Biography

Chief Sonsteng has been with the fire district since 1988. He is a graduate of Butte College Fire Academy in 1987. He is a certified Fire Instructor through the California State Fire Marshal. He attended St. Mary’s College of Moraga where he received his Bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He also holds a State of California Teaching Credential in Adult Education. During his career in Contra Costa County he has worked his way up the ranks as a Firefighter, Training Officer, Suppression Captain, Shift Training Captain and Battalion Chief, EMS Chief and Training Chief. BC Sonsteng is currently assigned to Battalion 8 A shift serving the communities of Pittsburg and Antioch.

He also serves as an Incident Commander for the East Bay Type 3 All Hazards Incident Management Team as well as Safety Officer on California Inter-Agency Incident Management Team 1 a federal type 1 IMT. Chief Sonsteng is a Qualified Type 1 Safety Officer, Division Group Supervisor, Strike Team leader and Operations Section Chief Trainee. His deployment experience includes hurricanes in New York, Puerto Rico as well as complex wildland fires across the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.