National Incident Management Organization - Team 4
NIMO is composed of four Type 1 Incident Management Teams. Each team consists of seven members, who are assigned full-time to Command and General Staff positions including: Incident Commander; Safety Officer; Public Information Officer; Planning Section Chief; Operations Section Chief; Logistics Section Chief; and Finance Section Chief.
Bea Day - Incident Commander
Bea has worked for the Forest Service since 1985. Bea began her career on the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho as a seasonal employee, working in Timber and in Fire as a Hotshot crew member. Bea received her permanent appointment in 1990 on the Tonto National Forest and over the next 20 years worked in a variety of jobs as an Engine Captain, District Assistant Fire Management Officer, and Forest Assistant Fire Management Officer. Bea moved to the Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands and was the Forest Fire Management Officer from 2008 through 2016 when she moved into the Risk Management Officer for Fire Operations job in the Southwestern Regional Office.
During her time in the Southwest, Bea had tenures as Incident Commander of a Type 2 Incident Management Team and as IC for the Southwest Type 1 IMT. In 2019, she moved into her current role as the Incident Commander for the Portland National Incident Management Organization (NIMO). Email: barbara.day@usda.gov
Michelle Fidler – Public Information Officer
Michelle began her career as a Park Ranger (1999-2002) working with the Bureau of Land Management, Mojave National Preserve, Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, C&O Canal National Historical Park, and Prince William Forest Park. Michelle led a variety of wildland fire ecology programs as a park ranger and became a collateral duty wildland firefighter in 2002.
Michelle served as a Regional National Park Service (NPS) Fire Communication and Education Specialist for 18 years (2003-2021), working with the NPS Southeast Region and Intermountain Region. Michelle has wildland fire detail experience with the National Incident Management Organization, the National Interagency Fire Center, the DOI Office of Wildland Fire Coordination, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council’s Federal Air Issues Coordination Group, and the NPS Alaska Regional Fire Management Office. Michelle also has public affairs detail experience with Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, and Glacier National Park.
Michelle has been an active member of incident management teams as a public information officer since 2003, supporting wildland fire and all-hazard incidents nationwide. Michelle worked with the Type 1 Southwest Incident Management Team #1 (2011-2021), Phoenix National Incident Management Organization Team (2019), Southern Area Type 1 Red Team (2007-10), Area Command Team 3 (2006), Rocky Mountain Area Wildland Fire Use Team (2004-05), and the National Park Service Eastern All-Hazard Incident Management Team (2003-06).
Michelle has a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources Recreation and Tourism, a concentration in Interpretation and a minor in Botany from Colorado State University and a Master's of Science in Resource Interpretation from Stephen F. Austin State University. Michelle is based in Tucson, AZ where she enjoys outdoor activities and creative pursuits. Email: michelle.fidler@usda.gov
Travis Bailey - Logistics Section Chief
Prior to joining NIMO in 2022, Travis served as the Logistics Section Chief with the Rocky Mountain Area Blue Team (CIMT2) since 2018. He had been a member of the logistics section on the Rocky Mountain Area IMT’s since 2015.
Travis started in fire in 2000 as an employee of Boulder County in Colorado. In 2002, Travis joined the Berthoud Fire Protection District as a Firefighter/EMT and was an Engine Boss for the district on national deployments. From 2014–2018, Travis was the district's Emergency Manager while also participating in building all-hazard response capacity for the region with the Eastern Colorado Type 3 incident management team. Additionally, he served as Fire Chief, for the Wiggins Rural Fire Protection District and continues now as a volunteer.
Travis has taught incident management team Logistics related position specific courses, ICS core curriculum, and IMT Command and general Staff courses throughout the country since 2013. Travis has also served as both Logistics Section Chief and an instructor for the Colorado Wildland Fire and Incident Management Academy for over 20 years. Travis is a certified DHS/FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner and was the lead subject matter expert on the 2019 update and re-right of the FEMA All-Hazard position specific Logistics curriculums.
Having grown up in New England, Travis has lived in Colorado now for over 20 years. Travis is a graduate of the University of Evansville in Indiana with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Travis and his family own and operate a ranch on the plains of Northeast Colorado. Email: travis.bailey@usda.gov
Russell Long - Operations Section Chief
Russ started his career in 1990 on the Los Padres National Forest, on an engine and then got his introduction into the Hotshots on the Los Prietos Hotshots. Russ attended Chico State University in Northern California, worked on the Tahoe Hotshots and later moved on to the Bureau of Land Management BLM) on the Diamond Mountain Hotshots. Russ also worked on the Craig District BLM in Colorado as a Heavy Engine Foreman and attended the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee apprenticeship academy. Russ then moved on to a Captain position, on the Fulton Hotshots in 1997 on the Sequoia National Forest.
In 2001 with the expansion of interagency hotshot crews, Russ started a new Forest Service Interagency Hotshot Crew on the Boise National Forest which received full certification in October 2001. Russ was Superintendent there from 2001-2004, before he switched gears and took an Assistant Fire Management Officer position on the Idaho City Ranger District on the Boise National Forest. In 2009, Russ moved to a Zone Fire Management Officer position in Rifle, Colorado. After three years in Rifle, Russ then served as the West Zone Fire Management Officer in Grand Junction CO for Bureau of Land Management.
Just before starting with NIMO, Russ was the Military Zone Fire Management Officer working for the Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service. Russ has been a primary Operations Section Chief 2 on a Great Basin Incident Management Team and has served as a primary Operations Section Chief 1 on Hahnenberg’s and Blume’s Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team 1, and on the Alaska Incident Management Team. He lives in Boise with his family. Email: russell.long2@usda.gov
Sirena Fugitt - Finance Section Chief
Sirena began working with the Forest Service in 1987 as a summer hire with the Willamette National Forest. Sirena continued working summers while attending the University of Oregon. In 1990, Sirena transferred to Western Oregon State University and worked part time as an Accounting Technician at the Supervisor’s Office for the Siuslaw National Forest. Following graduation, she received a permanent appointment in Budget & Finance with the Siuslaw National Forest. From 1992 to 2005 she was a Financial Management Trainee turned Budget Analyst and in 2005 was promoted to the Forest Budget Officer, where she held that position until May 2011.
In 1992 Sirena had her first fire assignment as a Personnel Time Recorder and over time explored other positions in finance, such as an Equipment Time Recorder, Cost Unit Leader, Time Unit Leader, and Finance Section Chief. The time spent working within the fire organization, whether with incident management teams or teaching classes, created a passion that would set her on the next phase of her Forest Service life. Most of Sirena’s fire career has been engaged with incident business and when an opportunity arose to be able to work in fire full time she jumped at it. In May 2011 Sirena accepted the position with the Portland NIMO team as their finance section chief. Sirena has been involved with incident management teams for nineteen years, of which twelve were spent with the Pacific Northwest Team 3. Assignments include fires that span across twelve different states, assisted with numerous hurricane assignments and provided support to the World Trade Center disaster. Email: sirena.fugitt@usda.gov