Roundtable Talk - Shifting the Homeowner Mindset: Shared Responsibility in Wildfire Mitigation

Mark is an Emergency and Wildland Fire Management Specialist with over 25 years of all-risk public safety experience, including law enforcement, structural and wildland fire, and incident management, having graduated the National Incident Management Organization's Field Command School. As the owner of Grounded Truths LLC, he specializes in community wildfire protection, hazard mitigation planning, and the use of advanced geospatial tools for wildfire risk assessments. Mark’s extensive background with the U.S. Forest Service began with the Wildland Fire Apprenticeship, then serving in progressive Fire Management positions, including as a Captain in Prescribed Fire & Fuels and as a Fire Prevention/Mitigation Battalion Chief, where he was instrumental in building FireWise Communities and managing complex interagency prevention/mitigation programs.

A seasoned instructor with over 13 years of wildland and prescribed fire teaching experience, Mark has taught a variety of wildland fire courses, from Basic Wildland Fire Academy (S-130/190) to Intermediate Fire Behavior (S-290), and Prescribed Fire Burn Boss (RX-300). He has previously served as the Chair of the Missouri Prescribed Fire Council, where he mentored partner staff and successfully tripled the number of Prescribed Burn Associations statewide. He's also designed and served as an evaluator for interagency wildland fire exercises in both live-roleplay and sandtable formats.

Chief Johnson's career spans 25 years of public service.  In his early career he started the fire service in 1993 with the El Dorado County Fire Department and joined the U.S. Forest Service in 1995 where he held positions from firefighter to fire captain.  He was an instructor of Fire Science at the College of Southern Nevada.  Later he held the positions of Assistant Chief and Fire Training Instructor at Clark County Fire Department in the State of Nevada. These roles required him to supervise a paid and volunteer firefighting staff, 13 Fire Stations and EMS personnel. 

Currently Chief Johnson is the Fire Chief for Ebbett’s Pass Fire District, a position he was appointed to in September of 2014. The Ebbett’s Pass Fire District provides fire suppression, advanced life support, and ground emergency medical transport for its 6,750 residents and visitors within the Special Districts 225 square mile boundary. Chief Johnson is very proud of the quality of service provided and their bound to our community.

Charlie Kludt has been a member of the Viborg Volunteer Fire Department in Viborg, South Dakota since 1993. He has served positions of secretary and Training Officer for the department. He has certifications as Rescue Technician, driver-operator, inspector, instructor, and NWCG wildland. He is an on-call EMT for the Viborg Ambulance service.

Charlie’s full-time occupation is Station Captain FF/EMT and Fire Prevention Inspector at Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls, SD, since 2001.

He served as Southeast District Director to the South Dakota Firefighters Association from 2010-2014. In 2014, he was elected as State SDFA President and still serves in the position.

In 2015, he became an NVFC State Director for South Dakota. Currently serving as Wildland committee member.

He and his wife, Dawn, are members of the South Dakota-Local Assistance State Team (SD-LAST).

Prior to a firefighting career, he was a Jr/Sr High School vocational instructor, coach, and Administrator. He served as mayor for 14 years; Planning and Zoning Chairman; School Board member; and church committee member (which has a “forever” term limit). 

I have been in the fire service since graduating high school in Newton Massachusetts in 1994. Starting out on Malden Rescue 2, an auxiliary civil defense unit that supported area towns with lighting and air supply. I was then hired as a seasonal wildland firefighter for the Commonwealth, Massachusetts and during my off-season would live in New Hampshire working at a ski resort and also volunteering as a call firefighter with the Lincoln, New Hampshire fire department. In 2000 I then joined the US Army as a military police officer and moved to Fort Carson, Colorado, where during my 7 years in Colorado I also was a member of the Stratmore Hills, and Southwest Highway 115, Divide fire departments. I was also a captain on the El Paso County sheriffs office Wildland fire crew. In 2006 I moved back to Massachusetts and I’m employed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of conservation and recreation bureau of Forest fire control where I serve as the district one Forest fire warden which covers Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. I am currently an ICT type four crew, boss and engine boss. I am also a member of the Barnstable county type three incident management team. I’m also a member of the north east Forest FIRE, compact fire prevention team, and am recently a member of the NWCG NIMS integration sub committee.