MEET THE INSTRUCTORS

RANDY LYLE – Principal, Wildfire Mitigation Strategies

Randy Lyle recently retired from the position of Fire Science and Coordination Program Manager at San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E). Mr. Lyle had been with the SDG&E fire program since its inception following San Diego’s catastrophic fires of 2007.  Randy was among the subject matter experts that shaped SDG&E's response to those fires by refining operational practices, enhancing meteorological situational awareness and using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to define areas of highest fire risk. He also participated in and made significant contributions to the lengthy California Public Utilities Commission Fire Safety rule making process. This resulted in a statewide High Fire Threat District map where various enhanced utility regulations are applicable. Randy was able to help guide the state-wide process having recently completed the same task at SDG&E. 

Mr. Lyle made significant contributions to the SDG&E fire program’s evolution. These include an Ignition Management Program that tracks data on ignitions and evidences of heat, analyzes that data and prioritizes it for mitigation; a fuel treatment program that aims to align company objectives with those of various stakeholders and helped initiate a contract fire resource program that provides fire prevention and ignition mitigation at the work site during times of heightened fire danger.

Randy began his career at SDG&E three weeks before the 2007 Witch, Rice and Guejito Fires. He was tasked to help with fire investigation and litigation support. He continued to provide subject matter expertise to the legal and regulatory departments throughout his tenure with SDG&E. Mr. Lyle also assisted in the refining of a Fire Potential Index that governs operating and work restrictions.

Mr. Lyle came to SDG&E as a retired California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Division Chief with 32 years of state service in all aspects of fire suppression and prevention operations. His service includes municipal and wild land fire control, hand crew operations, aerial firefighting and pre-fire engineering. His work at Cal Fire spanned the decades where GIS and advances in technology allowed the science of pre-fire engineering to rapidly evolve. Randy helped pioneer the use of GIS in the fire community on incidents and non-emergency wildfire related work.

In 2018, Mr. Lyle received the Maltese Award from the San Diego County Fire Chiefs’ Association in recognition of his commitment and contributions to public safety in San Diego County.

JIM WEBB - President, Forest Stewardship Concepts, Ltd.

Jim Webb has over fifty years of wildfire experience across the United States. He served on a national incident management team for twenty-five years, attaining Type I Incident Commander and Area Commander qualifications. He also championed innovative use of prescribed fire throughout the Rockies and South Eastern states.

Since 2010 Jim has been providing wildfire hazard mitigation advice to electrical utilities in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Minnesota. He developed leading edge analysis tools to determine vegetative clearance distances required to protect utility infrastructure from wildland fire damage. Jim has coauthored papers on the topic with personnel from the US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory and contributed substantial portions in the CEATI “Best Practices Guide for Fire Protection of Transmission Lines”, TI33700-3391, February 2016.

More recently Jim has used prescribed burns to test numerous fire-retardant coatings for wood utility poles. The tests have enabled him to determine the efficacy of each product under varying heat intensities. This information allows utilities to select the appropriate fire-retardant product for expected fire behavior in the vicinity of their assets.

Several electrical utilities have used Jim’s knowledge and pragmatism to develop wildfire hazard mitigation programs that have significantly reduced damage from wildfires and dramatically improved reliability of their system.

Many of the concepts used to protect assets will also enhance wildfire prevention by ameliorating fuel loading and fire behavior near the line.

Jim has a BS in Forestry from Northern Arizona University 1967 and a post-graduate intensive semester in leadership at Lewis & Clark College in 1977.

RYAN BROCKBANK - COO and Senior VP of Consulting Services, ECI

Ryan Brockbank is responsible for the oversight and direction of ECI’s operations and consulting services, leading one of the nation’s largest groups of professionals involved in assisting utilities to successfully and sustainably manage their infrastructure and natural resources. Ryan has over 25 years of experience in the areas of environmental and utility vegetation management (UVM) consulting, and professional contract personnel support, advancement and management.

Mr. Brockbank has developed expertise specific to the challenges encountered in the Western United States, especially in the area of wildfire risk management, regulatory compliance and safety. Over the years, Ryan has worked with utilities, contractors and state and local government representatives to develop wildfire risk mitigation plans, wildfire-related vegetation management and fuels reduction criteria, and quality assurance programs to ensure wildfire mitigation plan compliance on line clearance contractor operations. 

Mr. Brockbank has also worked on various pipeline and electric UVM projects including distribution line clearance studies, transmission ROW studies, environmental impact studies, quality control management services, project management, training services, research projects, and pipeline vegetation management projects including integrated vegetation management (IVM) implementation on pipeline ROW and hydrostatic pressure testing arborist support services.

Ryan is a past Director of the Utility Arborist Association (UAA) and is currently Chairperson of the UAA Pipeline Task Force. Mr. Brockbank is author of Integrated Vegetation Management on Pipeline Rights-of-Way, an addendum to the International Society of Arboriculture’s (ISA) IVM Best Management Practices publication and is also a co-author of the ISA’s first edition of the Utility Specialist Certification Study Guide.

Ryan is an ISA Certified Arborist, holds a B.U.S. in Environmental Studies from the University of Utah and a M.S. in Environmental Management from the University of San Francisco.