2015

All-Hazards

Incident Management Teams Association

Training & Education Symposium

5th AHIMTA Anniversary

December 8th – 10th, 2015

Denver, Colorado

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2015 AHIMTA Training & Education

Symposium Hosts

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Dear Symposium Attendee,

Welcome to the 2015 All-Hazards Incident Management Teams Training

and Education Symposium in Denver, Colorado. We are excited you have joined

us for the 5th anniversary of the founding of the AHIMTA. The All-Hazards

Incident Management Teams Training and Education Symposium is a national,

state and local effort to provide AHIMT personnel with the knowledge, skills,

best practices and lessons learned from deployments. The agenda was designed

for AHIMT personnel, their support personnel and their external partners and

stakeholders. The Symposium offers a variety of workshops and presentations,

provided by experts from across the nation, designed to facilitate the growth

and develop of your own agency personnel and incident management teams.

Throughout the symposium you will have a unique opportunity to

participate in a wide range of general sessions, panel discussions, breakout

sessions and case studies. You will learn from experienced instructors and have

the chance to meet and network with peers from across the country. When

disasters strike, AHIMT members are often the first teams called in to bring

order to the chaos. It is our hope that the experiences we share and the lessons

we learn this week will help make all of our teams stronger when we return to

our home communities.

Sincerely,

The AHIMTA 2015 Planning Committee

https://twitter.com/AHIMTA15DENVER

https://www.facebook.com/AHIMTAssociation

http://ahimta15denver.blogspot.com

http://linkd.in/1yBwdic

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2015

1300-1800 SYMPOSIUM REGISTRATION Centennial Foyer 1500 Centennial Foyer Credit Cards, Checks or Exact Cash Preferred

1800-2000 Welcome Reception Centennial Foyer

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2015 AHIMTA Training & Education

~ Speaker Biographies & Session Descriptions are shown after schedule ~

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8

0630-0800 SYMPOSIUM REGISTRATION & CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST Centennial Foyer

GENERAL SESSION Centennial D & E

0800-0815 Opening Ceremony – Denver Police Department Honor Guard

Berthoud Fire Protection District Bagpipes

Ms Jeanne Pace, National Anthem

0815-0845 Welcome Comments – Colorado Division of Homeland Security &

Emergency Management; FEMA Region VIII – Lanney Holmes, Deputy

Federal Preparedness Coordinator

0845-0900 Announcements & Housekeeping

0900-0930 State of the AHIMTA – Randal Collins, President

0930-0945 EMI Update – Bob Ridgeway

0945-1000 BREAK Centennial Foyer

GENERAL SESSION Centennial D & E

1000-1045 Federal Agreement Process – Type 3 AHIMTs and ROSS

Jason Steinmetz, James Fortner, Gordon Sachs

1045-1055 The Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (CELL) – Melanie Pearlman

1055-1215 KEYNOTE SPEAKER – Mary Kelly, PhD, CDR, US Navy (Ret)

“Master Your World: Executive Leadership Strategies”

1215-1330 LUNCH (Provided) Centennial Foyer

1330–1445 BREAKOUT SESSIONS (R)=session will be REPEATED LOCATION

Transfer of Command, Part I (R) – Jim Krugman Centennial A

Incident Within an Incident (R) – Bob Fry Centennial B

Behavior & Attitude: The Difference-Maker (R) – Bob Kittridge Centennial C

Situational Awareness Meets Public Information (R) – Chris Tarantino Centennial F

Wrapping Your Arms Around the Incident (R) – Randal Collins Centennial G

Planned Events (R) – Butch Hoffman/John Morrissey Centennial H

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 8 (Cont’d.)

1330–1445 BREAKOUT SESSIONS (R) indicates REPEATED session LOCATION

When Is A Team A Team? (R) – Bill Campbell/Steve Grainer Mineral B & C

Securing the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships (R) – Dwight Henninger/Barry Bratt Mineral D & E

Federal Agreement Process, Details plus Q & A – Jason Steinmetz, James Fortner, Gordon Sachs Mineral F & G

1445-1500 BREAK Centennial Foyer

1500–1615 BREAKOUT SESSIONS (R)=session will be REPEATED LOCATION

Transfer of Command, Part II (R) – Jim Krugman Centennial A

Incident Within an Incident – Bob Fry Centennial B

Behavior & Attitude: The Difference-Maker – Bob Kittridge Centennial C

Situational Awareness Meets Public Information – Chris Tarantino Centennial F

Wrapping Your Arms Around the Incident – Randal Collins Centennial G

Planned Events – Butch Hoffman/John Morrissey Centennial H

When Is A Team A Team? – Bill Campbell/Steve Grainer Mineral B & C

Securing the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships – Dwight Henninger/Barry Bratt Mineral D & E

Communications Best Practices Panel – Brandon Smith Mineral F & G

1630-1700 AHIMTA Membership Meeting Centennial D&E

1715-1930 Colorado AHIMTs Annual Meeting Centennial C

DINNER – On Your Own

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9

0630-0800 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST Centennial Foyer GENERAL SESSION Centennial D & E

0800-0815 Announcements & Housekeeping

0815-0830 Greeting – Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control, Director Paul Cooke Denver Fire Department – Chief Eric Tade

0830-1000 Strengthening Operational Culture Within the AHIMT – Lark McDonald

1015-1030 BREAK Centennial Foyer

GENERAL SESSION Centennial D & E

1030-1100 Interstate IMT Qualifications System (IIMTQS) Update – Bill Wallis

1100-1130 NEMA/EMAC/AHIMTA Partnership – Doug Hoell

1130-1200 KEYNOTE SPEAKER – Heather Post “Mental Preparedness for Public Safety Professionals”

