Barry A. Gaab Sr. worked for the Sonoma County Department of Emergency Services (DES) for 15 years. He began his career with the county starting in October 1990 and retiring in November 2006. He held the position of Assistant Chief, Fire Service Officer in charge of Safety, Training and Operations. He was the County Training Office for the 15 Volunteer Fire Companies within the County Service Area #40 (administrated by the department); overseeing the training of approximately 250 firefighters, and as such he contributed toward the companies' capacity to better protect their communities by following State, Federal and local safety requirements. He was also the Departments Safety Officer and On-Call Officer.

As an On-Call officer he responded to emergencies within Sonoma County, and also throughout the State. Both as a Strike Team and/or a Division Group Supervisor. As a STL or DGS, he has preformed many functions with in Incident Command System, participating as Incident Commander, Planning Section Chief, Operation Chief, and Incident Safety Officer.

Barry is a qualified Strike Team Leader, Division Group Supervisor, Safety Officer, Agency Representative, Operation Chief and Incident Commander. During the floods of 1995 and 1996 he was the EOC Operation Chief and acted as Situation Units Leader and Incident Commander. During the flood of 1998 he was the Safety Officer and the Incident Commander for the Rio Nido mudslide, and in the floods of 2006 he was the Safety Officer at the Forestville Forward Command Post. In 1994 he responded to the Stanislaus Complex as a Division Group Supervisor and in 2005 he also responded to the Rumsey incident as a Division Group Supervisor.

Barry and has been designated as Safety Officer at: structure fires, MCI, floods, hazardous materials incidents, wildland incidents, mud slides and auto extrications.

Prior to employment with Sonoma County DES, he worked for the Presidio of San Francisco Fire Department for over 20 years. At the time of his retirement from the County, he had a total of 35 years in the fire service. Barry has a Community College teaching credential and has taught numerous courses at Santa Rosa Junior College, College of Marin, Columbia College and the State Fire Marshal's Office. He is an authorized Instructor through the State Fire Marshal's Office.