Twenty-five members of Ottawa’s wildland firefighting crews have completed a special training program that certifies them to fight forest fires in an urban setting. The crews were already doing that work, but this weekend’s training has brought them up to the standard set by Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. It’s part of a provincial mandate to have all firefighters properly certified for the fires they’re tasked with fighting. The course focused on a scenario that firefighters in Ottawa would more regularly deal with: the “urban interface,” a situation where combustible forests and grasslands are close to urban developments. Tackling an urban interface fire is typically a less intensive undertaking than fighting an out-of-control forest fire, which can require crews to camp remotely for weeks at a time, said Ottawa Fire Services rural sector chief Tom Miller.