Fennessy announced his retirement from the Orange County (Calif.) Fire Authority and the tentative acceptance of the new federal-level director role

IRVINE, Calif. — Orange County Fire Authority Fire Chief Brian Fennessy has been tapped to lead the newly created United States Wildland Fire Service. Fennessy shared the news during the announcement of his retirement as OCFA chief on Friday.

Fennessy tentatively accepted the USWFS director role, pending the completion of a federal onboarding process, according to NBC Los Angeles.

“Serving alongside you has been the greatest honor of my career,” Fennessy shared in a memo to OCFA members. “Day in and day out, you have exemplified what it means to be an all‑hazard, mission‑driven organization — protecting lives and property with professionalism, compassion, and relentless commitment. The pride I feel in our team’s operational excellence, innovation, and community partnership is immeasurable. Over the past eight years, we have earned a reputation as a national model within the fire service, and I recognize that being selected as the inaugural leader of the USWFS is a direct reflection of our collective success at the OCFA.”

Fennessy’s last day with OCFA is slated for Jan. 2.

Fennessy’s new role is part of the Trump administration’s plan to restructure federal wildland firefighting responsibilities. The concept for a single federal agency overseeing the wildland fire service was first presented in President Trump’s 2026 budget in May. The plan consolidates wildland fire management functions — currently divided between five agencies across the Department of the Interior (DOI) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) — into a new federal Wildland Fire Service housed within DOI.

[Read next: How the proposed Federal Wildland Fire Service could change the wildfire game]

Watch Fennessy on the Better Every Shift podcast:

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