1200-1330 LUNCH - On Your Own

1330–1445 BREAKOUT SESSIONS (R)=session will be REPEATED LOCATION

Transfer of Command, Part I (R) – Jim Krugman Centennial A

Rural Department Challenges in a Large-Scale Incident (R) – Erik Wood Centennial B

Mastering PTBs and the Process (R) – Steve Ellis/Geoff Wilford Centennial C

Colorado Floods: The Good, The Bad, The Great (R) – Amy Danzl Centennial F

Building the AHIMT Within a State Agency (R) – Nathan Weed Centennial G

Interstate IMT Qualifications System Guide – Into the Weeds, Q & A (R) - Bill Wallis, James Mason, Paul Broyles Centennial H

National Guard Relevancy in All-Hazards Response (R) – Peter Byrne Mineral B & C

Traffic Incident Management (TIM) - A Multi-disciplinary Approach (R) – Tim Keeton/Greg Gilbert/Rob Marone Mineral D & E

Managing a Moving Event – USA Pro Cycling Challenge (R) – Steve Garcia Mineral F & G 1445-1500 BREAK Centennial Foyer

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9 (Cont’d.)

1500–1615 BREAKOUT SESSIONS (R) indicates REPEATED session LOCATION

Transfer of Command, Part II (R) – Jim Krugman Centennial A

Rural Department Challenges in a Large-Scale Incident (R) – Erik Wood Centennial B

Mastering PTBs and the Process (R) – Steve Ellis/Geoff Wilford Centennial C

Colorado Floods: The Good, The Bad, The Great (R) – Amy Danzl Centennial F

Building the AHIMT Within a State Agency (R) – Nathan Weed Centennial G

IIMTQS Guide – Into the Weeds, Q & A (R) - Bill Wallis, James Mason, Paul Broyles Centennial H

National Guard Relevancy in All-Hazards Response (R) – Peter Byrne Mineral B & C

Traffic Incident Management (TIM) – A Multi-disciplinary Approach (R) – Tim Keeton/Greg Gilbert/Rob Marone Mineral D & E

Managing a Moving Event – USA Pro Cycling Challenge (R) –

Steve Garcia Mineral F & G

1630 Centennial Foyer

1630-1700 AHIMTA Regional Breakout Sessions

Region I Joseph Golden Centennial A Region II William Campbell Centennial B Region III Lee Williams Centennial C Region IV Ashley Davis Centennial F Region V Shari Harrington Centennial G Region VI Troy German Centennial H Region VII TBA Mineral A Region VIII Colleen Gadd Mineral B & C Region IX Randal Collins Mineral D & E Region X TBA Mineral F & G International Bill Easterling Centennial D&E 1700 DINNER – On Your Own

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10

0630-0800 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST Centennial Foyer GENERAL SESSION Centennial D & E 0800-0810 Housekeeping

0810-0820 Greeting – Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Shrader 0830-0900 Type 3 IMT uses Lessons Learned from NWCG Assignments to Organize Massive Search in Virginia – Lee Williams

0900-0930 “Unacceptable Risk: Firefighters on the Front Lines of Climate Change” Don Whittemore, Rocky Mountain Type II IMT 0930-1000 BREAK Centennial Foyer

GENERAL SESSION Centennial D & E

0945-1045 Working with Area Command in the All-Hazards Environment - Charles “Boo” Walker, National Area Commander, State All Hazard IMT Coordinator, Texas A&M Forest Service

1045-1115 International Incident Management Capacity Building – Kevin Misenheimer, Program Manager, USFS International Programs

1115-1130 Comments from the Combined Colorado AHIMT – IC Jim Spratlen, Durango Police Chief

1130-1200 Open Forum/Closing Remarks – AHIMTA President Randal Collins

1200 ADJOURN – Thank you for attending!

Our members and

supporters!

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Listed in Alphabetical Order, by Title of Presentation

(R) = Session will be REPEATED Behavior & Attitude: The Difference-Maker (R) Presenter: Bob Kittridge Location: Centennial C – Tuesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm This is an interactive presentation where participants gain an understanding of how they are wired and how this drives behaviors and attitude. Incident management requires us to communicate and connect factually with our team and those we serve. This workshop will deliver that awareness and give participants practical tips to produce reliable, repeatable and predictable results. Building the AHIMT Within a State Agency (R) Presenter: Nathan Weed Location: Centennial G – Wednesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm This session will describe the process that the Washington State Department of Health has taken to develop an All-Hazard Incident Management Team. Including policy development, planning, organizing, training, exercises, and partnership development necessary to put a functional All-Hazard Incident Management Team in place to serve the State of Washington. Colorado Floods: The Good, The Bad, and The Great (R) Presenter: Amy Danzl Location: Centennial F – Wednesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm In September 2013, Boulder County experienced massive flooding. The response to this incident involved a broad array of Federal, State, Local and Private Sector Assets. The Boulder Office of Emergency Management was tasked with coordinating the effort and interfacing with Incident Management Team personnel. The presenter will share the many lessons learned for this major event. Communications Best Practices Panel Presenter: Brandon Smith Location: Mineral F & G – Tuesday @ 3:00pm This is a panel discussion focused on Communications Unit best practices, utilization of COMU personnel and changes to the All-Hazards Communications Unit Leader position. Participants will increase their awareness and understanding of the COMU functions and the deployment of COMU assets during all-hazards situations. Federal Agreement Process, Details plus Q & A Presenters: Jason Steinmetz, James Fortner, Gordon Sachs Location: Mineral F & G – Tuesday @ 1:30pm How Type 3 AHIMTs will be listed in, ordered from, and paid through, ROSS. IIMTQS Guide – Into the Weeds, Q & A (R) Presenters: Bill Wallis, James Mason, Paul Broyles Location: Centennial H – Wednesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm

