I began my fire service career in 1990, as a member of the California Conservation Corps at the Butte Fire Center (BFC). In 1993, I served as a volunteer firefighter in Butte County, eventually becoming the Volunteer Captain at Station 33. While attending Butte College, I worked as a seasonal firefighter for the US Forest Service in the Plumas, El Dorado and Stanislaus Forests.
I was hired by CAL FIRE in July 1996 as a seasonal Firefighter in the Butte Unit (BTU), working for the next two seasons at Robinson Mill (Station 54). In January 1998, I accepted a Fire Crew Captain position with the Nevada Department of Forestry. While in Nevada I worked in Tonopah and Elko. In June 1999, I returned to CAL FIRE in the Amador-Eldorado Unit (AEU) as a Fire Apparatus Engineer. In May 2004, I promoted to Fire Captain in the Lassen-Modoc Unit (LMU) at Devil’s Garden Conservation Camp. In March 2006, I transferred to the Tehama-Glenn Unit (TGU) as a Fire Captain at Valley View Conservation Camp and the Manton Fire Station before returning to BTU as a Captain in the ECC and then to Feather Falls (Station 51). In December 2015, I was assigned to the Butte Fire Center and worked to reopen and remodel the camp prior to the official reopening of the CAL FIRE/CCC program. I worked as the Administrative Captain, coordinating and managing projects for the BFC. In March 2018, I was promoted to Battalion Chief of the Vegetation Management Program (VMP). In 2023, after spending five years building up a robust program of fuel reduction projects and fire breaks throughout Butte County, I transferred to become a field BC. Recently, I took a newly created position as Battalion Chief overseeing the Table Mountain Fire Center, the brand-new home to three firefighter hand crews in the Butte Unit.
I have participated on several statewide cadres and working groups, including North Region S-212 Wildland Fire Saw Cadre and North Region S-234 Firing Cadre.
Vegetation Management (VMP) Page