His team wasn't activated for the Creek Fire, which resulted in more than 100 Fresno State students, faculty and staff being evacuated. But he was actively involved in the Paradise Fire two years ago in Butte County, the deadliest wildfire in California history killing 86 people.

In large-scale situations, if another county needs help they will put out a call for mutual aid to other counties in the state.

"For the Paradise Fire, there was mutual aid from a lot of counties," Cotham said. "Fresno County was the largest county there every single day," in terms of the number of volunteers.

The work wasn’t easy.

"This is probably the hardest part of the job," Cotham said. "Paradise is up in the mountains. There are a lot of mobile home parks and people got trapped and there were a lot of missing people. We had to go do recovery efforts, which was digging through ash. A lot of times we were given specific addresses from the incident command center due to reported missing people."

The Paradise Fire started on Nov. 8, 2018. Cotham spent two trips — three days each — during two weeks working on that recovery operation.

"The work we did at the Paradise Fire felt like something very special," Cotham said. "So many people were affected by that event. Anything we could do to help make people feel better or get closure. That's why I even went back up that second time, even on Thanksgiving. I left my family to drive back up, and my wife understood — there's people who don’t even have a house to have Thanksgiving at and they may still be looking for loved ones."

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office has a few different search and rescue teams — "jeepers," mounted posse and the mountaineering team, or "foot pounders," which Cotham has been part of for the past two and a half years after hearing about it from another Fresno State colleague, Eddie Dominguez.

"After my first meeting with them, I just took off running," Cotham said. He started looking at all of their different trainings and certifications, and quickly jumped in completely.

"Sometimes it can take them up to a year to onboard a new person, and I think I was three months," Cotham said. "As soon as I did something I was emailing them, 'OK, I completed this. What’s my next step?' … If I say I'm going to do something, then I'm all in. I’m going to do it."

When search and rescue volunteers are needed, volunteers get a "call out," asking if they can assist. They are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but Cotham said most of the calls happen overnight or on the weekends. As volunteers, they have the option to say yes or no, depending on whether they're available.

When they can, they respond. Cotham has put in more than 200 hours this year, almost 500 last year, and over 300 in 2018, the year he joined.

"We pay for our own gear, we pay for our own gas," Cotham said. "It's really something you have to love to do because there's no monetary reward for it. You have to love being outdoors and you have to like helping people and then you have to have a very supportive family and supportive boss because there is time away from work."

Cotham, who is married and lives in Clovis, just passed his 25th wedding anniversary — "which we’re still going to celebrate someday." He has two daughters, one of whom is a sophomore at Fresno State. The younger daughter goes to Freedom Elementary in Clovis Unified.

In his role as the director of procurement, Cotham is like Red, the narrator in "The Shawshank Redemption" — he's a guy who can get things for you.

With this year's supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19, that's a good skill to have. Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, personal protective equipment — he's your guy.

Cotham's secret is having a great network of peers, as well as creating connections with his colleagues across campus.

"Obviously in the CSU I have peers at other campuses," he said. "But there are also national organizations of peers, from other colleges across the U.S. If I can't come up with a solution, it's great to be able to reach out to someone else to say, 'How were you able to do this?"

His time working in purchasing — while in the U.S. Marines, with Valley Children's Hospital and for Clovis Unified School District, and the past 12 years at Fresno State — also helps him know the ins and outs to find creative solutions.

"Here's a good example," he said. "I'm always putting feelers out. [After COVID hit,] no one could find Clorox wipes. Cynthia, the accounting manager, came to me and said, 'Are you looking for Clorox wipes? I thought I heard you say that.'"

Through that, he was able to find a new source for the elusive Clorox wipes.

"Now I have a relationship with a company I might not have ever ordered from. It's reminding myself not to live in my bubble. I talk to people outside of my bubble. That’s a perfect example of someone outside of my area introducing me to a new supplier."

Procurement isn't only about getting the best price on items.

"There are other things we can negotiate — rebates, free shipping, free services with a product," Cotham said. "We're always trying to find not just the lowest price but what other value we can obtain."

Especially in this pandemic, procurement is also about anticipating what products or services the campus might need before it's even asked for. There is never a dull moment.

"There are so many things that come up,” Cotham said. "It is literally something different that comes up every day. It can be very high stress. Everybody wants all their orders right now, and we have to prioritize."

But it's work that suits Cotham.

"I love my job and love working at Fresno State," Cotham said. And he also loves what he gets to do with search and rescue.

"The most memorable thing is whenever we're successful," Cotham said. "That feels really great when our team is successful. … We can go all night with no sleep and all day dragging butt, and when your team is the one that finds the person, it helps clarify everything and say 'This is why we do it.'"