Yarnell Hill Fire

Wildland Fire Associates has had the privilege of working under contract with Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health to assist them with their investigation of the Yarnell Hill Fire. While we are under contract we are unable to comment about this investigation.

Consultants

Dan O’Brien, B.S.
Senior Consultant

Mr. O’Brien is an expert in fire and aviation with over 40 years with the National Park Service. Mr. O’Brien has held the positions of smokejumper, Hotshot Crew Supervisor and Air attack supervisor. He has served as Chief of Fire and Aviation Management in three regions in the National Park Service. Mr. O’Brien has been Fire and Aviation Management Officer in several parks, and Assistant Fire and Aviation Management Officer for Glacier National Park.

Mr. O’Brien served on various Regional Coordinating Groups from 1991 to 2000, and served as Multi-Area Group Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain Region. He has held several positions in the Incident Command System including Incident Commander Type II, Fire Use Manager Type I, National Park Service Agency Liaison to Area Command Team and Incident Commander II on multiple type II fire incidents over a 10-year period. He has also consulted for four law firms concerning wildland fire cases.

 

Elizabeth Anderson, M.S.
Senior Consultant

Ms. Anderson is an expert in fire ecology and is the Chief Operating Officer for Wildland Fire Associates. She started her federal career working on a helitack crew and in natural resources management with the National Park Service. Her career includes eight years working for the USDA Forest Service in prescribed fire and fuels management, and as a District Fire Management Officer. Ms. Anderson has over 12 years of providing consulting services to federal land management agencies that include environmental planning, fire management planning, fire staff recruitment services, and fire ecology expertise. She has specialized in providing scientific fire ecology information and research to assist fire managers make prescribed fire and fuels treatment decisions.

Ms. Anderson served for over four years as a member of the Fire Monitoring Steering Committee for the National Park Service. The committee provided the direction and oversight for the national fire ecology and fire effects monitoring program. She spent over four years establishing a regional fire ecology program and implementing a fire effects monitoring program to measure the short and long-term effects of prescribed fire on natural and cultural resources. She was also a member of a team that developed a comprehensive fire management and ecology brochure for the National Park Service.

 

William Barry Hicks, B.S
Senior Consultant

Mr. Hicks is an expert in Aviation Management on wildfires. Mr. Hicks has served as Aviation Coordinator on National Area Command Team from 1994-2003 and on complex fires throughout US and numerous hurricane assignments. He served as a fire expert advisor to a consortium of ranchers in Mexico in 2010 on perhaps largest wildfires Mexico has experienced. He also served on Chief’s Principal Representative Team in Oregon & Washington in 2007 for fires in excess of $10,000,000. He was requested to advise on the use of the Evergreen 747 dropping retardant on these fires and as a Team participant on Interagency Smokejumper Delivery System study 2004-2005. Mr. Hicks was an advisor to the US Coast Guard for aviation on BP Oil Spill in 2009 and worked a Special Assignment to Columbia Shuttle Disaster recovery efforts.

Mr. Hicks began his career with the U.S. Forest Service in positions such as smoke jumper, engine crew and working on a hotshot crew. He became a smoke jumper squad leader and a base manager before becoming a fire management officer and then a regional aviation officer.

 

Dave Larsen, B.S.
Senior Consultant

Mr. Larsen is an expert in fire management and the tactical application of resources in fire suppression. Mr. Larsen has held the positions of Incident Commander Type I, Deputy Incident Commander Type I, Incident Commander Type II, Prescribed Burn Boss Type I, Prescribed Fire Manager Type I, and Fire Use Manager Type I.

Mr. Larsen’s fire management experience includes work as a fire lookout, district engine foreman and crewmember, district trail crewmember, district brush disposal crew and a hot shot crew supervisor. Mr. Larsen was a District Fire Management Officer as well as a Forest Fire Management Officer for the Helena National Forest. Mr. Larsen’s expertise includes All-Risk Incident Commander including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Operation Section Chief, Type II, and Fire Behavior Analyst. Additionally, Mr. Larsen has Instructed S-290, S-390, S-490, S-339, S-330, I-400 and other ICS courses. Read more >

 

Darrell Schulte, B.S.
Senior Consultant

Mr. Schulte’s expertise in is analyzing and predicting fire behavior. Mr. Schulte 22 has years experience working on Incident Management Teams nationally as a Fire Behavior analyst, including 18 years experience as a Long Term Fire Behavior Analyst. His career includes serving as Assistant Forest Fire Management Officer, District Fire Manager officer, hotshot crew supervisor, Assistant District Fire Management Officer supervising a 20 person brush disposal crew, and supervising district engine and fire crews. He is an expert user of Firefamily Plus, FlamMap, Farsite, Analyst and User for WFDSS.

Mr. Schulte has worked on Interdisciplinary teams and NEPA planning efforts for over 33 years specializing in fire and fuels management. Mr. Schulte participated in the 1995 Interagency Management Review for the South Canyon Fire by analyzing the availability and use of Fire Behavior Analysts during the 1994 fire season. He has served as an expert witness and fire behavior consultant for legal firms. Additionally Mr. Schulte has instructed S130, S190, S230, S231, S390, S490, S590, and RX 590 classes, as well as other ICS classes, nationally.