Linda L. Collister is a retired Fire Marshal/Division Chief, Hazardous Materials Specialist, and CUPA Program Manager with over 25 years of experience. She has an extensive background responding to emergency incidents throughout Sonoma County. Linda was born in Japan and grew up in a military family. At the age of five, the historic farmhouse her family lived in burned to the ground in rural Pennsylvania changing her life. She continued her education in Pennsylvania and after graduating high school, she moved west to attend Eastern Oregon State University to study Oceanography. She transferred to Humboldt State University receiving her BS in Physical Oceanography. Linda continued her work in Oceanography that included projects for the Surfrider's Association along the northern coast of California, time, and travel studies with Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in San Francisco Bay, and Environmental Tracing Systems (ETS) in the UK and North Sea. Linda has worked in water and wastewater for the City of Eureka and Sonoma County Water Agency. Working with chemicals and having a background in hazardous materials brought Linda into the fire service. She began work volunteering for the Sonoma County Hazardous Materials Response Team. She attended the volunteer fire academy and eventually worked her way to be a Captain for Sonoma County Fire and Emergency Services. She eventually applied for a job as a Fire Marshal/Division Chief for the City of Healdsburg. There she continued and completed her Company Officer, Fire Marshal, and Chief Officer certifications and responded as a Chief Officer to emergency incidents. After her retirement from the City of Healdsburg, she was hired as a fulltime Fire Technology Tenure Instructor for the Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC). She has been an Adjunct Instructor in the Fire Technology program since 2005 and an instructor with the Fire Academy. She enjoys golf, pickleball, exercising, and laughing out loud with friends.