Butte County Search & Rescue
Apr 02, 2019
Dennis Schmidt
Butte County Search & Rescue

Dennis’ professional background includes about 2 ½ years with Butte County as the Director of Public Works, 5 years with Butte County as Assistant Director of General Services, 14 years with the Town of Paradise as Public Works Director, and 7 years with the City of Red Bluff as both Assistant and Associate Civil Engineer.

He is a 1984 graduate of CSU, Chico, with a degree in Civil Engineering.  Since the mid 1990’s, Dennis has been involved in the public works response to almost every natural disaster in northern California.

As Director of Public Works for Butte County, he is responsible for the County’s Operations Section, either as Section Chief or Public Works Branch Manager, depending upon the incident.

In Dennis’ spare time, he is an active member of the Butte County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team.  In that capacity, he is certified as a Swift Water and Flood Operations Rescue Technician, Low and High Angle Rope Rescue Technician and Helicopter Rescue Tech. He maintains CPR and Emergency Medical Responder certifications, and is qualified to operate Search and Rescue Vehicles Code 3 (lights and sirens).  Additionally, Dennis serves at the Team’s Public Relations Officer.