2023 Wildfire Season Update

Paul Pastelok has been with AccuWeather for 30 years. He leads a team that provides clients with forecasts ranging from short-term to sub-seasonal and seasonal domains. Paul’s department has expanded globally and has developed long-range forecasts for Europe, Canada, South America, and Asia. Paul also has experience in commodity and drought forecasting. Paul has worked extensively with clients in radio, television broadcasting, and newspapers and now has a weekly, long-range podcast.

As the Fire Chief of the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA), Brian Fennessy leads more than 1,700 firefighters and non-sworn personnel who collectively serve 2 million residents across 23 cities and unincorporated areas.

Chief Fennessy began his career in 1978 with the US Department of Agriculture’s United States Forest Service and the US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management working as a hotshot crewmember and ultimately crew superintendent. In 1990, Fennessy joined the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and ultimately became Chief of Department in 2015. In 2018, he was appointed to Fire Chief of the OCFA.

As Chair of the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors, Chief Fennessy is an advisor to the Director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), currently serves as a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and Western Fire Chiefs Association Wildland Fire Policy Committee; serves as the Sponsoring Agency Chiefs Representative for the nine West Division FEMA Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces; and a California Fire Chiefs Association Executive Board Director. In 2022, Chief Fennessy was recognized as CalChiefs Fire Chief of the Year.