Ross is a 30-year fire service veteran as firefighter, fire inspector, chief inspector, fire marshal, and emergency manager in both large geographic and highly populated areas. He holds master’s degrees in public administration and criminal justice from Sul Ross State University, and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Texas State University. He also graduated from the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer program and is certified as a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Fire Plans Examiner, Fire Inspector, and Fire Executive. Ross holds multiple certifications related to fire service and emergency management. Additionally, he has been a fire safety presenter at multiple conferences and seminars and has taught Fire Science and Criminal Justice as adjunct faculty for Eastern New Mexico University and University of Texas (Permian Basin).

As SEE Renewal’s Fire Protection and Emergency Management Lead, Ross works with tribal, federal, intermediary and private-sector clients on plans, policies, and programs that promote pre-disaster mitigation and support long-term recovery post-disaster. In his position at SEE Renewal, he works on a broad range of projects that includes conducting policy research, documenting field studies, and performing data analysis. He also assists in developing emergency preparedness, climate hazard mitigation, fire prevention, and organizational management plans. Ross is skilled at analyzing complex infrastructure projects to determine risk and cost reduction benefits of hazard mitigation and serves as a technical advisor in developing fire prevention programs that emphasize the importance of building codes, standards, and regulations.

Ross has a multi-year background in public safety, emergency management, leading incident command, and working in multi-jurisdictional environments. His focus is protecting on-reservation homes, businesses, public facilities, and surrounding lands against fire danger, with a special interest in developing economical common-sense solutions to ensure older buildings are compliant with applicable regulations. In addition to providing fire protection advisory services, his experience and expertise make him well-suited for weighing in on and developing imminent threat and emergency plans and identifying the best ways to leverage available funding resources.