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Listed in Alphabetical Order, by Title of Presentation

(R) = Session will be REPEATED Incident Within an Incident (R) Presenter: Bob Fry Location: Centennial B – Tuesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm This program will provide strategies and processes for setting priorities during “incident within an incident” occurrences. The instructor will share lessons learned and processes for reinforcing Leader’s Intent during chaotic incidents where political considerations and complexity may challenge the decision-making processes. Managing a Moving Event – USA Pro Cycling Challenge (R) Presenter: Major Steve Garcia Location: Mineral F & G – Wednesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm For the past five years, the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) has utilized an All-Hazards Incident Management Team for planning and management of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge: A seven-day, multi-stage professional international bicycle race that travels throughout the State of Colorado. Presenters will share lessons learned as CSP has developed and refined its planning and organizational practices. Mastering PTBs and the Process (R) Presenters: Steve Ellis & Geoff Wilford Location: Centennial C – Wednesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm This presentation will cover the entire Position Task Book (PTB) process, from the philosophy behind their implementation, the current state of their development at the Association and Federal levels, to how the process works and how to implement the PTB process into your program. Finally, the most often misunderstood aspect, the three phases of the process and how to shorten the time while maintaining the quality of your process will be discussed. A question and answer period will end the session. National Guard Relevancy in All-Hazards Response (R) Presenter: Brigadier General Peter Byrne Location: Mineral B & C – Wednesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm In this presentation participants will gain an understanding of the National Guard Construct, force posturing for Local and State Disasters, the protocols for requesting or accessing National Guard resources, and reimbursement mechanisms. Planned Events (R) Presenters: Butch Hoffman & John Morrissey Location: Centennial H – Tuesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm This presentation reviews the unique ICS management principles of planned public events. IMTs can be invaluable in providing guidance for the management of risks associated with conducting events that involve mass gatherings of people and assist organizers in making such events safe and successful.

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Listed in Alphabetical Order, by Title of Presentation (R) = Session will be REPEATED Rural Department Challenges in a Large-Scale Incident (R) Presenter: Erik Wood Location: Centennial B – Wednesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm Designed to assist well-established teams that might be called to assist in the mitigation of a large-scale event in a small rural community. This session discusses the challenges rural communities face in managing a large-scale event and incorporating incident management teams and the use of ICS/NIMS into that event.

Securing the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships (R) Presenters: Chief Dwight Henninger & Major Barry Bratt Location: Mineral D & E – Tuesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm Participants will be presented an overview of the planning and management actions related to the security committee for the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships. This event was completed using ICS principles and with an incident management team that involved federal, state, county and local agencies (including many AHIMTA members), along with private partners. Situational Awareness Meets Public Information (R) Presenter: Chris Tarantino Location: Centennial F – Tuesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm In this presentation, the relationship between situational awareness, common operating picture, public information, and crowd-sourced intelligence will be examined. This presentation will explain how PIOs and Situation Units can work together and what systems need to be in place to succeed using information from the "crowd." Traffic Incident Management (TIM) – A Multi-disciplinary Team Approach (R) Presenter: Major Tim Keeton Location: Mineral D & E – Wednesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm This presentation will detail the I-25 Traffic Incident Management Plan, and the incident that determined the need for a multidisciplinary approach. During this interactive presentation participants will gain insights into how to apply Traffic Incident Management Strategies to their agencies. Transfer of Command, Part I (R) Presenter: Jim Krugman – Location: Centennial A – Tuesday AND Wednesday @ 1:30pm Understanding the critical linkages associated with Transfer of Command and Authority is essential to a safe and effective upward change in levels of incident management necessitated by changes in the incident’s complexity.

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Listed in Alphabetical Order, by Title of Presentation (R) = Session will be REPEATED Transfer of Command, Part II (R) Presenter: Jim Krugman – Location: Centennial A – Tuesday AND Wednesday @ 3:00pm Understanding the critical linkages associated with Transfer of Command and Authority is essential to a safe and effective upward change in levels of incident management necessitated by changes in the incident’s complexity. When Is A Team A Team? (R) Presenters: Bill Campbell & Steve Grainer – Location: Mineral B & C – Tuesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm This workshop provides participants an opportunity to look at their team’s composition and where it may be in the continuum of development from a basic organization to a high reliability organization, potentially to become a high-performance organization, until ultimately demonstrating the characteristics and capabilities reflective of a real “team” able to deliver effective and efficient incident management services to their stakeholders and the public they serve.

Wrapping Your Arms Around the Incident (R) Presenter: Randal Collins – Location: Centennial G – Tuesday @ 1:30pm AND 3:00pm One of the most confusing times during an All-Hazards Incident Management Team response is at the point when an IMT assumes command from the initial response authorities. It is at that moment that initial response resources are often spread thin, confused, and often times not thinking of the big picture. This session will explore this phenomenon and identify best practices to prevent, mitigate, and smooth over a transition during a disaster.

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Speakers are listed alphabetically.

BARRY BRATT: Securing the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships

Major Barry Bratt has nearly 30 years of experience in law enforcement and currently

serves as the District Four Commander for the Colorado State Patrol. In that capacity he

oversees Patrol operations for Northwestern Colorado, which includes eleven counties

with a combined population of over 304,000 people and nearly 23,000 square miles.

Barry has also served as the District Commander in Southwestern Colorado, which is

comprised of seventeen counties with a combined population of 219,000 people and

over 23,000 square miles. Prior to that, he was assigned as the Captain of the Patrol’s Homeland Security

branch and Troop 4C in Glenwood Springs. He has also served as the Sergeant in charge of Motorcycle

Operations for the Patrol. Prior to the Colorado State Patrol, Barry worked for the Westminster Police Dept.

