Franklin Otis “Frank” Carroll
President & Senior Partner:
Professional Forest Management, LLC
Wildfire Pros

+(605) 440-2039

• United States Forest Service for 31 years


• chief of public and government affairs


• Wildland firefighter


• Senior Lobbyist

Frank Carroll leads a comsortium of professional foresters, range scientists, and wildfire expert consultants in wildfire forensics and wildfire damage assessments. He has a master’s degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Policy from Boise State University, and extensive post graduate work in fire ecology (University of Idaho), wildfire forensics, fire management, and wildfire practice, history, and policy. Frank served as lead firefighter on Park Service backcountry crews, as a Hotshot squad boss, a helicopter manager, and in increasingly responsible roles in fire management up to Division Supervisor, and command and general staff on Type 1 ICS Teams for 11 years across the Western United States.

Prior to his current work, he was with the United States Forest Service for 31 years, starting as a wildland firefighter in Arizona in 1972 and rising to Forest Planning staff and chief of public and government affairs. As a Senior staffer for over 35 years, Frank had a front row seat to the policy development and practices that led us from full fire suppression to the current wildfire suppression strategies including wildfire use. His leadership helped advance land management and wildfire policies across the Western United States, in the Midwest, and in the Southwest, fighting for environmental justice and agency accountability, and upholding the principles of administrative and substantive law.

Frank served as senior lobbyist, senior policy and communications executive, and government liaison with Native American tribes for Potlatch Corporation in Idaho and Minnesota, and successfully transitioned the company to new ownership under South African Pulp and Paper Industries in 2003, caring for industry and union people through the sale of the company assets in Minnesota. He led public and government affairs for the Forest Service in Idaho (Regions 1 and 4) and won several awards for his writing and communications skills Frank led the interagency effort to coordinate and manage the 1992 and 1994 wildfires in the Boise Range. 

Following retirement in 2012, Frank leads a private consultancy working for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and private property owners and law firms in California and across the West, Midwest, and Southeast.

His commitment to contemporary land conservation and service to others continues. Son of a Forest Ranger from the officer corps of World War Two, since retirement he has written extensively about forest maintenance and its role to control large intense wildfires. He is the primary author of many opinion editorials and articles about wildfire, outlining solutions that address the current national emergency of intense, uncontrollable wildfires resulting from the lack of forest maintenance across America.

Frank is a wildfire expert consultant and a principal for range and forestry consultations in the 11 Wester States and Canada. Frank is a registered natural resource professional in South Dakota where he is a registered forester and wildfire expert. Frank has provided expert consultation in the Midwest and Southeast on fire management, wildfire impacts and costs, and fire suppression strategies.

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.

Jim Thompson. Retired Fire Marshal (Rohnert Park)

+1 (909) 362-6721