Today on Firehouse – Ep. 13: Chad Costa on the 2020 Wildland Fire Season

Dec. 29, 2020

Chad Costa talks about working the front lines of 2020's devastating wildfires.

Peter Matthews talks with Battalion Chief Chad Costa about working the front lines of 2020's devastating wildfires. Costa, from the City of Petaluma, CA, Fire Department, worked the the August Complex Fire - California's largest wildfire for several weeks. Costa explains decision-making at wildland incidents and the importance of communications in incident action plans. He also shares what happened when 2017's fires threatened his wife and children as he worked another incident.

Costa's article: Wildland Firefighting: The New Normal & Lessons Learned

About the Author

Chad Costa

Chad Costa is the assistant chief for the Petaluma, CA, Fire Department. With more than 25 years of fire service experience, he has worked in various organizations, including CAL FIRE, rural and semi-rural districts, and a city. As a battalion chief, Costa was the technology and communications battalion chief. He is now a rostered operations branch director for CalFire Team 1 and an alternate operations branch director on California Interagency Team 5. Costa is an accredited Chief Fire Officer through the Center for Public Safety Excellence and has a bachelor’s degree in emergency services management and a certificate in homeland security. He is attending the 2022 Executive Chief Officer Program at the National Fire Academy and is working on his master's degree in fire executive leadership/emergency services management. Costa is a member of the Firehouse Editorial Advisory Board.

About the Author

Peter Matthews | Editor-in-Chief/Conference Director

Peter Matthews is the conference director and editor-in-chief of Firehouse. He has worked at Firehouse since 1999, serving in various roles on both Firehouse Magazine and Firehouse.com staffs. He completed an internship with the Rochester, NY, Fire Department and served with fire departments in Rush, NY, and Laurel, MD, and was a lieutenant with the Glenwood Fire Company in Glenwood, NY. Matthews served as photographer for the St. Paul, MN, Fire Department.