Brian Fennessy has told his colleagues at the Orange County Fire Authority that he is retiring as head of the agency in January to become the first Director of the newly created United States Wildland Fire Service.

In a memo to all OCFA firefighters and professional staff reported by the Homeland Security Today US website, Fennessy said he had “tentatively accepted” the new role to commence on 12 January 2026. The announcement is being broadly reported in the media but does appear to be announced yet in official government channels.

As he transitions to the new national role Fennessy attributed his selection to “our collective success at OCFA”.

“The creation of the USWFS represents a historic opportunity to strengthen interagency coordination, modernize capabilities, and elevate the profession of wildland firefighting,” he wrote to his colleagues.

Fennessy became chief of the OCFA in April 2018. He began his career in 1978 with the US Department of Agriculture’s United States Forest Service and the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management working as a hotshot crewmember, hotshot/helishot/helitack captain and ultimately crew superintendent.

In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and ultimately became Chief of that Department in 2015.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) officially opened up applications for its US Wildland Fire Service Director position in late September.

The position was advertised as being based in either Washington, D.C., or Boise, Idaho, with a salary of $191,900 to $225,700.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ‘US Wildland Fire Service’ unveiled by USDA, DOI