Shawn Bethel

Shawn Bethel, Senior Consultant, Wildland Fire, Emergency Response & Aerial Firefighting Consulting (Board Member since 2026) During his wildfire operations career in British Columbia, Canada, Shawn served the wildfire front lines as a wildland firefighter, senior trainer, helicopter operations specialist including rappel crew and helicopter hoist rescue, air tactical group supervisor, Type 1 Incident Management Team member and Senior Provincial Wildfire Protection Officer. Shawn served on the BC Wildfire Service, wildfire protection leadership team responsible for monitoring wildfire risk, prevention, preparedness, suppression, response, and recovery providing emergency services on 2,000+ wildfires annually in an area more than twice the size of California State. For ten years, Shawn led the Province of British Columbia’s International Cooperation Program to provide training and consulting services globally. In this role, he developed multiple resource sharing agreements with wildfire agencies around the world. Shawn helped manage the USA/Canada cross border agreements and the Northwest Compact. Shawn has project leadership experience with operational teams to conduct international training and consulting projects in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Ecuador, Greece, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Ghana, and South Africa. Shawn managed two separate wildfire management technology transfer projects, funded by the Canadian Government 1998-2004 in Malaysia and Argentina. Shawn served on the Canadian Fire Management Team’s Post Wildfire Evaluation Project, for the devastating Peloponnese and Olympia fires, requested by the Government of Greece in 2007. Shawn continues to have direct involvement in the international wildfire community, leveraging industry knowledge and experience in the development, promotion and application of wildfire technologies that support wildfire management and mitigation efforts globally. Shawn lives with his wife and two sons on Vancouver Island, British Columbia where they live on a hobby farm in the beautiful Cowichan Valley.