ON FIRE

About the Book

This book will help answer questions the American public has about what Incident Management Teams really do. The Pentagon Terrorist attack and Hurricane Katrina are incident assignment included in the book. Managing incidents that cost $1,000,000.00 a day is quite common for Federal Incident Commanders. It also gives the reader a realistic look at how federal employees move through a career and what obstacles they might face. Reading this will open your eyes to the staggering costs, in money and lives, of battling these large incidents. The book displays the personal rewards and fond memories a career in wildland fire management and participation on incident management teams can bring. There is also a chapter on how to succeed as a federal employee.

About the Author

Tom started his wildland fire career in 1973 with the United States Forest Service in Northern California on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. He worked there for five years as a seasonal fire employee. In 1987 he took position on the Cleveland National Forest near San Diego. This position came with important retirement and medical benefits. He spent 9 years there on Engines Helitack and crews. In 1987 he moved to the Plumas National Forest in Northern California. He worked in Fuels Management and Prevention. In 1992 he transferred to the Lassen National Forest as a Fuels Specialist. In 1994 he was promoted to the Division Chief on the Eagle Lake Ranger District. In 2002 he was promoted to the Chief of FAM for the Lassen National forest and served in that position until November of 2005. In 2005 he moved to Boise, Idaho to work on the Fire Program Analysis project. In 2008 he was selected as the Portland NIMO Incident Commander. He retired at the end of the year in 2010.