Barry currently serves as the Chairperson of the State Traffic Records Advisory Committee and the Colorado

Law Enforcement Memorial. He has been a past president of both the Western Colorado Peace Officers

Association and the Four States Peace Officers Association. He has served as a subject matter expert for the

NHTSA Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria 3rd & 4th Edition, as well as the NHTSA Model Performance

Measures for State Traffic Records Systems. Barry also chaired the Strategic Highway Safety Plan, Data

Emphasis working group in 2014. He is part of the Northwest Incident Management Team; serving as one of

the team’s Incident Commanders. Barry is State of Colorado Certified as a Type 3 Incident Commander.

Throughout his career he has had the opportunity to manage and supervise a multitude of special events

ranging from small community events to large events encompassing multiple days and locations to include;

the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay, Presidential escorts, Air Shows, the inaugural running of the USA Pro Cycling

Challenge in 2011, and the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships.

PAUL R. BROYLES: IIMTQS Guide – Into the Weeds; Instructor L-956, All-Hazards

Liaison Officer

Paul Broyles retired as the National Fire Operations Chief, USDI-National Park

Service, Fire Management Program Center, NIFC, Boise, ID, in 2008. Paul has had an

extensive career in fire management, law enforcement and incident management.

He is currently the Deputy Incident Commander on a Great Basin Type 1 team, after

serving the standard 3-year term as the Team’s Incident Commander. Since 1980

he has served on Type 1 and Type 2 Incident Management Teams in various

positions in Command, Operations, Air Operations, and Training Specialist.

Paul’s career spanned over 36 years in the National Park Service in a variety of roles including Fire

Management Officer, Law Enforcement Ranger, and Resource Management Specialist. In 1988 he

transferred to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) as the NPS National Training Officer. Until his

retirement Paul continued work at NIFC as the National Fire Operations Chief, with national oversight

responsibilities for suppression, preparedness, safety, prevention, burned area rehabilitation and training

and qualifications programs.

During his 21+ years at the NIFC, he served on several of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Working

Teams: Training (9 years), Safety & Health (16 years, 4 as Chair), and Incident Operations Standards (11

years).

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Paul is NIMS-certified (ID and CA) to teach various ICS and leadership courses. In 2010 he was assigned

(twice) to the Deepwater Horizon incident, serving as an ICS and IMT Advisor for the US Coast Guard in FL

and LA. He continues significant ICS, leadership, and fire management instructing commitments with the ID

Bureau of Homeland Security, Eagle (ID) Fire Department (employed as a Wildland Fire Specialist) and other

federal, state and private entities.

PETER J. BYRNE: National Guard Relevancy in All-Hazards Response

Brigadier General Peter J. Byrne is Director of Joint Staff, Colorado National Guard, Joint

Force Headquarters. In this capacity General Byrne also serves as the Commander Joint

Task Force-Centennial, and is the Designated Dual Status Commander Joint Force

Headquarters-Colorado. He has oversight responsibilities for the offices serving the

Colorado Army and Air National Guard to include, Judge Advocate General, Public

Affairs, Inspector General, Chaplain and Director of Staff-Air supervision of Military

Personnel Officer and Assistants. He advises The Adjutant General and Assistant Adjutant Generals for Army

and Air on all issues and policies relating to Defense Support to Civil Authorities and security cooperation.

General Byrne received his commission through the Reserve Officer Training Corps upon graduation from the

University of Cincinnati in 1984. While on active duty, he served as an A-7D and F-16C Fighter Pilot and as an

Air Liaison Officer with the United States Army. He joined the Colorado Air National Guard in November 1991

as a traditional guardsman. General Byrne's duties have included Squadron Scheduler, Wing "Top Gun"

Officer, Assistant Flight Commander, Flight Commander, 120th Fighter Squadron Commander and Vice

Commander, 140th Wing. In his current position General Byrne has been activated three times as the Dual

Status Commander for Colorado's disasters. He is a command pilot with over 2,500 military flying hours,

including 1,800 hours in the F-16, and more than 145 combat hours flown enforcing the no fly zones over

Northern Iraq and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

WILLIAM CAMPBELL: When is a Team a Team?

Bill Campbell is Chief of the New York State Incident Management Team Program for

the Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services. He holds a B.S. degree from

the State University of New York College at Cortland. Bill has over 30 years’ experience

in the emergency management training and incident management fields.

As Chief of the New York State Incident Management Team Program, Bill was

instrumental in the development of the New York State All-Hazards Incident

Management Team (IMT). He is also a member of a Rocky Mountain Type 2 Incident Management Team

(Blue Team), where he serves as a Plans Section Chief and a Liaison Officer trainee.

Bill has served as a lead instructor of the ICS-National Training Curriculum since 1995. In 2003, he was

selected as a subject matter expert by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) in Boise, Idaho to

revise the ICS-National Training Curriculum currently being used across the country to train first responders

on ICS.

He has responded to many emergencies and disasters during his thirty years of State service. From the crash

of TWA Flight 800, North Country Ice Storm, an F-3 tornado in Saratoga County and the September 11th

terrorist attacks to numerous large wildfires. Since 2004, Bill has deployed with the NYS IMT to several

hurricanes including Hurricanes Frances and Ivan in Florida, Hurricane Katrina in Mississippi and Hurricane

Gustav in Louisiana. In 2011, he again responded with the NYS IMT to Schoharie County, NY for Hurricane

Irene and in 2012 to Nassau County, NY for Super Storm Sandy. Bill has served in several capacities in both

Incident Command Posts and in local/State Emergency Operations Centers.

