Last night I went to a party in Idaho Springs, Colorado, to recognize the wildland fire career of L. Dean Clark (on the left in the photo). On January 3 Dean retired from the National Park Service as Deputy Fire Management Officer for the Intermountain Region, working out of Denver. He began his career in California (a long time ago!). He worked at Yosemite, Pinnacles, Yellowstone, Bandelier, and many other locations. One thing he is remembered most for is his acceptance of an assignment at Bandelier National Monument shortly after the May, 2004 2000 Cerro Grande fire which resulted from an escaped prescribed fire, ultimately spreading into the town of Los Alamos, destroying 235 structures. Dean rebuilt the wildland fire program. A couple of years ago he took the Regional office position, but in November Bandelier conducted their first prescribed fire since 2004, showing that confidence in their fire program has been reestablished within the National Park Service as well as in the local area.
The large crowd at the gathering passed the boot to collect donations for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. Dean pledged to match a portion of the funds collected. Here is a 5 minute video that describes what the WFF does.
(Photo by Marsha Rogers)
The Cerro Grande fire was in 2000, not 2004