COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Brad Smith, the Predictive Services Department head and longtime member of the Texas A&M Forest Service, announced that he would be retiring last Friday.
“Brad has built an illustrious career as a well-respected voice in the wildland fire community of Texas and across the nation,” said Texas A&M Forest Service Fire Chief Wes Moorehead in a press release. “His leadership and innovation have shaped more accurate fire forecasting in Texas and the Great Plains region, providing fire managers with the necessary information for strategic decisions to respond efficiently, which ultimately saves lives, homes and natural resources.”
Smith has been with the Texas A&M Forest Service since 1981, when he began working as a seasonal forester for the U.S. Forest Service in Marshall following his graduation from Stephen F. Austin University. He eventually moved to Longview after expanding his knowledge and experience suppressing fires.
"Being on the ground early on in the development stages and execution has become a highlight of my time at the agency," noted Smith in the press release.
While in Longview, he continued to build on the knowledge he had gained, and worked to turn the agency's reactive approach to fire suppression efforts into proactive ones. At the turn of the millennium, he became part of a new department--the predictive services department--for the Texas A&M Forest Service.
“Brad’s contributions to the wildland fire service has left an enduring impact and helped to evolve the agency’s response operations,” Moorehead said.
Smith's efforts saw major successes in the major fire seasons of 2006 and 2011, when he was an integral part in establishing statewide crews that would allow for more effective responses to wildfires.
“I consider my time here as a career, not a job, because I have been engaged through the art and science of prediction,” said Smith. “My journey has spanned the entire state while building tools along the way.”
Also on KAGS:
