Nate grew up in the East San Francisco Bay area and graduated from Miramonte High School in 1995. He initially joined the fire service in 1999 as a UC Davis student resident firefighter. After graduating from UC Davis the following year with bachelor degrees in both Sociology and Communication, he worked at honing his medical skills as an EMT with a Solano County ambulance company.

Returning to work for his alma mater, he was hired as a career firefighter at UCDFD in 2001 and promoted to Engineer in 2004, Captain in 2005, Battalion Chief in 2016, and Assistant Fire Chief in 2018. Nate has taught a variety of subjects over his career both within the department, and at the Woodland fire academy.  He currently lives in Davis with his wife and two children.