Fire Chief Jeff Bowman:Retired

+1 (760) 705-5289

  • Retired Fire Chief: San Diego, Anaheim, Orange County Fire Authority

  • Former President, California Fire Chiefs Association

  • Former President, Orange County Fire Chiefs Association

Jeff Bowman is the just retired Fire Chief for the Orange County Fire Authority. Under his leadership, he managed a department of 72 stations, 1,277 personnel, covering 23 cities and unincorporated areas of Orange County, CA.

He also serves on the Scripps Health Board of Trustees, appointed to the Board in 2004. He has served on hospital system boards for the past 18 years and has significant insight into quality, culture, and leadership. Mr. Bowman retired as Chief of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department in 2006. Prior to his San Diego appointment, he was Fire Chief of the Anaheim Fire Department for 16 of the 29 years served with that agency.

Mr. Bowman served as President of the California Fire Chiefs Association and the Orange County Fire Chiefs Association, and was appointed to the State Board of Fire Services by Governor Pete Wilson in 1997. He has served on committees of the National Fire Protection Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs. In 2004 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed him to the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission to address statewide fire and emergency issues. He also has served as a technical advisor and consultant to several fire service-related companies.

Mr. Bowman was tasked with managing San Diego Fire-Rescue resources during the October 2003 Fire Storms which devastated San Diego County, and was subsequently appointed to co-chair the San Diego Regional Fire Prevention Emergency Preparedness Task Force by the Mayor of San Diego and the County Board of Supervisors. He received community recognition for his management of the 2003 Fire Storms and was named “Fire Chief of the Year for 2004” by the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association.

He and his wife Denise have six children and five grandchildren so far, and enjoy farming a small family vineyard in Escondido, California

Dan Reese: Cal Fire Chief: Retired

+1 (760) 705-5289

  • Retired Chief of Tactical Air Operations (TAO) for CAL FIRE

  • Past Board member National Interagency Wildfire Chemical Board

  • Awarded California’s Military Department’s highest honor given to a civilian – the Legion of Merit Medal

  • Former president of Global Super Tanker Services

Dan Reese is an authority on using air tankers and wildfire chemicals to support firefighter missions throughout the United States and globally. Throughout a distinguished 32-year career in the fire service, Reese rose through the ranks, starting in 1985 as a firefighter for the Nevada Department of Forestry, culminating as the Chief of Tactical Air Operations (TAO) for CAL FIRE in 2015. As Chief of TAO, he had program responsibility for the state of California’s wildland fire chemical, aviation training, tactical air operations, and military programs. Reese sat on the national interagency wildfire chemical board for ten years.

Chief Reese integrated Air Operation Branch Directors into the California Geographic Area Command Centers. He was also a primary architect of CAL FIRE’s ground-applied mobile retardant program, the State of California’s Catastrophic Aviation Response Plan and Air Operations concept of operations. In 2007, Reese led and coordinated development of the Nation’s first Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) program for CAL FIRE. VLATs are now used year-round and deployed worldwide as needed. Upon retirement from his 25 years in CAL FIRE, Reese was awarded California’s Military Department’s highest honor given to a civilian – the Legion of Merit Medal. Reese was the president of Global Super Tanker Services from 2018 to 2020, operating the 747 Global Super Tanker.

Peter Brierty: Fire Marshal and Assistant Chief: Retired

+1 (909) 362-6721

  • Retired San Bernardino County Fire Marshal and Assistant Chief: 35 years

  • Original founder of the County Hazardous Materials Program.

  • Developed and lead the Operations of the Mountain Area Safety Task Force

  • created the District Attorney’s Environmental Strike Team
  • Professor of Environmental Law and Regulations at the University of California Riverside and California State University San Bernardino.

Peter Brierty retired from San Bernardino County Fire Department as the Fire Marshal and Assistant Chief after 35 years of service to the County. In 2003, he developed and lead the Operations of the Mountain Area Safety Task Force that was comprised of Federal, State, Local cooperator agencies and Community Fire Safe Councils. His team created and conducted over 1,000 fuel reduction contracts and operations strategically designed to reduce the potential for catastrophic fire and protect over 20,000 private properties and public resource in all communities across the San Bernardino Mountains. Amongst a host of other Fire Prevention activities, he also rewrote the County Code for vegetation management and construction within the Fire Hazard Severity Zones within those Wildland Urban Interface Areas.

Prior to his Fire Service, for 17 years, he was one of the original three founders of the County Hazardous Materials Program. He formed the Interagency Emergency Response Team, HazMat Inspection and Underground Storage Tank Program. He also created the District Attorney’s Environmental Strike Team and used State and Federal Law to prosecute those that would contaminate the land, air and water and put citizens health at risk. He represented the County in State legislative review of bills regarding Prop 65, Safe Drinking Water, Toxics and Hazardous Waste Management. He also taught Environmental Law and Regulations at the University of California Riverside and California State University San Bernardino.