Battalion Chief Brian Estes, of El Dorado Hills promoted to Assistant Chief,Southern Division Operations

Unit Chief Kelly Keenan of the Amador-El Dorado Unit (AEU) of CAL FIRE announced the promotion of Battalion Chief Brian Estes, of El Dorado Hills, as his new Assistant Chief in charge of Southern Division Operations and Pine Grove Camp. Chief Keenan says “It was an honor that I had the opportunity to pin newly promoted Assistant Chief Brian Estes with his Division Chief badge yesterday. Chief Estes brings many years of valuable experience, both locally and at the state level, to his new duties as AEU's Amador County Division Chief. Chief Estes embodies CAL FIRE's ability to develop and recruit future leaders for the Department.”

Chief Estes began his fire service career in 1989 working as a USFS Firefighter on hand crews and helitack crews. In 1993, he was hired by CAL FIRE as a firefighter in the San Diego Unit. In 1995, he moved to the Tuolumne Calaveras Unit and worked as a Helitack Firefighter on a CAL FIRE Helicopter until promoting to Fire Apparatus Engineer in Amador County in 1998. Chief Estes promoted to Fire Captain B in El Dorado County at Growlersburg Conservation Camp in 2001. He transferred to the Unit's Training Bureau in 2003 as a Fire Captain and promoted to the Training Bureau Battalion Chief in 2006. In 2008, Chief Estes moved into a Field Battalion and supervised AEU's Battalion 1 encompassing El Dorado and Camino Stations including AEU Headquarters.

Chief Estes has extensive CAL FIRE Incident Command Team experience as a Type I Operations Section Chief with Incident Command Teams (ICT) 1 and 10. He is currently the Incident Commander Trainee for ICT 5. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Chico. Brian lives in El Dorado Hills with his wife Kelly and daughter Peyton.

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Teri Mizuhara, Unit Public Information Officer

Fire Prevention Specialist II

CAL FIRE

Amador-El Dorado Unit

530.647.5239 desk

530.708.2724 cell

530.647.5276 fax

CAL FIRE NEWS RELEASE
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Amador-El Dorado Unit

CONTACT: Teri Mizuhara, Fire Prevention Specialist II, 530.708.2724
RELEASE DATE: March 2, 2012

New Division Chief for Amador County

Camino –