Montecito Fire District Welcomes Three New Firefighters

Posted by Geri Ventura -

August 4, 2008 - Montecito Fire Protection District is proud to announce three new firefighters have joined the Fire District Family. Sarah Marshall, Jordan Zeitsoff, and Ben Hauser started on May 1st, 2008. The three newest members attended an arduous 3 month joint fire academy with Santa Barbara City Fire Department. The new recruits were led by Captain Mike Lee, one of the academy coordinators. They graduated from the acadamy on July 31, 2008, along with 6 other probationary firefighters from Santa Barbara City Fire Department.

From left to right:

Jordan Zietsoff has lived and worked in Santa Barbara for the past 4 years. He comes to the Montecito Fire District with a BA in Political Science, a minor in Spanish, and an AS degree in Fire Technology. After college, Jordan spent 2 years as an emergency medical technician in Los Angeles. He has worked for the US Forest Service in the Los Padres Forest for the past 4 years, including work as a Hot Shot crewmember, and a helicopter crewmember on the Santa Barbara Ranger District.

Ben Hauser was born in Stratford Ontario, Canada, and currently lives in Thousand Oaks. He is presently pursuing his AS degree in Fire Technology at Oxnard College. Ben is keeping the fire service in the family, as his father is a retired Canadian firefighter. Prior to working for Montecito Fire District, Ben worked as a Volunteer Fire Cadet for the Ventura County Fire Department and has 5 years of wildland fire hand crew experience, including the Los Padres Hot Shots, and working as a helicopter crewmember for the Arroyo Grande flight crew.

Sarah Marshall joined the fire service after graduating from high school in 1995. She worked for two years on an engine for the US Forest Service in the Los Padres Forest. She then worked as a firefighter with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) ,which is now known as CalFire. While employed with CDF, Sarah was also a reserve firefighter with Lompoc Fire Department. In 1999, Lompoc Fire hired her as a full time firefighter, where she worked for 9 years, prior to joining the Montecito Fire District this past spring. Sarah is the first female firefighter to work at Montecito Fire District.

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