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Mr. Campbell has more than 20 years of experience as a Paramedic with the Albany County Sheriff’s

Department’s Advanced Life Support program and as a Life Member with both the Clifton Park-Halfmoon and

Malta Ambulance Corps. He also spent nearly three years as a volunteer firefighter with the Cortland City

Fire Department.

RANDAL COLLINS: Wrapping Your Arms Around the Incident

Randal “Randy” Collins currently works for Southern California Edison as an

Emergency Management Specialist with the Business Resiliency Division. Randy

began working with Edison in 2014. In addition to his work with Edison, Randy is the

President of the All-Hazards Incident Management Teams Association; he has held

that position since 2012. Randy is also the President and Owner of Leader’s Intent,

LLC, a company he formed in 2014.

Before moving to California, Randy was an executive with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security

where he established the Indiana Incident Management Program and commanded the state’s Incident

Management Assistance Team which responded to several emergencies and disasters including Hurricane

Sandy in Long Beach, NY and to the Southern Indiana Tornado Outbreak in Henryville, IN. Randy has also

worked with the City of Indianapolis as the Deputy Director of Preparedness and Operations, and was a

police officer in the Town of Mooresville. Randy also served in the United States Marine Corps for six years

on active duty and six years in the reserve.

Randy was recently accepted and enrolled in the Executive Master of Leadership graduate program at the

University of Southern California. He is expected to graduate from this program in August 2016. Randy

completed his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Indianapolis in 2002 where his major was

law enforcement.

Randy had an article published about developing all-hazards incident management teams in Fire/Rescue

Magazine in May of 2013 and was asked to speak at the National Homeland Security Conference in Los

Angeles in 2013.

Randy continues to maintain membership on the Indiana District 1 Incident Management Team. He is a

Certified Emergency Manager through the International Association of Emergency Managers. He is also

qualified as a Type 3 Incident Commander in Indiana.

AMY DANZL: Colorado Floods: The Good, The Bad, The Great

Amy Danzl works at the Boulder Office of Emergency Management, a joint office of the

City of Boulder and Boulder County, in Colorado. Amy began her career in disasters

with humanitarian work in her home state of Alaska, where she was the statewide

disaster preparedness and response director for the American Red Cross. She was

eager to experience living abroad so she moved to London, England where she

managed the volunteering unit for the British Red Cross in London.

Amy moved to Colorado five years ago and completed her Master’s degree in Public Administration with a

concentration in emergency management and homeland security from the University of Colorado at Denver.

She joined the Boulder Office of Emergency Management four years ago, where she manages the resource

mobilization and the situational awareness sections of the emergency operations center (EOC). She also

chairs the local emergency planning committee and coordinates the Boulder County Type III Incident

Management Team. She has an interest in designing and building systems and taught EOC Systems Design in

Thailand at the invitation of the Thai government after seeing her resource mobilization system in action

during a wildfire in Boulder.

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STEVEN D. ELLIS: Mastering PTBs and the Process

Steven Ellis is currently the West Area Fire Management Officer for the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control, Wildland Fire Section. The Area Fire Management Officer (FMO) serves as a liaison between the state, local and federal wildland fire partners; this includes all counties and all fire departments west of the continental divide and also the San Louis Valley. The FMO assists the county and local fire department with numerous wildland fire related issues and challenges ranging from qualifications to suppression tactics. Prior to his appointment he was the SW

Zone Fire Management Officer for the Colorado State Forest Service for three and half years. Steven also served as the Interagency Fire Management Officer for 10 years in Montrose overseeing Fire Management for the United States Forest Service, National Park Service, and the Bureau of Land Management consisting of approximately 5.5 million acres of federal land averaging about 150 fires per year. Prior to that, he worked for the BLM for 33 years, serving in a variety of firefighting positions including engine crew, Helitack, dispatch, fire management. Since 1988, Steven has had significant involvement with Position Tasks Books and the training and qualifications process and brings a wealth of hands on experience working with Trainees. Stevend.ellis@state.co.us 970-596-0685.

JAMES FORTNER: Federal Agreement Process – Details + Q&A

James P. Fortner serves as the Cooperative Fire Program Manager for the U.S. Forest

Service, located in the Washington Office’s Fire and Aviation Management unit. He is

responsible for managing the State Fire Assistance and Volunteer Fire Assistance

programs and working with partners on national-level collaborations to assist local

communities in becoming better adapted to survive wildland fire. He is responsible

for the development and management of the templates and guidelines used for

developing interagency cooperative agreements for fire protection. He also serves on the Southern Area Gold

Team (Type II IMT). Prior to joining the Forest Service in 2010, James served as the Training and Exercise

Coordinator for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency

Coordination. He resides in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife and two children and remains active as a

volunteer firefighter/emergency medical technician.

BOB FRY: Incidents Within An Incident

Bob Fry is the District III Field Officer for Montana Disaster and Emergency Services.

Bob has been a charter member of AHIMTA and presented at several national

conferences, including the 2010 Denver AHIMTA conference. Bob has been active

in all-hazards Incident Management development nationally, working with FEMA

Region 8 on a pilot All-Hazards IMT project. Bob recently retired after over 20 years

as volunteer Park

County Chief and Fire Warden. He is presently the IC for the Western Montana Type II team and one of the

Type 3 ICs for the Gallatin Overhead Assistance Team (GOAT) and has served as an IC, Operations and Plans

Section Chief with teams over the past 18 years. He has worked as an instructor and exercise facilitator for

the Northern Rockies agencies for the past 28 years.

