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Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas, BA, recently retired as Regional Fuels Specialist, Intermountain Region, USDA Forest Service. He began work for U. S. Forest Service in 1967 as a “pick-up” forest firefighter in Montana. He has held various overhead assignments in fire suppression, including fire behavior analyst for the 1988 Yellowstone Fires and prescribed fire burn boss on many “controlled” burns. He applies HRO principles to prescribed fires (fires that people ignite) and wildland fire-use fires (lightning fires that people purposely allow to burn) following Karl Weick’s essay on Norman MacLean’s book Young Men and Fire over ten years ago. He assisted in organization of two “Managing the Unexpected in Prescribed Fire and Fire Use Operations” workshops attended by more than 250 interagency fire managers. He has a BA degree in geography from the University of Montana. He retired in October 2005 from his job as the Forest Service’s Intermountain Region fuels specialist based in Utah and works as an author and consultant.
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