Owen Fairbanks

• Leads the Office of Emergency Services and the Office of Emergency Management
• Coordinates State and mutual-aid response to emergencies and disasters
• Inspects the stations, records and equipment of agencies that receive State funding or take part in State mutual aid (ESR 3.1)
• Issues written findings and, where public or crew safety is at stake, inspection orders (ESR 3.2 and 3.4)

Owen Fairbanks served for sixteen years with the Los Santos Fire Department, finishing as Captain of Station 7 in Davis. In 2008 his crew held the line above Vinewood Hills for three days during the wildfire that destroyed more than forty homes, and he was commended for bringing every member of his crew home.

He joined the State Office of Emergency Services in 2012, the year Diane Carrow became its Director, and spent the next fourteen years in its operations and mutual-aid division, much of it on the road visiting stations across the State.

Governor Carrow appointed him Director of Emergency Services in October 2026, after the resignation of the previous Director, Vernon Blythe. He has said he intends to visit every station that takes State money or State mutual-aid work, "unannounced, and more than once".