Fire Chief Brian Fennessy has announced that he will be retiring from the Orange County Fire Authority to accept a leading role with a federal firefighting agency.
After nearly eight years of service, the decorated fire chief has decided to move on and pursue his next chapter. Fennessy says he has tentatively accepted a director role with the newly created United States Wildland Fire Service, pending the completion of a federal onboarding process.
“Serving alongside you has been the greatest honor of my career. 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,” he reportedly wrote to fellow OC Fire Authority employees to announce his depature.
“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,” the statement continued.
According to the OCFA website, Fennessy began his career working with the United States Forest Service and the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management as a hotshot crewmember, hotshot/helishot/helitack captain and ultimately crew superintendent.
In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) and ultimately became Chief of the Department in 2015. One of his many accomplishments while with the SDFD was developing & establishing a multi-mission Fire/Rescue/EMS helicopter program designed to serve the citizens of the City of San Diego and the region.
Chief Fennessy has enjoyed a diversity of executive leadership and management experiences in both the wildland fire and metropolitan fire service communities. He believes that Mission-Driven Culture (MDC) is the future of the fire service and has presented on this topic at a variety of local, state, and national venues.
Chief Fennessy has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and has participated in hundreds of Fire Service, NIMS, and Incident Command Systems courses throughout his career. Fennessy has also completed many specialized leadership-training courses, including the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Fire Service Executive Development Institute (FSEDI) program and for the last ten-years, represented the IAFC on the NWCG Leadership Subcommittee.
Chief Fennessy has held multiple Incident Command System (ICS) certifications and positions, has also served on National Incident Management Teams, and developed one of the first All-Hazard Incident Management Teams (AHIMT) in the US.September 11: Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy pauses during a 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony at OCFA headquarters in Irvine, CA on Thursday, September 11, 2025. The event marked the 24th anniversary of the terror attacks that occurred the morning of September 11, 2001.
Fennessy has held the fire chief position with the OCFA since April 2018. He is slated to retire Jan. 2, 2026. A replacement fire chief wasn’t immediately announced. Fennessy said he would work with the board of directors to support a smooth leadership transition.