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OroraTech is a wildfire technology company that provides satellite detection, monitoring, fire spread modeling, and post-fire recovery data for wildfire managers. They recently signed a deal with the State of Idaho to provide these services statewide.
CEO Martin Langer joins the show from Munich, Germany, to discuss their technology in the wildfire world and more. We explore the company's genesis, starting as a university project that has drastically expanded, a conversation about how the tech works, the process of getting satellites into space, venture capital in wildfire, and more.
We also discuss the future of wildfire tech, including its potential for success and areas where it may fail. A conversation with great insight into this part of the industry.
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Today, I welcome the Fire Chief of the Angeles National Forest, Robert Garcia. Chief Garcia started his career as a seasonal firefighter, moved to working on Hotshot crews, became the Superintendent of Little Tujunga Hotshots, and rose to the position of Fire Chief.
The Angeles National Forest is home to five Hotshot Crews, helitack crews, engines, and more. Today, we discuss his career, the importance of supporting the workforce amid changing times, the crucial subject of wildfire culture of all wildfire resources, and what that looks like moving towards a National Wildfire Service.
We also dive into the challenges seen in the California wildfire environment. Prescribed fire, fuels work, working with state and local partners, and more. An incredible conversation.
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Today, I welcome Fire Captain Robert Sepulveda Jr. to discuss the world of REMS. Robert is a Captain for Pasadena Fire and joined the FIRESCOPE Technical Search and Rescue Specialist Group in 2020 and is Chair of the Rapid Extraction Module Support Subcommittee.
Robert is certified as a Regional Task Force Leader, Technical Search Specialist, Search Manager, Rescue Manager, Assistant Safety Officer, Swift Water Rescue Technician, and Tool and Equipment Specialist. He helped develop the new NWCG qualification requirements for REMS Teams and is the Coordinator for the Urban Search and Rescue Regional Task Force 4.
We discuss everything REMS-related, the development of the PMS 552 form, concerns folks have, including the new NWCG requirements, as well as where REMS is going in the future.
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Today, I’m joined by Gabriel Mann, Director of Hotshot, to discuss the new allegations brought by a lawsuit in California yesterday regarding the events surrounding the Palisades Fire.
These new allegations point the finger at the State of California and the water utility for their role in the Palisades Fire disaster. The lawsuit alleges that utility lines were not actually deenergized as initially claimed, possible attempts to alter records after the fact, neglect of the reservoir, attempts to save face while the fire was burning, infrastructure improvements stopped due to environmental concerns, as well as mismanagement of State lands around the community.
This development has massive repercussions, as the total financial cost of this fire has been estimated at over $100 billion.
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Six months ago, the Palisades and Eaton Fires rolled across communities in southern California, and the official cause of the Palisades Fire is yet to be confirmed. Work by the Washington Post and others suggests that the Lachman Fire may have rekindled, which began on New Year's Eve from fireworks in the same area.
Brianna Sacks, a disaster reporter for The Washington Post, had to help her father evacuate from the Pacific Palisades the day the fire rolled through that community. We discuss what it was like on the day of the fire, the potential cause, the struggles to rebuild, and the overall sense of the community afterwards.
Since then, she and others have worked to pinpoint the cause of that fire, which remains officially undetermined. The Washington Post points to the Lachman Fire, a smaller fire that started days before the Palisades Fire became a massive urban conflagration.
We cover all of this and much more.
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Today, I welcome San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey to discuss what he believes are the four biggest lies in the wildfire industry, and what the actual truths are behind those lies.
The Four Lies the Chief Addresses:
There is a large wildfire crisis. (Truth: We have a land management crisis.)
There is a fire insurance crisis. (Truth: We have a crisis of homes burning down.)
The Palisades and Eaton Fires were very destructive “wildfires.” (Truth: These were urban conflagrations with a small wildfire component.)
There is a wildfire technology crisis. (Truth: There is a wildfire technology adoption crisis.)
We then discuss the leadership of the new wildfire agency, the reality of moving forward with it, and I ask him if California can realistically achieve success with its wildfire land management under the new “Make America Rake Again” campaign.
Chief Munsey oversees the largest fire protection district in the Nation, spanning almost 20,000 square miles and serving a population of nearly two million. The Chief has testified before Congress multiple times, advocating for better wages, improved technology adoption, and the maintenance of trails and forest roads to help wildland firefighters access wildfires.
In addition to Chief Munsey’s service to San Bernardino County, he is a past chair of the California Fire Chiefs Association Operations Section and has served since 2019 as the chair of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Technology Council. He is a director on the FIRESCOPE board of directors, the vice-president of the California Metro Fire Chiefs Association, and the vice-president of the San Bernardino County Fire Chief’s Association.
