Senior Leadership

Chief Daniel Berlant

Chief Daniel Berlant

Daniel Berlant

  • Acting State Fire Marshal / Deputy Director of Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation

    California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

    Chief Berlant began his career with CAL FIRE in 2001 as a volunteer and was hired in 2002 in the Fire Prevention Bureau of the Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit. In 2005, he began working in the CAL FIRE Communications Office as a Fire Prevention Specialist in Sacramento.

    After several fire sieges and extensive work in the public information function, he was promoted in 2008 to Department Information Officer and was tasked with serving as CAL FIRE's main spokesperson. In 2014, he was promoted to the Chief of Public Information overseeing the Sacramento and Region staff of the Communications Office. In 2016, Chief Berlant was promoted to Assistant Deputy Director at the Office of the State Fire Marshal over the Wildfire Planning & Engineering, and Fire Engineering & Investigations Divisions.

    In 2022, Chief Berlant was promoted to Deputy Director of Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation, which was new to the Department after being established through the passage of Assembly Bill 9 (2021), which created the Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Division within the Office State Fire Marshal.

    In January 2023, Chief Berlant was designated Acting State Fire Marshal, in addition, continuing to function as the Deputy Director over Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation.

    Chief Berlant holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis.

Chief Wendy Collins

Chief Wendy Collins

Wendy Collins

  • Assistant State Fire Marshal

    California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 

    Chief Wendy S. Collins was appointed Assistant State Fire Marshal by Governor Gavin Newsom on July 6, 2020. Wendy is a 4th generation firefighter with over 30 years of service beginning in November 1986, as a firefighter/EMT with the former Fairhaven Fire Department.  Wendy rose through the ranks to Battalion Chief, leaving the Department in 2002 due to relocation.  After a short hiatus, Wendy was approached by the Chief of the Blue Lake Fire Department and asked to participate with their training program, once back in turn-outs Wendy volunteered another 10 years serving as Captain, EMT, Medical Training Officer and Equipment Officer as well as serving as a Commissioner to the Blue Lake Fire District.  Additionally, she served as an active participant in the Humboldt County Fire Prevention Officer’s and the Humboldt County Fire/Arson Investigation Unit.  During her time in Humboldt, Wendy supported the Fire P.A.L.S. program with costume design and construction, bringing life to the likes of Ima Lona, Shamrock, and Hoser the clowns and Aqua Duck, as well as costuming for Life and Fire Safety puppets Quack and Wabbit.

    In July 2008, Wendy was sworn in as the Deputy State Fire Marshal, responsible for Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, and Siskiyou Counties where she performed plan reviews, annual and construction inspections of State Owned and Leased Buildings.  In January 2014, Wendy was promoted to the position of Supervising Deputy State Fire Marshal for Field Operations in the Sacramento/Central California areas.  In March 2017, Wendy accepted the position of Assistant Deputy Director for the State Fire Training, Code Development & Analysis, and Fire & Life Safety Divisions where she has focused on vacancy rates, divisional funding, statewide code packages, technology platforms to replace aging data base systems, and electronic plan review.

    In addition to her State Fire Marshal and National Fire Academy training, Wendy has had training in explosive demolition, and has worked as a Pyrotechnic Assistant on more than 25 fireworks shows, ranging from small hand-fired shows to large electric shows and NASCAR races.

     

Chief Jim Hosler

Chief Jim Hosler

Jim Hosler

  • Assistant Deputy Director, Pipeline Safety and CUPA

    California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

    Chief Jim Hosler has been with CAL FIRE-Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) since 2016. He first started his career with the State as a pipeline Safety Engineer. Prior to State service, Jim worked in the oil pipeline industry for 30+ years and comes from varying operational and maintenance backgrounds. His career started in the hazardous waste industry in 1988 and has been within the pipeline industry until 2016.

    He has held several key positions within the industry and with several pipeline companies, ranging from LA Basin crude supply control, Control Center Supervisor, Control Room Management, Assistant Area Manager, and Pipeline Terminals Manager.

    Jim holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management.

 

Chief Andrew Henning

Andrew Henning

  • Assistant Deputy Director, Fire & Life Safety, State Fire Training and Code Development & Analysis

    California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

    Chief Andrew Henning began his career with CAL FIRE in 2013, working as a Deputy State Fire Marshal in the Office of the State Fire Marshal's Code Development and Analysis Division. During his time in Code Development and Analysis, he worked on the code adoption and development of the California Building Standards regulations that promote fire and life safety.  Andrew worked as a liaison to local government, fire officials, building officials, associations, industry, and other interested stakeholders. He also led several working groups, including On-demand Mobile Fueling, I-3 Detention Facility Codes Working Group, Wildfire Protection Building Construction Task Force, Residential Sprinklers Working Group, and the Working Group on Flammability Standards for Building Insulation Materials.

    In 2016, Andrew started working in State Fire Training as the Deputy State Fire Marshal III (Supervisor), where he oversaw Field Operations. In 2017, Andrew was promoted to Chief of State Fire Training. During his tenure with State Fire Training, Andrew has actively worked with State Fire Training's various stakeholders to implement significant projects and changes during that time. These projects included the implementation of Acadis, SFT's records management system, expanded the levels of national accreditation, updated and aligned regulations to reflect current business processes, and streamlined business processes to reduce costs.

    He serves on the Office of the State Fire Marshal's SubJAC, Department's Statewide Training Committee, FIRESCOPE Task Force, NFPA Technical Committees, and IFSAC committees. Andrew has a bachelor's degree in Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology and a master's degree in Homeland Security. Andrew enjoys traveling, skiing, and visiting Southern California.

Chief Frank Bigelow

Frank Bigelow

  • Assistant Deputy Director, Community Wildfire Preparedness & Mitigation and Fire Engineering & Investigations

    California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

    Chief Bigelow began his CAL FIRE career in 2004 as a Fire Fighter I at the Ahwahnee station in MMU, where he spent five seasons as a nine-month seasonal. In 2009, he promoted to a Fire Apparatus Engineer at the Coarsegold station also in MMU. In 2013, Frank promoted to LT Fire Captain at the Columbia Air Attack Base in TCU working as the Air Tanker Base Manager. At the end of the 2013 fire season, he accepted a permanent Fire Captain position in MMU as the Pre-Fire Engineer. In 2017, he promoted to Battalion Chief as the Southern Region Pre-Fire Coordinator. Frank then promoted to the Deputy Chief, of the then called, Wildfire Prevention Engineering in the Office of the State Fire Marshal in 2020, where he oversaw five statewide programs. In 2021 he accepted a Staff Chief position in the newly created Community Wildfire Preparedness & Mitigation Division overseeing eight statewide programs.

     

    In 2023 Frank accepted the Assistant Deputy Director of Community Wildfire Preparedness & Mitigation and Fire Engineering & Investigations.