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Gary L. Oldham Founder - Principal Gary L. Oldham is the founder and principal of Fire Weather Technologies. Mr. Oldham's background includes over two decades of wildland fire suppression and management with Southern California fire departments. He has made a lifetime study of weather's effects on wildland fire behavior. Mr. Oldham managed the Emergency Command Center of the Orange County (CA) Fire Department, a major wildland fire agency, where he also managed the County's Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid Program and the Red Flag Fire Danger Program. Oldham developed a multi-tiered initial attack policy based on fire weather conditions utilized by the El Cajón Fire Department, La Mesa Fire Department, Santee Fire Department, Lemon Grove Fire Department, San Miguel Consolidated Fire Protection District, Lakeside Fire Protection District, Alpine Fire Protection District, and Bostonia Fire Protection District. He was also responsible for managing all information technology services for the San Diego Fire Department. He has also been the department head of a large public safety communications department in Central Texas, serving nine area fire departments as well as other local and state public safety agencies. Mr. Oldham has taught extensively on the Incident Command System, fire weather's effects on fire behavior, communications center management, and initial attack strategy. He has fulfilled numerous overhead roles on wildland fires throughout the western United States, served on a Class I Fire Management Team, and has chaired the FIRESCOPE Communications Specialist Group. Mr. Oldham is a graduate of the National Fire Academy's Executive Development program, and is a recipient of the Orange County Fire Services' Overachiever Award. He is a member or past member of the California Fire Chiefs Association, the Orange County Fire Chiefs Association, the San Diego County Fire Chiefs Association, the Southern California Association of Foresters and Fire Wardens, the Wildland Fire R&D Collaboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the Forestry - Conservation Communications Association, the Williamson County Fire Chiefs Association, and the National Fire Academy Alumni Association. Recognizing a real need for smaller fire protection agencies to have access to real time weather conditions and their expected effect on fire occurrence and behavior, Mr. Oldham founded Fire Weather Technologies and developed its flagship product, FireMetTM, an innovative Decision Support Tool for initial attack dispatch. Additional products and programs are currently under development.

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