Wendy Collins

Wendy is a 4th generation firefighter with over 30 years of service beginning in November 1986, as a firefighter/EMT with the former Fairhaven Fire Department.  Wendy rose through the ranks to Battalion Chief, leaving the Department in 2002 due to relocation.  After a short hiatus, Wendy was approached by the Chief of the Blue Lake Fire Department and asked to participate with their training program, once back in turn-outs Wendy volunteered another 10 years serving as Captain, EMT, Medical Training Officer and Equipment Officer as well as serving as a Commissioner to the Blue Lake Fire District.  Additionally, she served as an active participant in the Humboldt County Fire Prevention Officer’s and the Humboldt County Fire/Arson Investigation Unit.  During her time in Humboldt, Wendy supported the Fire P.A.L.S. program with costume design and construction, bringing life to the likes of Ima Lona, Shamrock, and Hoser the clowns and Aqua Duck, as well as costuming for Life and Fire Safety puppets Quack and Wabbit.

In July 2008, Wendy was sworn in as the Deputy State Fire Marshal, responsible for Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, and Siskiyou Counties where she performed plan reviews, annual and construction inspections of State Owned and Leased Buildings.  In January 2014, Wendy was promoted to the position of Supervising Deputy State Fire Marshal for Field Operations in the Sacramento/Central California areas.  In March 2017, Wendy accepted the position of Assistant Deputy Director for the State Fire Training, Code Development & Analysis, and Fire & Life Safety Divisions where she has focused on vacancy rates, divisional funding, statewide code packages, technology platforms to replace aging data base systems, and electronic plan review.

In addition to her State Fire Marshal and National Fire Academy training, Wendy has had training in explosive demolition, and has worked as a Pyrotechnic Assistant on more than 25 fireworks shows, ranging from small hand-fired shows to large electric shows and NASCAR races.