With everything going on right now re: the federal government (gestures wildly) I’ve been extra, extra grateful for my day job lately.
If you’re new here, I spend my weekdays (and- nights/weekends/every second during the summer months really) working as a public affairs officer for a National Forest here in northern Arizona. I’m really lucky to have an incredibly fun, rewarding and challenging job.
My favorite part of my federal day job is working as a Public Information Officer (PIO) on wildfires. I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned it, but taking on wildfire assignments actually isn’t a required part of my job duties.
Like, sure, if a fire starts on my forest, I’m responsible for communicating that info with the public of course.
But the other stuff? Working the 16-hour days (for 14 days straight), obtaining incident qualifications, taking safety refresher classes, accepting off-unit assignments, rostering with an Incident Management Team (IMT), making myself available nationally through dispatch, etc.?
That’s all 100% by choice.
I do get paid for it hourly (of course) but it’s also really long days with often difficult work. The easier option is turning down fire assignments and sticking to my day job, but I don’t ever choose to do that.
Mostly because I really do love my job. I love serving the public, I love using my skillset to help people, I love feeling like I’m doing meaningful work when I show up to do my job every day. That’s why I chose a career in journalism before my Peace Corps service before what I’m doing now.
I’ve never really been profit-driven or corporate-minded. So public service has always been a natural fit for me.
Which means that when I was invited to teach S-203: Introduction to Incident Information at the annual Arizona Wildfire and Incident Management Academy hosted in Prescott, Ariz., it was an obvious “yes!”
Who wouldn’t want to train a future generation of civil servants?
As soon as I got back from Italy, I had a really quick turnaround before I had to head out for the academy.
Even quicker after Ryan and I got stranded for two days when all the roads back up to Flagstaff closed due to snow. That’s a story for a different day.
I make it a point to attend wildfire academy every single year. I took S-203 during my first year working in my current role.
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ANOTHER FIRE ACADEMY CLASS! S-203: INTRODUCTION TO INCIDENT INFORMATION
I completed some FEMA classes during the second year in my position, and was able to hop back to S-203 (virtually) to volunteer as a role player during the final-day simulation held last year.
And this year, I was able to teach it!
I really, really love this class. It’s such a great crash course for what, exactly, PIOs do.
It was a bit of a smaller class this year. We only had 10 students since a lot of federal employees had to drop out of the course last-minute due to funding struggles and employment uncertainties.
But, it was still a really great class.
I was able to lead a unit about how to collect and share information — including how to work with an IMT and how to write a daily update — and I co-taught some of the units about working with the media.
I conducted mock one-on-one video interviews with students and supervised a simulation group to offer feedback at the end, and I graded the final tests.
Every student passed (woohoo!) and I met so many awesome PIOs that I’m really looking forward to working with on future fires.
I’ll end this quick post on a plea: Have you done your part to secure funding and support for our country’s land management agencies and the civil servants who staff them?
Selfishly, this job means the world to me. But, I’m just one person. If I lose my job, at the end of the day, I can find a new one.
But the scars that are left on our public lands — the stunning landscapes, from National Parks to Wilderness Areas to federally-protected critical habitats — will take generations to heal, if they manage to do so at all.
A wildfire season without employees to manage those wildfires sounds terrifying. It’s something I (as a fed with years of experience working in wildfire) don’t want to experience, and it’s something I definitely don’t want someone else to experience.
And (again, selfishly) I want to come back to Wildfire Academy to teach this class again in 2026.
