Air tanker base manager at San Bernardino airport dies of COVID

4:42 p.m. PDT Nov. 18, 2021

Personnel at San Bernardino Air tanker base, June 30, 2020
Personnel at San Bernardino Air tanker base, June 30, 2020. Edward Godinez is second from the right. USFS photo.

The Acting Air Tanker Base Manager of the base at the San Bernardino Airport in Southern California died Saturday November 13. Edward Godinez was 32 and passed away from COVID-19 after spending three weeks in an ICU. He had recently been selected to serve in that role permanently.

Fire Aviation has learned that Mr. Godinez had not been vaccinated and that several other unvaccinated Forest Service employees at the base also tested positive for COVID.

May Mr. Godinez rest in peace.

Former professor indicted for setting wildfires near the Dixie Fire in California

Gary Maynard arson photograph of the Ranch Fire
Exhibit 2 in the Gary Maynard Detention Memo, showing the Ranch Fire shortly after it was discovered. Gary Maynard was charged with starting the fire and three others. Photo courtesy of US Attorney’s office.

A federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment November 18 against Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, of San Jose, charging him with arson to federal property and setting timber afire, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Maynard engaged in an arson spree in the vicinity of the then ongoing Dixie Fire in areas of the Shasta-Trinity and Lassen National Forests. Some of the fires he set were new fires behind the firefighters fighting the Dixie Fire. Maynard is charged with setting the Cascade Fire (July 20), Everitt Fire (July 21), Ranch Fire (Aug. 7), and Conard Fire (Aug. 7).

He was not charged with starting the Dixie Fire, but was investigated for his responsibility in starting five others. They were all suppressed before growing large, in part because for some of them his vehicle was being tracked and after obtaining warrants arson investigators had access to the approximate location of his cell phone every 15 seconds. In a couple of cases US Forest Service Agents reported the new fires immediately, were the first on scene, and did what they could to knock down the blazes until firefighters arrived.

Mr. Maynard is a former instructor at universities in California including Santa Clara and Sonoma State.

From CNN:

Maynard was a part-time lecturer at Sonoma State University in its Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice during the fall of 2020, a university spokesperson told CNN. He taught two seminars on the topics of criminal justice and deviant behavior, according to school officials. Maynard was filling in for a faculty member who was on leave and was not reappointed for Spring 2021, the school spokesperson said.

Sonoma State University welcomed him as a new lecturer on August 31, 2020. Their description:

Dr. Gary Maynard graduated from Bowling Green State University, University of Alaska Fairbanks and Stony Brook University. He has three master’s degree (political science, theater arts, and sociology) and a Ph.D. in sociology.  His teaching and research focus on the following topics: sociology of technology/social media, social psychology, sociology of health, deviance and crime, sociology of the mass media, youth and adolescence, global sociology, environmental sociology, the sociology of sports, the sociology of drug abuse and alcoholism and quantitative research methods.

More information about the four fires is in our August 11, 2021 article.

CAL FIRE Director Thom Porter announces his retirement

Chief Thom Porter
Chief Thom Porter Oct. 28, 2019. CAL FIRE photo.

Chief Thom Porter announced Monday that he is retiring from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection after leading the agency for the last three years.

Porter was appointed acting Director of the Department by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on December 14, 2018. Three weeks later he was named Director by Governor Gavin Newsom.

He first started with CAL FIRE in 1999 after working as a forester since 1992 with private industry in Washington, Oregon and in the Sierra Nevada. The positions he held with CAL FIRE included the San Diego Unit Fire Chief, Assistant Southern Region Chief, and Southern Region Chief before becoming Chief of Strategic Planning in Sacramento Headquarters January 1, 2018.

The Associated Press reports that Porter took the blame in June for Gov. Gavin Newsom overstating the amount of land that had been treated with prescribed burns and fuel breaks. Newsom said 90,000 acres had been treated, when Capitol Radio first reported that the actual number was 87% less. Porter said his Department had done a poor job educating the governor and the public about its efforts.

Porter’s last day is December 10, a CAL FIRE spokesperson said. The Governor has not announced a replacement.

Porter is a 5th generation San Diego native who married his high school sweetheart and life partner Rebecca. They enjoy spending time with their two sons and their partners, and three family dogs, all of whom live in California. He said he plans to return to San Diego to focus on his family and aging parents.