Aaron Briner, Battalion Chief

Aaron Briner, 43, grew up in Santa Barbara and is an eighth-generation Santa Barbara native. He attended San Marcos High School and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Aaron reminds one of a younger, more handsome brother of Garth Brooks. He seems very Americana, laid-back, and you can almost picture him with guitar in hand. 

He met his wife at a church youth-group and has been happily married for 24 years. He has five children. Aaron lives in Santa Barbara with his family. His parents own Little Alex’s, where he worked for 11 years prior to leaving for college. I love Little Alex’s chicken soup, by the way, and the first thing I do when I start to sniffle is send my husband out for it.  

Aaron enjoys all types of sports, particularly soccer. He played soccer at SBCC. He holds a U.S. Soccer National D License and has coached for almost 20 years. Aaron loves to camp and travel the country with the family in their motor home.

After graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Aaron worked as an accountant for six years. He spent three years working for KPMG in Orange County, followed by three years working for himself in Santa Barbara. After the tragic events on September 11, 2001, he told me, “A career in accounting is no longer in my future. I am going to focus my efforts on becoming a firefighter.” And that’s exactly what he did. He felt he needed to do something to help other people.

In 2005, he was hired by Montecito Fire Department. Aaron has worked for MFD for 13 years and is currently a battalion chief.

Aaron responded to the station on the morning of December 5, 2017, to back-fill for the engine companies that first responded to the Thomas Fire and remained at the station until December 18. During this time, he was the Station 1 captain, responsible for the staffing of three engines, a patrol, and two utilities. He was on a type 1 engine when the fire came into Montecito on the morning of December 16 and worked to put out dozens of spot fires on the west end of the district above highway 192. 

Aaron was on duty at Station 2 on the morning of January 9, 2018. He and his crew on Medic Engine 92 affected two rescues of individuals who were taken from their homes by the debris flow and over the course of the first 12 hours helped remove dozens of additional residents who were stranded inside their homes. 

Aaron was then assigned as task-force leader for Montecito Task-Force 1, which consisted of 22 personnel on six different apparatus. “Over the next thirteen days, we continued the search for victims in the western region of the disaster from Hot Springs to Bonnymede, until the search was called off on January 22^”. 

The decision to become a firefighter was the best career choice that he has made. He feels honored and fortunate to be a firefighter, as every shift brings a new challenge and the satisfaction of having the opportunity to assist someone in his or her time of need. After meeting Aaron, you see how he is perfectly suited to this type of work.

Thank you, Captain Briner, for all that you and your team do for us!