The new U.S. Wildland Fire Service now has its first slate of regional bosses, with nine geographic-area fire chiefs tapped to run commands from California to the Great Basin. The move puts senior federal fire managers directly over day to day operations as the Department of the Interior presses ahead with its plan to pull Interior bureaus’ wildfire programs into a single service.
Industry newsletter The Hotshot Wake Up reported the full lineup on March 2, 2026, naming chiefs for the California, Alaska, Eastern, Southern, Rocky Mountain, Northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest, Southwest and Great Basin geographic areas. According to the outlet, the new leaders are Peter Kelly (California), Kelly Kane (Alaska), John “Pat” Pearson (Eastern Area), Anthony “Vince” Carver (Southern Area), Paul Hohn (Rocky Mountain), Aaron Thompson (Northern Rockies), Josh O’Connor (Pacific Northwest), John Cervantes (Southwest) and Christopher Delaney (Great Basin). The Department of the Interior had previously announced the creation of the U.S. Wildland Fire Service and selected Brian Fennessy to oversee the effort in a Jan. 12 press release from the Department of the Interior.
Who the chiefs are and where they worked before
Within the interagency fire world, many of these names are already familiar. Kelly Kane serves as the National Park Service’s Alaska Regional Fire Management Officer based in Anchorage, according to NPS Alaska, and Josh O’Connor is listed as a Pacific Region fire management coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in regional coverage by KTVZ.
The Hotshot Wake Up’s roster also points to long-serving Bureau of Land Management fire officers and other Interior partners. BLM has identified Peter Kelly as its California State Fire Management Officer and Chris Delaney as BLM Utah’s State Fire Management Officer in agency press materials, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs has listed John Cervantes on its fire management staff pages. BLM California and BLM Utah outline Kelly and Delaney’s current roles, while Bureau of Indian Affairs materials note Cervantes among outreach and fire staff.
Why this matters
Interior’s push to build a unified wildland fire organization is a major reshuffle of federal fire responsibilities that could reshape how crews, engines and aircraft are mobilized across state and agency lines. Local and state partners are watching closely, especially when it comes to who pays for what. Reporting from the Mountain West News Bureau and Boise State Public Radio on the launch of the service in January noted that Congress did not provide separate, dedicated funding for a standalone agency, a gap that could slow how quickly the new structure takes full shape. Boise State/Mountain West News Bureau detailed the budget and rollout questions facing the fledgling service.
What happens next
The Hotshot Wake Up reports that the nine geographic chiefs will “work concurrently to identify staff to fill their geographic area organizations,” an early step in building out each regional command. Interior’s Jan. 12 announcement that formally launched the U.S. Wildland Fire Service did not list the geographic-area chiefs, so individual confirmations from Interior bureaus or the department itself are still expected as the organization takes shape. The newsletter first published the names of the new chiefs, and the Department of the Interior’s founding release remains the baseline, on-the-record announcement for the service itself.
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