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STEVE GARCIA: Managing a Moving Event – USA Pro Cycling Challenge

Major Garcia is currently the commander of the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) Training

Services Branch and serves concurrently as the Director of the Colorado State Patrol

Academy. This branch encompasses the CSP Academy, Special Events Unit, Media and

Marketing Center, Public Affairs, Victims Advocates and the CSP Chaplains Program.

Major Garcia started with the Colorado State Patrol in 2001 as a Trooper assigned to the

Pueblo troop. During this time, he was named the 100 Club of Colorado Trooper of the

Year and in 2004 was the MADD Colorado Officer of the Year.

In 2005, he transferred to the newly formed Homeland Security Section and in 2006 was promoted to

Sergeant. During this period, he served as the Deputy Director of the CIAC and helped establish the CIAC

Terrorism Liaison Officer (TLO) program and assisted in the State of Colorado’s management of the 2008

Democratic National Convention.

In 2008, he was promoted to Captain within the Homeland Security Section and named the Director of the

CIAC. In 2010, the CIAC was named the 2009 Fusion Center of the Year by the DHS Fusion Center Project

Management Office. He was accepted to attend and completed the 2010 Harvard School of Executive

Education and Leadership in Counter-terrorism. In 2011 he received the Colorado State Patrol’s Life Saving

Award and Coloradoan’s Appreciate State Troopers (CAST) Award. He has also received the 100 Club of

Colorado Trooper of the year a second time in 2012.

He currently serves on the Colorado POST Academy Directors Board, the Colorado Legislative Marijuana

Curriculum Committee and the MADD Board of Executive Directors. He serves as the Incident Commander of

the Patrol’s management of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge and other statewide special events.

Major Garcia is a 19-year veteran of law enforcement and is a fourth generation law enforcement officer.

STEVE GRAINER: When is a Team a Team?

Steve Grainer has served in fire and emergency services functions in Virginia since

1972. He holds a B.S. degree in Social Sciences and Education from James Madison

College. His experience includes progression through the ranks from firefighter to

chief officer in both rural and urban fire and rescue departments in positions

including Fire Chief, Chief Fire Marshal, Fire Investigator, and emergency

management coordinator. He served 16 years with the Virginia Department of

Emergency Management in several capacities including Technical Response Training Officer, Emergency

Management Training Officer, State Emergency Response Team (SERT) Coordinator, and Operations Officer

as well as Human Services Program Coordinator for recovery operations during 8 Presidentially-declared

disasters in the Commonwealth. As such, his experience includes working in and with a wide variety of

“teams.” In addition to his work in state and local emergency response, Steve has been a curriculum

developer, content evaluator, and instructor for FEMA, USDOT, and USEPA training programs in Hazardous

Materials, Emergency Management, and Incident Command programs. His current duties with the

Department of Fire Programs are primarily focused on developing and managing training and operations

programs in the Incident Command System (ICS) consistent with the National Incident Management System

(NIMS) and coordinating the agency’s Incident Support Team. From 2010 to 2012 he served as the first

President of the All-Hazards Incident Management Teams Association (AHIMTA).

Steve Grainer is a Charter Member of the AHIMTA and its first President.

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DWIGHT HENNINGER: Securing the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships

Chief Dwight Henninger is the Vice President-Treasurer of the International

Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). He has been a member of the IACP Executive

Committee for eight years, served as the Chair of the Environmental Crimes

Committee and is a member of the Financial Review and Homeland Security

Committees.

Dwight is Chief of Police in Vail, Colorado where he has served since 2002. He

leads a 63-person organization that serves over two million domestic and international visitors annually.

Additionally, Dwight leads a countywide communications center that provides communications services to 11

agencies in Eagle County and assistance to the Colorado Dept of Transportation.

In June 2010, Vail and Beaver Creek Resorts were selected by the International Ski Federation to host the

2015 Alpine World Ski Championships. Dwight was appointed Chair of the Safety & Security Committee for

the 2015 Championships.

Dwight was congressionally appointed in 2010 to serve for one year on the Local, State, Tribal and Federal

Preparedness Task Force-A group directed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He currently

serves on several local, state and federal organizations including: Vice Chair of FEMA’s Region 8 Advisory

Committee, member of the State of Colorado’s Emergency Resource Mobilization Committee, vice chair of

the State of Colorado Homeland Security and All-Hazards Senior Advisory Committee and the Intelligence

Analysis Center Subcommittee, and is a co-Chair of the Eagle County Law Enforcement Immigration Advisory

Committee. As a Coordinator of the CO Northwest Incident Management Team, Dwight helps catalyze

improvements in emergency planning and in response and recovery efforts in the State of Colorado & Utah.

He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy session #196, PERF’s Senior Management Institute for Police

and the California POST Command College. Dwight received Master’s Degrees from UC, Irvine in Business and

Public Administration and from San Diego State University in Leadership.

DOUG HOELL: NEMA/EMAC/AHIMTA Partnership

Doug Hoell currently serves as an advisor to the Emergency Management Assistance

Compact. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National

Emergency Management Association, Chair of NEMA’s EMAC Committee and Chair of

NEMA’s Preparedness Committee. His career has been in the Emergency

Management business for the past 39 years. He has worked at the local, state and

federal levels of government in Emergency Management positions. He served as the

Director of the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management from July 2005 through January 2013. He

retired from North Carolina State Government February 1, 2013 and started his own consulting business and

continues to stay active with a variety of Emergency Management contract opportunities.

