Plumas Hotshots History

Historic crew photo of the Plumas Hotshots (link to a FlickR photostream)

1974

The Plumas National Forest staffed its first nationally recognized Hotshot Crew in July of 1974 and for two seasons would have it split into two separate 10-person modules; one each on the Greenville and the Quincy Ranger Districts. These modules came together, upon receipt of a resource request, to form the Plumas Interagency Hotshot Crew.

For most of the first season Charlie Earhart would act as Superintendent and supervise the Greenville half of the crew with Jim Hogg supervising the Quincy module with J.D. Killick as his assistant. It wasn’t until nearly the end of that first season that Dan Swearingen would officially be hired to fill the Superintendent position. He would remain as such through the end of 1975 with Jim Hogg as his Foreman.

1976

Jim Hogg took over for Swearingen and brought the entire crew together at the Quincy Work Center location (now the Mt. Hough Ranger District Office), where they are stationed to this day. Jim would stay with the crew from ‘76 until ‘78 with J.D. Killick as his assistant throughout that time period.

1978

In late August the crew, along with several other Hotshot Crews throughout the Region, lost their national funding. Plumas was able to remain together to finish out the season, operating out of local dollars, but many crews were not so lucky.

1979

The budget crisis that began the previous season carried over through the next fiscal year and the crew was left unfunded and unstaffed. All equipment remained on the shelf and Hogg moved on to other positions on the forest and wouldn’t return to the Hotshot organization. He remained active in the wildland fire profession eventually becoming a Logistics Section Chief within a California Type 1 Incident Management Team(IMT). Killick would leave for Region 3 and would eventually retire from a Southwest Hotshot Crew.

1980

Funding was restored and Tom Hatcher became Superintendent with Dave Ross as his Foreman. Later that same year a second Foreman position was created and Larry Vogan was hired. Tom would stay in the position through 1987 and in March of 1988 he was promoted to Assistant District Fire Management Officer(Fuels), leaving the crew under Dave Ross, who acted as Superintendent until July of that year. Tom retired in 2006 from the position of Assistant Director of Fire and Aviation for Region 5 in Northern California.

1988

In July Kent Swartzlander was named Superintendent, replacing Hatcher with Dave Ross remaining as Foreman. Larry Vogan moved on to the Lassen National Forest and his position would remain vacant until 1989 when Jon Lee was hired. Kent would hold the Superintendent position for 12 seasons, from 1988 until 1999, during which time the organization was expanded to include two permanent Squad Leaders and, eventually, a single permanent Senior Firefighter.

1999

Swartzlander was promoted to Assistant District Fire Management Officer(Fuels). He retired in 2010 from the position of Forest Fire Management Officer of the Six Rivers National Forest and Incident Commander of a Type 2 Incident Management Team.

2000

Jack Sevelson came back to the crew, to replace Kent as Superintendent, with Jon Lee and Dave Ross staying on as “Captains”. Jack started on the crew in 1980 and stated that he intended "to stay on as Superintendent until they pry the tool from his cold dead fingers".

In the thirteen seasons Jack served as superintendent he oversaw many changes within the Plumas Hotshots organization. For instance; the expansion of its permanent workforce to include three more Senior Firefighter and a seemingly endless shuffle of folks to keep all the permanent positions filled.

2001

Jon Lee moved to Cedar City, UT as Superintendent of the new Dixie Hotshots, with Pete Duncan becoming a Captain (13A) in his place.

2003

Dave Ross retired from one of the Captain positions (13B) after 22 years as a Plumas Hotshot. Freddy Brewster returned to the crew to replace Dave and with 15 years on the crew, would move on to become Superintendent of the Lassen Hotshots.

2004

Pete was promoted to the Chief 2 position on the Plumas National Forest and Ryan Bauer became a captain ont he crew in his stead. Bauer later moved on to a district Fuels position in 2008 and was replaced by long time crewmember Mike Sherman. Mike entered his 15th season as a captain with Plumas Hotshots in 2012.

2005

This season saw the addition of Tye Erwin and Kevin Grant as Squadleaders. Apprentices Donavon Beatty and Steve Tolen joined as Senior Firefighters. The destructive hurricanes of this year brought the crew to Texas late in the season. Hurricane Rita Support was the crew's first non-traditional assignment.

2007

The season began with apprentice firefighter Marty Senter promoting into a Senior Firefighter position. Marty worked as a Plumas Hotshot during his apprenticeship in the 2005 fire season, and now returns to the crew to replace Donavon Beatty. Kevin Grant was promoted to a Captain position on the Texas Canyon Hotshots in July of ’07, a big gain for Texas Canyon. May saw the crew assigned to an incident in Northern Minnesota, a return trip for the crew having been there in 1976 as well. This was an interesting trip. In addition to driving to the incident, canoeing to the work areas was also a highlight.

2008

Mike Sherman rejoined the crew. Joel Schilling was hired from the Eldorado National Forest to serve as Squad Leader. Chris Marson, a firefighter apprentice, began with the crew as a Senior Firefighter. Ryan Bauer promoted to a Battalion Chief (Fuels) position and Steve Tolen took the step of moving to an Assistant Fire Engine Operator.

2009

Joel Schilling promoted from Squad Leader to Captain (13B) in the spring.

Crew Superintendents

Crew Captains