CAL FIRE'S Highest Ranking Female Officer Hanging up Gear

When Kari Thompson was 15, she went to a career fair at her high school thinking she might want to become a paramedic. Then a firefighter at a neighboring table talked up the fire service. She liked that it was physically challenging and largely outdoors.

Thompson learned more about the profession when she joined a fire Explorer program in Riverside County, and took EMT and fire science classes at a community college after graduating high school early.

At 18, she was hired by Cal Fire, then known as the California Department of Forestry.

“Other than the small time that I spent working at McDonald’s when I was in high school to pay my car insurance, this is the only job I’ve ever had,” she said.

Next month, she’s retiring after 31 years, all of it in the San Diego region. She is the only Cal Fire female battalion chief and the agency’s highest-ranking female firefighter in the county.

There were few women in the profession when Thompson was hired, and that’s still the case. Of the roughly 1,000 Cal Fire firefighters in San Diego County today, only 20 of them are women.

While newer stations typically provide each firefighter with a separate bedroom, crews back then often bunked in open barracks with little privacy. Some of Thompson’s male coworkers were “standoffish” at her arrival, and she remembers one older firefighter who asked her not to answer the fire station phone because he didn’t want to explain her presence to his wife.

Thompson worked hard and turned critics around. “Once they saw that I could do the job, they were super accepting,” she said.

Thompson said she is one of three women in the process of retiring from Cal Fire, including two captains. She thinks her female coworkers should see the retirements as encouraging. “It shows the younger ones that you really can have a long-lasting, successful career,” she said.

A family of first responders

Thompson grew up in Riverside County in a family of first responders. Her stepfather was a sheriff’s sergeant, and her brother and sister each went into law enforcement. She is married to a retired Cal Fire firefighter, and her 18-year-old son is eyeing a fire service career after college.

Over the years, she fought hundreds of fires and was deployed all around the state. Only the Harris fire in 2007, a deadly blaze that charred 90,000 acres and lasted more than two weeks, left her grappling with questions long after it was out.

Thompson, then a captain, was the first engine on scene when the fire started around a mile from the Potrero fire station. Winds that October morning were fierce.

At first, Thompson’s crew didn’t see any smoke because the wind was blowing so hard the fire was pushed low to the ground, she said. When her crew finally did see a few wisps, Thompson figured out where the fire was located, cut a hole in a fence and drove her fire engine down a dirt road.

The fire was still small then.

Making a decision that she still weighs, she stopped and backed up the engine. She didn’t know if there was space along the road for her to turn around if they got into trouble. She worried the engine would be stuck on the road if flames suddenly roared toward them.

Strong Santa Ana winds were pushing the fire to the west, carrying embers up to a mile away, sparking new spot fires. Soon, the blaze was out of control.

“The wind just took it,” Thompson recalled in an interview outside the Ramona station, one of many she oversees. “And I, for years, second-guessed decisions that I made that morning… I made the decision because I had three people that I’m responsible for. I backed out and decided, ‘Nope, we’re not gonna catch this.’”

Her memory of that day remains sharply in focus.

“This was 18 years ago. And I remember everywhere I was that day like it was yesterday,” she said. “I still remember the incident number. I still remember what time we were dispatched, what I was doing when we were dispatched… I really wish I could just get rid of that one, but that one, I think, is just stuck.”

The Harris fire burned for 16 days, destroying hundreds of homes and causing at least eight deaths, according to Cal Fire records. Four Cal Fire firefighters trying to save a mobile home ended up seriously injured a few hours after the blaze ignited. The fire burned over their engine, where they and a civilian sought shelter. Another civilian at the property died.

About six months after the fire, Thompson listened to that day’s recorded radio calls as part of a university study on decision making under stress. Her voice was calmer than she’d expected, and every choice she made seemed on target.

“I ordered the appropriate amount of resources — but it was stuff that I didn’t remember that I had done,” she said. “The events that happened because of that fire were out of my control. I know that now, but for the longest time, I really struggled with it — the burn over, the deaths. It’s stuff that I can’t erase. I’ll never forget that day.”

Life after the fire service

After joining as a teen, Thompson moved up the career ladder, becoming an engineer in 2000 and a captain in 2004. She was promoted to battalion chief in 2020, a job that gave her influence over a larger group of firefighters.

She spent 19 years running the Potrero station, and only moved to other stations when she sought the battalion chief post.

Cal Fire spokesperson Mike Cornette said Thompson is well known for her calm, steady leadership and for being a “mama bear” for the way she mentors and watches out for her firefighters.

A lifelong athlete, she’s competed in a number of marathons, half marathons and triathlons over the years. She completed 16 Ironman races and plans to compete in her 17th in La Quinta on Dec. 7. Others are on the calendar for next year.

Her last working day is Thursday and the next day she plans to hand in the keys to her Cal Fire pickup — on her 50th birthday.

She will join husband Rob in East Texas in the home they bought last year. It is fairly close to where their 22-year-old daughter, Amanda, now lives. The couple’s son, Trevor, attends college in nearby Arkansas, where he plays college baseball.

Her job caused her to miss many of his games when he was little. In retirement, Thompson plans to catch as many as possible.

“I’m excited that he’s playing at the next level because now I told him I’m going to be that crazy baseball mom that makes it to all your games because I can,” she said.

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