BUTCH HOFFMAN: The Application of ICS to Planned Events

Butch Hoffmann, EMT-P, BA, is the Support Services Manager for Rural/Metro Medical

Services in Syracuse, NY. Mr. Hoffmann has 37 years of experience as an EMT, paramedic,

instructor and manager in EMS. His extensive ICS training allows him to be an active

member of NYS’s Type 2 IMT since its inception. He is an instructor for the NYS Office of

EM for NIMS/ICS, HSEEP and Exercise & Design courses. He has co-authored disaster

response plans for Giants Stadium, Newark International Airport, Woodstock 1994 and

volunteered at the ’96 Centennial Summer Olympics in Atlanta, GA. He continues to oversee the medical

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coverage for the 12-day annual ‘Great’ NYS Fair, Boilermaker 15K Run, K-Rockathon and other regional large

events. Butch currently is a member of the NY State EMS Council and chairs the State EMS Safety

Subcommittee.

TIM KEETON: TIM – A Multi-disciplinary Team Approch

Major Tim Keeton was born in Fort Collins and raised there until he left for the Marine

Corps after graduation from Poudre High School in Fort Collins. After being honorably

discharged from the Marines, he attended Colorado State University and obtained a

bachelor’s degree in business finance. Tim joined the Colorado State Patrol in 1998;

upon graduating from the academy his first duty station was back in his home town of

Fort Collins. He promoted to the rank of corporal in 2004 and remained in the Fort

Collins Troop Office. He promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2005 and took over the statewide motorcycle

unit for the CSP. He transferred to Internal Affairs in 2008 and worked there until his promotion to captain in

2011 when he took over the commercial vehicle enforcement unit for the state. He transferred back to his

home area in June, 2013 as the captain over Troop 3A encompassing Weld and Boulder Counties. In 2014 he

promoted to the rank of major and took command of District Three, encompassing the 15 counties in the

Northeast corner of Colorado. Tim’s goals include managing traffic in any incident as efficiently as possible

with the existing infrastructure.

MARY KELLY: Master Your World: Executive Leadership Strategies

Mary Kelly, CSP, PhD, Commander, USN (ret) leadership and business expert creates

lasting, strategic results. With over twenty years of leadership experience and a

diverse background in the U.S. and abroad, CDR/Dr. Kelly has extensive experience in

the areas of Leadership, Productivity, Business Growth, Human Resources,

Organizational Management, and Economic Development. Mary has a track record

for success as an organizational change agent.

Dr. Kelly developed a business model for the computer and telecommunications organization for personnel

hiring, training and retention that was adopted globally by the U. S. Navy. Managing culturally diverse teams,

she orchestrated organizational changes for over 3,000 personnel for 2 military base closures. Her ability to

problem solve and provide innovative solutions enabled her to transform the Navy's largest pay and

personnel organization from the lowest in customer satisfaction to the highest in the nation in 18 months,

with 23% fewer employees.

As a speaker and presenter, Mary pulls from her diverse experience to provide keynote presentations that

are engaging and compelling, leaving audiences wanting more. With a warm, entertaining, and sincere style,

CDR Kelly uses her vast knowledge to provide informative presentations that hold the interest of her

audience.

After over 20 of years of leading diverse teams all over the world, Dr. Kelly's approach to leadership is

immediately practical and applicable. She has real world leadership experience and she shares it with her

groups. Her Leadership Lessons from the Dog discussion is an enjoyable, interactive approach to getting the

behaviors you want from the people who surround you. The communication session focuses on solving and

resolving common misunderstandings in the workplace. Finally, Dr. Kelly helps her audiences stay mindful of

what is important for success. CDR Kelly's program suggestions can be applied as soon as the audience

leaves the room with immediate results.

A popular speaker for both the U.S. Naval Academy and Hawaii Pacific University's Speakers' Bureaus on

topics of finance, leadership, communication, and management. As an Emcee, Mary facilitates panels for

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economic, leadership, and business conferences. She has conducted over 3,000 seminars on financial,

business, human resources, management and leadership topics to all levels of private and government

corporations.

Dr. Kelly is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, earned an M.A. in economics from the University of

Oklahoma, and M.A. in history from the University of Hawaii, and a PhD in economics from Greenwich

University.

BOB KITTRIDGE: Behavior and Attitude – The Difference Maker

Bob Kittridge is an internationally recognized mentor, speaker, trainer and coach in the

areas of leadership, personal development and professional coaching. He has helped

many entry level, corporate and top management leaders as well as political leaders

with leadership concepts and skills courses by transforming how leaders communicate

and connect. Bob has the unique insight and understanding of how people react during

critical times in their lives and what motivates and inspires them.

Following 35 years of success in sales, training and leadership roles in Emergency Services, Bob broadened his

leadership training to include international audiences. Bob’s unique ability to connect with his audience

generates excitement and enthusiasm for learning.

Founding a personal growth, leadership and development consultant group that equips individuals, thought

leaders and organizations with high performance solutions to ensure continuous improvement in personal

growth and business results serves Bob’s passion.

JIM KRUGMAN: Transfer of Command, Part I and Part II

Jim joined the Denver Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security as the

City’s Emergency Training and Exercise Coordinator in June of 2012 after a career of 36

years with the USDA Forest Service.

His career in the Forest Service included duty locations in 5 western states where he

served as a fire, timber management, and natural resource manager in addition to 12

years as an agency administrator. In 2000 Jim moved to the agency’s regional

headquarters in Lakewood as the Branch Chief for Fire Operations & Training; and later as the Acting Deputy

Fire and Aviation Director for oversight of policy development, preparedness, safety, and training for the 5-

state Region.

Jim began as a firefighter and progressed through operations prior to serving as a local Type 3 Incident

Commander, a Rocky Mountain Area Type 2 Incident Commander from 1988 to 1996, as the Deputy and

Type 1 Incident Commander for the Rocky Mountain Type 1 National IMT from 1996 to 2005, and as a

national Area Commander from 2006-2012. His assignments included wildland fire and all-hazard incidents

throughout Colorado and the west; as well as extended assignments to Hurricane Katrina and Ivan. He

currently holds Colorado qualifications as a Type 2 Incident Commander.

