Parallelism subtlety that is sort of important

I'd like to walk you through a question I have, and my initial conclusion. Let me know if the analysis or the conclusions are not sound:
Take a look at the Manhattan GMAT advanced section on parallelism to read about the background to this topic.
I think this is worth explaining on this forum because wordy and long sentence correction problems SUCK. These questions kill your time.

Question
Simple and Complex Gerund Phrases look very similar but you need to easily spot the differences between them on the GMAT. How do you do that?

Situation
I saw an actual problem in the OG that read:
"New data from United States Forest Service ecologists show that for every dollar spent on controlled small scale burning, forest thinning, and the training of fire management personnel, it saves seven dollars that would not be spent on having to extinguish big fires." (OG 13, p. 40, question D36).

I initially read this question and thought "wait, are the parallel elements right?" I burned too much time thinking about that, instead of the other parts of the sentence.
"Small scale burning" and "Forest thinning" are action nouns, but "the training of fire management" is very different. How would I know that's correct?

Analysis
It is very easy to mix up Simple Gerund Phrases and Complex Gerund Phrases. The Manhattan GMAT uses this example to illustrate the difference between the two:
(1) Simple gerund phrases -- e.g. Tracking satellites accurately is important for the space agency.
(2)Complex Gerund phrases- eg. The accurate tracking of satellites is important for the space agency.
The difference in words between the two are extremely subtle (especially if you ignore the adjective!).

Conclusions
Since Complex Gerund Phrases can be parallel with Action Nouns (e.g. Detection, Nomination, Pollution, Eruption, etc.), you have to be on extra-high alert when you spot a gerund phrase used in parallelism. Since time is of the essence on the GMAT, you need to spot the difference between a simple and complex gerund EXTREMELY quickly.
--> I think the best way to do this is to look for an article (a/an/the) or an adjective (both of which accompany complex gerunds).
--> If you see "the" and a verb-ing participle, you have a complex gerund phrases and it fits in with any action nouns.
--> If you just see a verb-ing participle without an article (a/an/the) or an adjective, then you probably have a simple gerund phrase, and it can't go with any action nouns.

Does this make sense? Please let me know.

Sincerely,
A bro who is trying to conquer parallelism