Amador County – California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Amador-El Dorado Unit announced last week that a new Division Chief has been assigned for the Pine Grove Camp, and the southern division of the Unit.

Unit Chief Kelly Keenan of the Amador-El Dorado Unit 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. Keenan said it was an honor that he “had the opportunity to pin newly promoted Assistant Chief Brian Estes with his Division Chief badge” on March 1.

Keenan said “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.” He said “Estes embodies Cal-Fire’s ability to develop and recruit future leaders for the Department.”

Estes began his fire service career in 1989 working as a U.S. Forest Service firefighter on hand crews and helitack crews. In 1993, he was hired by CDF 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 CDF Helicopter until getting promoted to Fire Apparatus Engineer in Amador County in 1998.

Estes was 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 was 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.

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

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.