Local CalFire chief retiring

Kelly Keenan’s last day as chief of the Amador-El Dorado unit of CalFire is Dec. 22.

“I have spent most of my adult life dedicated to a career with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and I wouldn’t change a thing,” Keenan said in a statement. “It has been an amazing journey taking me from traditional forestry work, to overseeing an inmate conservation camp to running a unit spanning five counties.”

Kelly Keenan

Keenan began his career in 1982 with then CDF Coast Region Headquarters, where he worked as a seasonal forestry aide. In 1983, he went to the Jackson State Demonstration State Forest in the Mendocino Unit as a forestry aide where he worked on the Caspar Creek Experimental Watershed project and prepared timber harvest plans.

He was promoted in 1988 to the Nevada-Yuba-Placer Unit where he worked as an area forester, vegetation management program coordinator, unit forester and interim unit administrative officer.

In 2004, Keenan accepted an assistant chief position in the Amador-El Dorado Unit. In 2011, he took over the helm of the entire unit.