March 20 – Deputy Fire Chief Dan Odom has announced his retirement after 42 years of service. Odom had an exceptionally diversified work history with the fire service. He has held every rank, including interim fire chief.
Odom began his career as a Fire Explorer with the Wrightwood Fire District in 1972. He then became a paid call firefighter in 1976. From there he joined the California Department of Forestry, before moving on to the U.S. Forest Service for eight years in Southern California.
Odom returned to Wrightwood in 1984, working as a firefighter/EMTII. He was promoted to engineer and then to captain and stayed with Wrightwood through 1997. Odom then was promoted to battalion chief and worked in the River Battalion for two years before moving to the West Valley Battalion.
During this time, he also found time to finish his degree in Fire Science. In 2011, Odom was promoted to division chief in headquarters. Later that year, he acted as interim fire chief. In May of 2011, Odom was promoted to deputy fire chief.
Odom was a member of a California type II incident management team from 1998 to 2011, holding the position of operations section chief. He also served as the operations chief with the San Bernardino County Fire Chief’s IMT. He is also a qualified Type III incident commander.
Odom is a registered instructor for the California Sate Fire Marshall’s Training Division in advanced ICS, command and general staff, operations section chief, air operations and division supervisor. He is a National Fire Academy instructor for command and general staff functions for ICS and incident management team development. As a community college adjunct instructor he specializes in ICS, incident management and command and general staff functions, as well as other fire science classes.
Odom plans to learn how to fly during his retirement, travel with his wife, Sheri, and build a home in Lake Havasu, Arizona.
source: San Bernardino County Fire
