not being able to reset your password
- You get an unauthorized error
- Not activated error
- Other undefined error
Please ensure the following:
- Make sure your email address is correct (if you made an error in your email address during registration, contact us @info@slofist org to update it.
- Ensure you click the activation link in the email you were sent to activate your account.
- Ensure you received an email with the activation link. If you didn't receive it, ensure:
- That you check your spam email
- Ask your agency to whitelist the "slofist.org" domain
- Check with your IT department
If you have forgotten your login information, please use the forgot password or forgot username on the login page (Your email is your username). If you forgot your password, please use the reset password option to reset it.
SLOFIST will provide lunch each day of the course and one hosted dinner/mixer event; breakfast will be provided each day by the hotel. You can advise us of any dietary or food allergies in your registration form, and we will make every attempt to fulfill your request, but please be advised that we can not guarantee that we can meet everyone's needs, so please plan accordingly.
The location of the course is in the hotel's conference/meeting room.
The field site location will be provided during the class.
Check-in/Registration typically occurs on Sunday evening, starting at 1800 hours in the hotel lobby, and Monday at 7 am prior to the 0800 hours start time.
Some cameras are available, but you are encouraged to bring your own camera as long as it takes a memory card, such as an SD card. The memory card will be furnished by SLOFIST and will be collected at the end of each field day. Photos may not be taken via cell phone, and no unauthorized pictures will be allowed to leave the confines of the course.
Please wear clothes that can get dirty with close-toed shoes, preferably safety boots. It is highly recommended that you wear the same or comparable clothing that you would on an actual investigation with sun protection, and/or turnout like safety gear. SCBA's are not needed; however, you may wear a respirator or P100 mask if desired.
Please wear comfortable clothes for the classroom portion; business casual is recommended but not required. Uniforms are optional but not required.
No transportation is provided by SLOFIST so please plan accordingly. We encourage car pooling when traveling to the training grounds due to limited parking.
If you are flying in from out of the area, please check with your teammates for ride availability (your teammates will not be known to you until the first day of class). In some cases, SLOFIST staff may be able to assist with limited transportation to the training grounds worst-case scenario, but it can not be guaranteed.
Uber and Lyft ride-share transportation is usually available from the hotel to the nearby city areas for restaurants and shopping.
***Firearms are not permitted on the training grounds. Please plan accordingly to secure your firearm in your vehicle or other location for the duration of the field investigation time.***
All necessary tools, basic protective gear, sunscreen, food, and drinks will be provided. Temperatures range from cold to very hot, and you will be in the sun for extended periods of time. Items such as brim hats and long sleeves are recommended, and you are welcome to bring any equipment and PPE you would like to use.
We do recommend that you use the PPE that your agency requires for conducting a field investigation, as these will be real burn scene recreations where bodily fluids and chemical remnants of burned materials. There will be work gloves, safety glasses, nitrile gloves, sunscreen, and bug spray available.
It is highly recommended that you wear work boots with a steel toe and shank, as there will be nails, glass, and sharp edges in each scenario. Scenes include vehicles, structures, and outdoor burn scenes, which can include exposure to ignitable liquid vapor, burned plastics, wood, metal, vegetation, and human remains just as in any real-life scene, please plan accordingly.
If you are a training officer or an accounts payable person, please contact the student to retrieve the invoice. They were sent one via email when they registered. It is their responsibility to forward the information you require.
If you are a student, you should have received an email with an invoice/receipt attached. you can download the invoice anytime by logging into your account first and then going to the main menu > Student > My Course History, or click "Registration History" on the right side menu after login.
If you still can not retrieve an invoice, please be advised that we do not have office staff, and it may take several days for one to be provided.
Please have the other person register on the waiting list and then send us an email to let us know who is no longer attending and who will be taking their place. We will then make the change. Email us at
You can cancel by using the link in the confirmation email or by logging into your account and going to "My Course History" in the student menu and clicking the cancel button. If it is less than 60 days before the start of the course you will not have that option to cancel and you must contact us at
We no longer offer the deposit option to hold your spot.
No, we no longer accept purchase orders or checks due to several previous non-payments or late payments. This course is non-profit, and all tuition is used to purchase the course materials, which is why it's critical for SLOFIST to receive the funds 60 days prior to the course.
If you pay via credit card, additional fees will be added, and those fees will not be refunded for any reason.
Yes, but we can't discourage it enough! There is a lot of detailed information needed for the student to register so that we may place the students into the appropriate teams. Students must also be able to log in to their own accounts to access course materials and take the final test. Training staff must put in the contact information for the student, not training or finance staff. We can not emphasize this enough!
We only allow one registration and payment per student to discourage training and finance staff from registering students. Each student should register with their own information and not the training staff's or the finance department's information. This is not a typical classroom training course, and it is absolutely critical that we have accurate student information for the students' safety and success. Students also need to have an active account and log in (which is why the student needs to register themselves) to receive:
- course correspondence
- Any last-minute updates
- Access to course materials
- Student surveys
- Final Test
Unfortunately no. This course is first-come, first-served, and we can only hold spots for paid seats. We also cannot place you in next year's either. If you are on a previous year's waiting list, you will have an early registration opportunity before the general registration for the next course.
If you paid the deposit or full amount for the course and received an invoice showing payment, then you are in the course. If you registered on the "waiting list" and you received an email saying you were on the "waiting list", you are on the waiting list. If you registered on the waiting list and received an invoice showing a balance due, then you were selected from the waiting list to be in the course. Please pay the balance due as soon as possible to remain in the course.
Please go to the course and scroll down to "Event Information". The "Seats Available" row will show how many seats are remaining.
Please pick either Fire, Law, or Coroner and only sign up for the course that most closely resembles your current job duties.
It should be noted that all students must be sworn to attend this course.
If you sign up for "Fire" and you work for a police department, you WILL be dropped from the course. The same applies to those working for a fire department who sign up for law or coroner. For this course, if you are a Deputy Coroner or have Coroner-type duties, you should pick Coroner, not law enforcement. Law enforcement is reserved for detectives or law enforcement officers who do not perform Coroner duties. If you are fire law-enforcement, you would choose fire, not law enforcement (this also applies to CAL-FIRE).
Why this is important: We use this information to balance the teams that students will be grouped into. Each team will generally be made up of at least 2 Fire Investigators, 2 Coroner Detectives, and 2 Law Enforcement Detectives so that each member of the team can learn from one another.
If you require a W9 form or an expense form please click here.
If you have questions regarding the K9 or Locating the Dead, please see: https://www.slofist.org/courses/ltd. LTD is run separately from the FFDIC with a separate registration form, so we are unable to provide any help or information directly at this time.
To be placed on the waiting list please go to the course registration page and click the Register button. Then select the "Waiting list Ticket" and fill out the information requested. Please use only student information, not training staff info.
Where you are on the waiting list is not indicative of your chances of getting into the course.Some years we go through the entire waiting list, and other years we don't use it at all.
If you email us asking where you are on the list or how likely it is that you get in will either go unanswered or you will receive a reply stating that we can not answer your question because it honestly can not be determined.
But rest assured that you will be contacted as soon as there is a seat available, and most likely, you will receive an automated email with an invoice.
The course opening for the current FFDIC will be announced via email to those on the waiting list, typically before the end of August following the conclusion of the current course. Regular registration will open in early September. Exact registration dates can not be determined in advance due to the complexity of each year's course and logistics.