Bret Russell comes from a fire family. His earliest memories in life lead back to a fire station hanging with his dad. He knew right off the bat, as a toddler, that he wanted to be a firefighter. He did his first ride along at 15 years old and was hooked after his first Code 3 run. He joined the Fire Explorers with the Orange Co. Fire Authority shortly after his first ride along and started down the path to becoming a firefighter. As high school was ending, Bret was hired as a reserve/paid call firefighter with OCFA and sent directly into the academy. His path has allowed him to have a wide variety of experiences with different agencies as a professional firefighter, fire chief, training chief, USAR logistics technician, ROP instructor teaching EMR, EMT, and fire technology. Bret is excited to be the Fire Chief for Beckwourth Fire District and is looking forward to the future with the District and Plumas County.  Outside of the fire service, he is a second degree brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, owns and operates a jiu jitsu academy and actively competes.