Joe Tyler has been appointed to lead Cal Fire, California’s statewide fire agency overseeing an appropriated budget of $3.7 billion and more than 9,600 civilian and uniformed staff who responded to more than 535,000 emergencies in 2021.

“I am honored to have been selected to lead Cal Fire and I look forward to serving the people of California while promoting the health and welfare of our employees,” Tyler said in remarks to Cal Fire’s leadership upon his appointment.

Tyler spent, March 4, his first full day as the director of Cal Fire addressing employees who are graduating as new company officers to operate fire engines and others attending leadership training at the California Fire Training Center.

Tyler is a 31-year veteran of Cal Fire and most recently served as the deputy director of fire protection, overseeing statewide fire protection operations and cooperative fire protection.

He began his career with Cal Fire in 1991, working in several counties and programs throughout California, and has an extensive background in executive level operations and programs.

Tyler serves as the department representative on the California Wildland Coordinating Group, National Association of State Forester’s Wildland Fire Committee and Western States Fire Managers. He also served on several statewide committees and cadres and was instrumental in the acquisition of a new fleet of helicopters and C-130 air tankers. He is a qualified agency administrator and Type 1 incident commander. He was a member of Cal Fire incident management teams from 2005 through 2014, last holding the position of deputy incident commander on Cal Fire Incident Management Team 3.