Veteran firefighter Ben Signor serving as line safety officer on Grasshopper Fire, working alongside Australian fire chiefs
A veteran Folsom firefighter is putting nearly three decades of fire service experience to work hundreds of miles from home, where he is helping oversee firefighter safety on the Grasshopper Fire in Oregon while also sharing expertise with an international group of fire officers.
Folsom Fire Department Battalion Chief Ben Signor deployed to the wildfire Sunday, Aug. 2, where he is serving as a line safety officer. His assignment is expected to last the standard 14-day deployment, although it could be extended to as many as 21 days depending on the needs of the incident.
The deployment places Signor in a critical fireline position responsible for evaluating operational safety, monitoring risks and supporting firefighters working in hazardous conditions.
It is also giving the longtime Folsom firefighter an opportunity to share California’s wildland firefighting practices with visiting fire officials from Australia.
“On this particular incident, I am integrating with Australian firefighters who are all chief officers, teaching them how we utilize line safety personnel as they look to create similar positions within the Australian wildfire service,” Signor said.
Signor currently serves as Folsom Fire Department’s C-Shift battalion chief, overseeing daily emergency operations while also managing key administrative programs for the department.
A U.S. Army veteran who comes from a firefighting family, Signor joined the Folsom Fire Department as a lateral firefighter in 2001. Both his father and brother also served as firefighters.
During his career in Folsom, Signor advanced through the ranks as a firefighter/paramedic, engineer and captain before being promoted to battalion chief in July 2024.
His experience in wildland firefighting extends well beyond his current assignment. In the mid-2000s, Signor became one of California’s early fireline paramedics assigned to wildland fires. He has since served on multiple incident management teams in positions including medical unit leader, line safety officer and fireline paramedic.
Signor brings more than 29 years of structural and wildland firefighting experience to the Oregon assignment and has spent five years as a qualified line safety officer.
The safety position requires an experienced firefighter capable of looking beyond the immediate suppression mission and evaluating how strategies and changing fire conditions could affect crews on the ground.
“Safety officers are responsible for reviewing and approving strategies and tactics utilized on the fire ground, as well as investigating injuries, fatalities, and accidents that occur on the fire line,” Signor explained. “We also act as another set of eyes for line leadership on the fire ground and assist medical staff during injuries or an illness of firefighters, known as ‘Incidents Within Incidents’ (IWIs).”
In addition to his responsibilities with Folsom Fire, Signor serves as a safety officer with the Sacramento Regional Incident Management Team and previously served on a federal Type 1 Incident Management Team.
Those assignments take experienced local firefighters into complex incidents where they work alongside personnel from other departments, agencies and jurisdictions. According to the Folsom Fire Department, the experience gained during regional and federal deployments also strengthens emergency preparedness when those firefighters return home.
For Signor, the lessons learned on large incidents such as the Grasshopper Fire can be passed directly to the next generation of Folsom firefighters preparing for their own wildland assignments.
“The experience I bring back to Folsom helps me instruct and mentor younger firefighters for the wildfire season, whether they deploy on strike teams or in single-role positions,” Signor said. “It enhances our response on initial attack incidents within town, across Sacramento County, and alongside our allied agencies in El Dorado and Placer counties.”
The benefits are particularly relevant during California’s wildfire season, when Folsom firefighters can be called to assist incidents throughout the state while simultaneously maintaining emergency coverage at home.
Signor’s current assignment also highlights the increasingly collaborative nature of wildland firefighting. His work with the three Australian fire chiefs assigned alongside him allows techniques developed through California’s extensive wildfire response system to be shared with fire leaders looking at establishing comparable line safety positions in Australia.
For Folsom Fire, the deployment represents both assistance to an active wildfire outside California and an opportunity for one of the department’s senior officers to bring additional operational experience back to the community.
Signor is expected to remain on the Grasshopper Fire through the remainder of his deployment unless changing incident conditions result in an extension.
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