Nick Schuler

Chief Schuler began his CAL FIRE career in 1998 as a Fire Fighter I in San Diego at Campo Fire Station. In 2001, he was promoted to Fire Apparatus Engineer where he worked Schedule A, Schedule B, and Helitack before promoting to Fire Captain in 2004. During his time as a fire captain he worked at McCain Conservation Camp, Rincon Fire Station, and the Public Affairs Bureau in San Diego. In 2009, he promoted to Battalion Chief managing the Public Affair Bureau then transferred to a field battalion where he worked for the next four years. In 2015, he promoted to the Northern Division Assistant Chief in San Diego overseeing Rainbow Conservation Camp, two field battalions, including the Deer Springs Cooperative Fire Protection Agreement, and a variety of other unit programs. In 2018, he promoted to Southern Division Deputy Chief in San Diego with programmatic oversight of two conservation camps, three field battalions, the San Diego Emergency Command Center, Emergency Medical Services, dozer program and the Public Affairs Bureau. In 2020, he became the Acting Deputy Director of Communications at Sacramento Headquarters overseeing the Department’s statewide communications strategy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 and 2021 fire sieges and a variety of other large-scale incidents and department initiatives.

Throughout his career he has spent more than 18 years assigned to Incident Management Teams filling the positions of Training Technical Specialist, Resource Unit Leader, Public Information Officer, Operations Branch Director, Operations Section Chief and Deputy Incident Commander. He has served on numerous teaching cadres and working groups.

Chief Schuler holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership, an associate degree in emergency management and fire science. He is a graduate of the Los Angeles City Fire Department Leadership Academy and is designated as a Chief Fire Officer from the Center of Public Safety Excellence.