Chief Munsey believes strongly in collaboration with allied stakeholders that results in synergy to achieve better public safety outcomes. Of particular interest is emerging technologies and the efficiencies it brings to public safety.
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20-year-old Wess Roley has been named as the shooter in the Idaho Wildfire ambush that took place yesterday in Hayden, Idaho.
New details have emerged about the suspect, which I cover.
He allegedly has a past criminal record and mental health issues.
Today, we remember the Granite Mountain Hotshots and the Yarnell Fire. I give my thoughts about being on a wildfire when this news was announced to our crew.
Full operational update.
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The press conference has just finished, with new details on the incident.
Two firefighter deaths were confirmed by the local sheriff, FBI en route, and SWAT on scene.
Law enforcement says they are still actively taking fire from an unknown number of “well-prepared suspects.”
The sheriff and firefighters responding called it an “intentional fire and ambush.”
I cover the initial call and radio traffic leading up to the shooting.
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The public land sale proposal has been removed from the budget bill.
Sen. Mike Lee said this morning that he may reintroduce the proposal, but will remove the sale of Forest Service land and significantly reduce the amount of Bureau of Land Management Land available for sale.
A firefighter received second-degree burns to the hands, arms, and face on the Conner Fire in Nevada.
Dani Shedden, mental health counselor and owner of Close the Gap Wellness, joins for an interview about Mental Health in the wildfire workforce.
We discuss current uncertainty in the industry, the importance and safety of focusing on the operational mission, and finding a positive outlook in your work.
Plus an operational update.
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I cover the proposal to sell off up to 1.5% of public lands for housing developments. I am a firm believer that public lands are our greatest national treasure.
I cover the full details of the plan, which expects to raise $10 billion, and further fund land management costs. But is it worth it?
Full operational update of all wildfires across the United States.
Alaska has responded to 1 fire per hour in the last 48 hours. Setting up for a very busy weekend.
Southwest continues to burn, with multiple injuries on New Mexico fires.
DOI and USDA announce new mental health program for wildland firefighters and dispatchers.
Plus more.
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Today, I welcome Dr. Carrick Detweiler, founder and CEO of Drone Amplified. They have developed the quadcopter drone and software platform used by the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, State Agencies, and others for aerial ignitions on wildfires and prescribed burns.
We discuss how these platforms are being utilized, the growth of these types of technologies and operations, working with wildfire agencies, and what the future holds.
Aside from his work with Drone Amplified, Dr. Carrick Detweiler is the Susan J. Rosowski Associate Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL), a Faculty Fellow of the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute, and has a courtesy appointment in the UNL Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Dr. Detweiler co-directs the NIMBUS Lab, working with aerial robots and other robot systems.
Dr. Detweiler completed his Ph.D. at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) at MIT, studying computer science and robotics in the Distributed Robotics Lab.
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John Mills moved to California and quickly came to realize the harsh reality of living in the wildland-urban interface. More out of necessity than anything else, he began working on the Watch Duty platform, a wildfire-tracking app, with Co-founder David Merrit.
John and I discuss the process of developing wildfire tech platforms, the future of the company, and the struggles and successes of his and his team’s journey to building out the platform.
Thanks to John for taking the time to discuss the evolution of Watch Duty.
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Yesterday, Secretary Rollins and Secretary Burgum received their 2025 wildfire briefing in the Forest Service offices and signed a joint wildfire memo afterward. Further, Secretary Rollins issued a memorandum directing the USDA and Forest Service to take immediate action on wildfire response.
This includes new directives during times of PL3 and higher, including using non-fire employees to help with wildfire support and response. Also, increasing red card and other qualifications, ordering, purchasing, dispatching, and more.
Basically, everyone will be available to fight fire or support those efforts.
Also, the budget bill that will be voted on soon contains language that would create “no tax on overtime.” This would have major implications for wildland firefighters who earn up to 144 OT hours per check or 1,400 OT hours per summer. I'm watching that closely.
Plus more.
THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP — Thank you to all of our paid subscribers. Your support allows us to donate generously to firefighter charities and supports all of our content. You also receive all of our article archives, more podcast episodes, Monday morning workouts, and also entered into our giveaways, plus more.
On Today’s Show: To subscribe and support 👇https://thehotshotwakeup.substack.com/With wildfire couples starting another season and enduring the struggles that come with that, I thought it would be a great time to have a conversation about exactly this.
Brittany Culbertson is a mom of two boys (17 & 20) and a proud Wildland Fire wife for 23 years. She has lived in northern Nevada for 24 years and works as a middle school teacher. Brittany is passionate about education and staying active in our local community, always striving to make a positive impact both in and out of the classroom.
We discuss raising a family, becoming independent, communicating in a wildfire relationship, and how Brittany and her husband have been able to navigate the struggles and joys of 23 years as a wildfire couple.
