Plan. Prepare. Act.
SERVICES
Public Safety and Community Outreach
Messaging, Information, and Education Guidance
for Businesses, Communities, and Public Safety
Nearly half of my Forest Service career was spent in Fire Prevention, Mitigation, and Education, 2 years in the southern Sierra Nevada range of California, and 4 years in the Central/Southern Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon. During that time I've designed and presented comprehensive interagency Fire Prevention/Mitigation/Education programs as well as school programs in Fire Prevention and Fire Education from 3rd grade through high school and beyond into developing presentations for adult audiences. In 2021, I co-created and co-presented a nationally-aired Wildland Firefighting informational program for the Agents of Discovery podcast, and in 2017 was the Fire Prevention/All-Risk Response lead for the Northeast Oregon Province (Malheur, Umatilla, and Wallowa-Whitman NFs) during the Total Eclipse.
I have extensive experience in Wildland-Urban Interface and Intermix firefighting, as well as Defensible Space and wildfire protection for homes and structures. I've built FireWise Communities in Eastern Oregon and helped residents and landowners plan projects to reduce their wildfire exposure and risk.
Prescribed Fire Planning & Implementation
Using fire for wildfire mitigation and natural resource benefit
I've been heavily involved in Prescribed Fire throughout my Forest Service career, performing reconnaissance, layout, monitoring and reporting. During my last 2 years, on the Mark Twain NF, I added firing boss, burn plan writing, and burn boss training and experience to my repertoire. I have fought and lit fire in every fuel type except Southern Rough under a wide range of burning conditions. Let me bring my broad experience to bear helping you plan, organize, and supervise a successful, safe Prescribed Fire operation.
Prescribed Fire Planning & Implementation
Using fire for wildfire mitigation and natural resource benefit
I've been heavily involved in Prescribed Fire throughout my Forest Service career, performing reconnaissance, layout, ignitions, monitoring and reporting. During my last 2 years with the USFS on the Mark Twain NF, I added firing boss, burn plan writing, and burn boss training and experience in a large, complex Prescribed Fire program burning approximately 15,000 acres a year in timber, savannahs, glades, and grasslands for multiple and varying management objectives to my repertoire. I have fought and lit fire in every fuel type except Southern Rough, and done so under a wide range of burning conditions, to include offensive and defensive firing on large campaign wildfires. I have completed the Missouri Department of Conservation's Prescribed Burning for Land Managers course and am now a Certified Burn Manager. Let me bring my broad experience to bear helping you plan, organize, and supervise a successful, safe Prescribed Fire operation.
All-Hazard/All-Risk Planning & Response
Natural Hazards, Community Wildfire Protection, Unexpected or Unusual Event Planning
I spent 17 years in Fire, 14 with the USFS, but I have been involved in public safety since graduating high school over 25 years ago. Notable accomplishments include graduating California Peace Officer Standards and Training Modular Police Academy through Module C (Level 1 Reserve), and serving in the California State Guard for 10 years, honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant (68W Healthcare Specialist). In 1st Task Force Civil Support, I was the Senior Medical NCO, a Squad Leader for the Physical Security Detachment, and Military Emergency Management Specialist (Basic) with two Operation Golden Guardian deployments with J6/IC4U Project. I was an EMT-B for 14 years as well, using those skills in the Guard as well as Forest Service Fire.
I speak all "public safety languages" fluently, from EMS to OEM, law enforcement to structure and wildland fire, and everything in between. My job in the Guard was primarily "Military Assistance to Civil Authority" and I'm accordingly well-versed in Guard/Civil Authority interactions, too.
I've served as an exercise designer, observer/controller, and evaluator for numerous Interagency exercises, including developing a combined wildfire and emergency evacuation live-action exercise in 2019 on the Malheur NF including USFS, Oregon Dept of Forestry, Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office, local Rural Fire Districts, Grant Co (OR) Sheriff's Office, as well as Grant Co OEM.
I'm a graduate of the Forest Service's "Field Command School" program, a month-long live-in "Incident Management Team Academy" put on by the National Incident Management Organization, and have Planning Section Chief experience on a Type-1 wildfire under NIMO guidance, as well as during the 2017 Rainbow National Gathering on the Malheur NF, and served as deputy Plans Chief for the Mark Twain Tornado Blowdown Response in 2020.
I can help build and facilitate interagency collaboratives, conduct hazard analyses and propose mitigations, design realistic all-risk exercises ("sandtable" or live-action) to test response capabilities, compose pre-plans and contingencies for possible events, and plan and organize virtually any incident, event, or occurrence using proven Incident Command System/NIMS principles.