Veteran CA Fire Chief Tapped to Lead New U.S. Wildland Fire Service

Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy told his firefighters his selection is "a direct reflection of our collective success."

By Nathaniel Percy

Source The Orange County Register (TNS)

Dec. 8, 2025

3 min read

Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy spoke about fireworks safety at a recent event.

Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy will retire from the agency after the turn of the new year and has tentatively accepted a federal position, according to a memo sent out Friday night and obtained by the Southern California News Group.

Fennessy, who has served as OCFA chief for nearly eight years, said he has tentatively accepted a director role with the newly created United States Wildland Fire Service, pending completion of a federal onboarding process.

“Serving alongside you has been the greatest honor of my career,” Fennessy wrote in the memo to OCFA firefighters and professional staff. “Day in and day out, you have exemplified what it means to be an all-hazard, mission-driven organization – protecting lives and property with professionalism, compassion, and relentless commitment. The pride I feel in our team’s operational excellence, innovation, and community partnership is immeasurable. Over the past eight years, we have earned a reputation as a national model within the fire service, and I recognize that being selected as the inaugural leader of the USWFS is a direct reflection of our collective success at the OCFA.”

The chief said his retirement from OCFA would be effective on Jan. 2. He has held the position of chief since April 2018.

Fennessy started his career in 1978 with the Agriculture Department’s U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management as a hotshot crewmember and moved up to crew superintendent before joining the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department in 1990. He would serve as the chief of that department starting in 2015.

A replacement fire chief was not announced, but Fennessy said he would “work closely with Executive Management and our Board of Directors to support a smooth leadership transition.”

He said moving into the federal role presented an opportunity to “strengthen interagency coordination, modernize capabilities, and elevate the profession of wildland firefighting. I look forward to carrying the lessons learned at the OCFA into that work and ensuring the nation knows that the OCFA – and all of you – are deeply connected to the values and mission we aim to build at the USWFS.”

Fennessy was named one of the Orange County Register’s Orange County’s Most Influential People in 2020 after leading the department through the COVID pandemic while also battling the Bond, Silverado and Blue Ridge fires, all of which at least partly swept into Orange County. Two firefighters, whom Fennessy had selected for their jobs and said he was close with, were badly burned during the Silverado fire that year.

The OCFA serves nearly 2 million residents in 23 cities – including Santa Ana and Irvine – and unincorporated areas in Orange County. The fire authority has more than 1,200 firefighters across 78 stations in the county.