Who We Are
We are a team of current and former federally employed wildland firefighters with operational backgrounds in Alaska Smokejumping and wildfire fighting crews across the United States.
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Our experience includes:
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Initial attack and extended attack wildfires
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Structure defense in the wildland–urban interface
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Fire behavior assessment and operational decision-making
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Working within complex terrain, weather, and access limitations
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We design plans based on what actually works when fire reaches the ground, not just what meets minimum requirements.
Our Team
Russell Kennedy
Alaska Smokejumper
Russell Kennedy has been fighting wildfires since 2001. He was lead saw for 5 years on the Idaho City Hotshots until he became an Alaska Smokejumper in 2014. His speciality is in wildfire behavior recognition, saw work, and protective systems design and implementation. His B.A. in English Literature has given him a unique combination of skills for writing our protection plans.
Ezra Butterfield
Alaska Smokejumper
Ezra Butterfield has been fighting wildfires since 1997. He has been in leadership roles on multiple hotshot crews across the nation. He became an Alaska Smokejumper in 201o. Within his tenure he has amassed a mixture of wildfire experience and operational exposure that is unparalleled in the field.
Kale Donley
Alaska Smokejumper
Kael has been fighting wildfires since 2003, including 7 seasons as an Alaska Smokejumper. His specialty is his knowledge of the Wildfire Use Module- a unit that steers wildfire instead of extinguishing so-as to restore fire-dependent ecosystems to their natural equilibriums.
Sasha Berleman, Ph.D.
advisor
Dr. Sasha Berleman holds a doctorate in wildland fire science from University of California at Berkeley. Since 2017, Dr. Berleman has advised on fuels treatment and fire risk reduction projects across the greater Bay Area, including for Stanford University, Dry Creek Rancheria, Moraga Orinda Fire District, East Bay Regional Park District, Sonoma County's CWPP, and more. Sasha is a board member of American Wildfire Experience.
