2026 NWSA National Meeting Schedule

Assistant Director, Partnerships & Business Management USFS

Branch Chief, Equipment & Services Branch, IPO

Branch Chief, At-Incident Management Support Branch (AIMS), IPO

Program Manager

NWSA President

With nearly three decades of experience in private wildland fire operations and executive leadership, Jess Wills brings a comprehensive understanding of the private wildfire suppression industry to his role as President of the National Wildfire Suppression Association (NWSA). He began his career in wildland fire in 1997, advancing through operational leadership roles including Crew Boss and Engine Boss before transitioning into executive management.

Darron Williams

NWSA Training Coordinator

With more than thirty years of wildland fire experience, Darron will collaborate closely with our Training Committee to strengthen our training programs. Currently serving as Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Northwest Region through June 2025, Darron has held key leadership roles since joining the BIA in 2011—including Fire Management Officer at the Umatilla Agency and later for the entire region beginning in 2017. Darron’s commitment to service is evident in his time with the Bureau of Land Management Honor Guard (2000–2007) and in founding the BIA Northwest Region Honor Guard in 2023. He remains active in fire operations as a Division Group Supervisor for Great Basin Team 7, serves in advisory roles, and is a spokesperson for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. He lives with his wife, Michelle, and their three children in a strawbale home in Idaho’s high desert—proof of his dedication to sustainability and a life of purpose.
 

Dan Jimenez

Research Engineer, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire, Fuels & Smoke Science Program

Dan has been an employee at the Missoula Fire Science Lab since 1998. His primary research focuses are on wildland firefighter safety and safety zone size, shape, and location; fuel break effectiveness on fire spread in wildland fuels and the wildland urban interface (WUI); and fundamental mechanisms associated with radiant and convective heat transfer and fluid flow in wildland fire. He earned an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Rutgers University; a master’s degree in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Washington State University; and his doctorate in Forest Remote Sensing from the University of Montana.

Connect with Dan at: daniel.jimenez@usda.gov

406-239-4164
 

Gary Bennett

NWSA Meteorologist

Gary D. Bennett began his career with the National Weather Service in May of 1971 as a Meteorological Tech. He worked at Weather offices including Great Falls, MT; Seattle, WA; Medford, OR; Boise, ID; Yakima, WA; and Wenatchee, WA. While working at these offices, he continued his education to become a professional Meteorologist in 1981, at the University of New York at Albany. Bennett’s fire weather career began in 1982. He successfully completed a facilitator's course. Gary Bennett transferred to the fire weather office in Boise, ID in 1992-1994. During this time, Bennett developed, wrote, and facilitated many lesson plans dealing with fire weather and fire behavior. He moved back to Wenatchee in 1995 as Meteorologist in Charge. Bennett transferred to Spokane, WA in 1997 and continued to help coordinate and instruct S-290 and S-390 courses and developed a 2-3 hour weather lesson for S-390. In retirement, Bennett continues to instruct S-290 courses. During the summer months, Bennett prepared daily Smoke Management Forecasts for the Idaho DEQ and the Nez Perce and Coeur d’ Alene Tribes. Occasionally he is called to work for the Washington State Dept. of Ecology with Smoke Management Issues.