To my CAL FIRE and Fire Service Family,
Well, here I am on my last official day on the job in my office with retirement knocking on the door for tomorrow, Sunday, November 2nd.
I had no idea when I started my career as a Seasonal Firefighter in 1981 that I would have such an awesome career in CDF which later changed to CAL FIRE. This job brought some amazing challenges to my life and I was able to effect purpose and success with the help of many. As I look back, my success was summed up with my faith in God, my family (wife Kelley, daughter Kaitlynn and my son Ian, daughter in-love Breann), our church family, and my many, many mentors and peers within the department and within all of the fire services. And of course my desire was to pass it off to our future generations. Together, I believe we met our Mission especially after this 2014 Wildland Fire Siege, I’m whooped. The bottom line for me is my relationships with you, nothing else matter as much. It seems strange to be retiring but I know it is the right thing as I have many other wonderful things to do with my family and friends.
I will always have the greatest appreciation for our CAL FIRE Humboldt-Del Norte Unit, Humboldt County Fire Departments, Del Norte County Fire Departments, Six Rivers National Forest Service, Humboldt BLM, Hoopa Wildland Fire, to the historical CAL FIRE Incident Command Teams 5, 4 and 1, to the as-needed 2014 CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 7 serving SKU and KNF, S420 Cadre, LOFR/AREP Cadre, CAL FIRE Local 2881 and list goes on.
Thank you to my wife Kelley and to all-you all for allowing me to be part of your life.
Frederick Flores Retired – Operations Deputy Chief CAL FIRE Humboldt-Del Norte Unit Headquarters