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These last couple of weeks, listeners have been asking for an episode of the recent Timber Executive orders on Timber management in the National Forests. So, I invited Sharon Friedman on the show, who has a wealth of knowledge as the former Assistant Director of NEPA for the USDA in the D.C. office.
Sharon Friedman is the founder and Managing Editor of The Smokey Wire, a community sourced and supported news site for forest and federal lands issues. The Smokey Wire focuses on shared learning and civil discussion among practitioners (wildfire, forest, grassland, wildlife, fish, legal professionals), researchers, academics and the public.
She retired from the US Forest Service in 2012 as the Regional Planning Director for the Rocky Mountain Region, and previously was the Assistant Director for NEPA in the Washington Office. She joined the Forest Service in 1979 as an Area Geneticist in Oregon and switched from genetics and silviculture to NEPA in 2001. She has two degrees in forestry and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of New Hampshire.
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I welcome Jessie Thomas to discuss health and fitness through the fire season. Sometimes, you need to hack the system to make it work for you, as the food and nutrition provided are often subpar. So, Jessie provides solutions for how you make it through the year while maintaining your health and wellness.
Jesse has a wealth of knowledge and experience as a former Lolo and Flathead Hotshot turned Missoula Smokejumper of 8 years. We discuss gut health during fire season, maintaining your physical and mental health to allow for a long and successful fire career and dive into the current state of our world and communities.
Jessie, founder of Missoula, Montana’s Sustainable Wellness, knows that the health of the human body over a lifespan is determined by what we eat and how we live.
A perfect time for this conversation.
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With recent developments in Oregon, Idaho, and California regarding their use of wildfire risk maps, the skyrocketing cost of insurance, and the reality of living in the Wildland Urban Interface, Stanford scholar and lawyer Micheal Wara joins the show to provide insight on where this all stands today.
Wara is Director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program and a senior research scholar at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment as well as Senior Director for Policy at the Sustainability Accelerator within the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
Wara has served as a Wildfire Commissioner for California, as a member of the California Catastrophe Council, the oversight body of the California Wildfire Fund, as a consultant to the Senate pro-Tem on wildfire issues, and as a consultant to CPUC and OEIS on utility wildfire risk management. Wara has served on multiple National Academy of Sciences and California Council on Science and Technology reports. He is also a member of the Tamalpais Design Review Board.
Prior to joining Woods, Wara was an associate professor at Stanford Law School and an associate in Holland & Knight’s government practice. He received his J.D. from Stanford Law School and his Ph.D. in Ocean Sciences from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
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There have been ongoing discussions about major changes in the wildfire world for some time now. As significant changes are ongoing across the government, we get our first look at a draft executive order regarding a national wildfire service and more. This includes aviation and contracting changes, dispatching changes, and ultimately forming a singular wildfire service. I cover the draft order.
Oregon once again scraps the wildfire risk map after 4 years of trying to implement it with millions of dollars spent. Also, the Governor of Oklahoma fired the head of their wildfire service and is asking if they should dissolve the agency altogether.
Plus, the Forest Service provides an update on pay implementation and premium pay details.
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Zeke Lunder is a Pyro-geographer. His parents fled the Bay Area for the hillbilly sticks of Northeastern California in the late 1970s, when the timber industry was still a major part of the local economy, and Zeke started working in the woods in high school on a Forest Service conservation crew.
Zeke started his prescribed fire and fuels career in 1995 on a timber crew on the Lassen National Forest, marking trees for thinning on large-scale shaded fuel break projects and burning house-sized piles of logging slash. He got a degree in map-making from California State University, Chico, in 1996 and was one of the first NWCG-qualified wildfire mapping specialists in the United States.
In 2021, Zeke and his wife, Erika, founded Lookout Media, which provides in-depth reporting on prescribed fire, wildland fire management tactics, and forestry through their YouTube channel and website. Zeke currently lives in Chico, California.
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Today, I welcome Zeyn O’Leary, a 35-year veteran fire lookout who has staffed towers since 1991. Zeyn started in the Iron Mountain Lookout on the Willamette National Forest, staffed the Rose Peak Lookout in the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, and currently staffs the Mt. Pisgah Lookout in the Ochoco National Forest in Central Oregon.
His experience spans multiple forests across three decades.
Today, we discuss the fast-arriving detection tech that has incrementally made its way to the mountain peaks of our National Forests and the Satellite tech that has been launched into lower earth orbit, compared to the human eyes that have been looking out for decades.
We discuss the 48-page data-driven document Zeyn put together that compares humans versus machines—a fascinating conversation with one of the longest-serving lookouts in the United States.
THE HOTSHOT WAKE UP — Thank you to all of our paid subscribers. Your support allows us to donate generously to firefighter charities and supports all of our content. You also receive all of our article archives, more podcast episodes, Monday morning workouts, and also entered into our giveaways, plus more.
