William R. Sager, Senior Associate, is a fire services specialist with more than 35 years in the fire service.  A retired Naval Officer, he graduated from the University of California with a Bachelor of Science degree in forestry, with a minor in landscape architecture.  Mr. Sager’s last assignment with CAL FIRE was as the Butte Unit Chief, and the Butte County Fire Chief. He is recipient of the 1991 Executive Fire Officer (EFO) Outstanding Research Award.

Mr. Sager has done course development work for the EFO curriculum and taught at the National Fire Academy, National Interagency Fire Center, the U.S. Coast Guard, and community colleges in California. He regularly lectures and teaches fire management at community colleges and conferences throughout California.  He was the editorial consultant for Vision 2020, the Office of State Fire Marshal’s new statewide training plan for the California Fire Service.  He has authored articles in Fire Engineering, Fire Chief, and Wildfire magazines.

During his career, Mr. Sager participated in numerous personnel and finance projects, including streamlining Worker’s Compensation Case Management.  He was also a CAL FIRE Type 1 team incident commander and planning section chief on a National Interagency Incident Management Team.  He has participated in community wildfire protection planning and worked closely with local fire safe councils on wildfire protection.  He is a certified fire chief, and in 2003 he was designated a Chief Fire Officer. Mr. Sager retired from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in 2003.