In November 1978, Howard started his fire career as a volunteer firefighter, before becoming a full-time firefighter and engineer with the Coalinga City Fire Department.

In July 1990, Howard started his career as a Fire Fighter II with CDF/CAL FIRE assigned to the Fresno-Kings Unit, where he continued to work as a fire apparatus engineer (January 9, 1995) and fire captain (July 27, 1998).

On December 12, 2005, Fire Captain Hedges transferred to the training center (academy) as the Emergency Command Center (ECC) Class Coordinator. On December 9, 2009, Howard was promoted to battalion chief, with oversight of specialized training at the training center, until his retirement on October 15, 2011. Howard returned on December 16, 2016, to the training center as a fire captain, retired annuitant. Howard assisted with special projects, including the rewrite of the 4039 Position Development Guides & Task Books, updating the training center policies and procedures. In 2020, he accepted a special assignment as a full-time COVID-19 contact tracer assigned to Santa Barbara County until he was diagnosed with cancer.

While assigned to the training center in Ione, Howard was working towards creating a “trailer park,” and he had such a huge smile on his face when he was running the dozer. Though that never came to fruition, that same area, known as Howard Park, will one day be the home of staff housing. The current format of the 4-week ECC Academy exists because of an issue paper and cost savings review Howard completed and submitted for consideration. This change in curriculum moved the ECC Modules from a 900-square-foot modular trailer into the Classroom Complex North Amphitheater. The ECC Lab, still used today, was started and completed due to Howard’s efforts to secure grant funding and other support mechanisms.