LARK McDONALD: Strengthening Operational Culture Within the All-Hazards

Incident Management Team (AHIMT)

Lark is founder and current CEO of Mission-Centered Solutions, Inc. He currently

provides strategic leadership and oversight for MCS education operations worldwide,

market development, product development and business operations. His experience

includes advanced experience in cultural development and training systems for the

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military and organizations working in mission-focused operating environments. Lark’s background includes

education in international transportation management, air operations, educational systems and psychology.

Lark also has strong technical experience in:

- Strengthening of operational cultures through leader development and the use of intent-based frameworks;

- Incident Management Team development;

- Design of comprehensive affective learning domain training systems;

- Development of foundational and operational doctrine at the government agency level;

- Application of affective systems in cross-cultural environments;

- Design and development of leadership and command training for large incident management.

Specialties: Developing organizational culture for organizations and operational units seeking to build

mission-focused operational environments.

KEVIN MISENHEIMER: International Incident Management Capacity Building

Kevin Misenheimer is the coordinator of the Disaster Management Program (DMP)

within the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) International Programs. The DMP is a

collaborative program aimed at building capacity of foreign governments in the

adaptation and use of U.S. disaster management systems. Kevin manages incident

management capacity building programs in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and

the Caribbean. Prior to coming to the USFS, Kevin was an emergency responder

and planner with the Environmental Protection Agency where he coordinated the federal response to

numerous hazardous materials incidents including hurricanes, floods, transportation accidents and oils

spills. Kevin also has experience in developing national level contingency plans for chemical, biological,

radiological and natural disaster incidents. Kevin has worked internationally as a Peace Corps Volunteer in

Nepal and Sri Lanka, and was a member of USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) following the

April 2015 Nepal Earthquake.

JOHN MORRISSEY: The Application of ICS to Planned Events

John Morrissey, EMT-P, BS, is a Senior EMS Representative for the New York State

Department of Health (NYSDOH). Mr. Morrissey has 40 plus years of experience as

a paramedic, instructor and administrator in the EMS field. He has worked at a

number of large events as a provider and administrator. He has been the permit

issuing official or reviewer for hundreds of permits for large events (NYS Part

18/Mass Gathering) which NYSDOH issues. He currently annually reviews and

approves 75 plus permits in a 14 county region in Central NY including events/facilities like the Syracuse

University Carrier Dome/NCAA quarter finals, Woodstock 1999, The ‘Great’ NYS Fair, Phish Concerts, etc.

John also has extensive background in ICS that allowed him to be a currently active member of the NYS’s

Type 2 IMT since its inception as a qualified Plans Section Chief and Safety Officer. He is an ICS instructor

100-400/Plans Sections/Safety Office courses for the NYS Office of Emergency Management. He is clinically

active as a ground paramedic at North Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps as well as a Ski Patroller/Patrol

Director for Orange County Park. John was a flight paramedic with the NYS police Aviation Program for 25

years.

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HEATHER POST: Mental Preparedness for Public Safety Professionals

Heather Post is a mother, wife and retired law enforcement officer/detective with

a career spanning the course of two decades. She has worked in a variety of

capacities in uniformed patrol, undercover operations, as detective/case agent of

many types of crimes (including homicides) & filling in as Criminal Investigative Unit

Sergeant. She headed task forces involving statewide and nationwide crime rings,

served on the board of several state and countywide law enforcement units,

assisted in the proposal of victim’s rights legislation, was an adjunct college instructor, led an Honor Guard

Unit & is a SWAT school graduate and expert marksman.

Gaining valuable life lessons, beginning with the struggles of leaving home at the age of 14, Heather is now

an award-winning body language and situational awareness expert, has built two businesses from the ground

up and considers her goal to be the success of others.

Speaking and instructing nationwide, she provides the highest potential skill sets in an interesting and

relatable way to a wide variety of audiences: from the university level to the corporate world to the realm of

public safety. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies and international organizations.

Her long list of accolades includes being named an Influential Woman in Business and being highlighted as an

American Success Story on FOX Business Network’s Making Money with Charles Payne. She is routinely

featured in the media as an expert in her field (FOXBusinessNetwork, CBS, Good Day Alabama,

FOX35Orlando, Dallas Business Journal, Ladies Home Journal to name a few) and is working on finishing two

books.

Additionally, Heather’s heart, talent and tenacity have placed her directly into the core of state and local

politics and community issues and charities, which she spends much of her free time actively supporting.

GORDY SACHS: Federal Agreement Process – Details + Q&A; Instructor L-956, All-

Hazards Liaison Officer

Gordy Sachs: Disaster & Emergency Operations Specialist, US Forest Service, Fire &

Aviation Management, Washington, DC.

Gordy Sachs is the Disaster and Emergency Operations Specialist assigned to the U.S.

Forest Service National Headquarters and serves as the Deputy National ESF4

Coordinator. He is the Forest Service liaison to FEMA Headquarters on disaster and all-

hazard planning and response, and he coordinates interagency efforts related to Federal firefighting support

during disaster response. He is also Liaison Officer on Great Basin National Type 1 Incident Management

Team #2.

Prior to coming to USFS in 2007, Gordy worked for 10 years at FEMA’s U.S. Fire Administration, beginning as

a Firefighter Safety Specialist and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Program Manager. After the attacks of

September 11, 2001, he was USFA’s National Response Program Manager and managed the All-Hazard

Incident Management Team Program, NIMS and NRF initiatives, and the Emergency Response to Terrorism

curriculum.

Gordy has 27 years of structural fire service and EMS experience, including over ten years as a chief officer in

both career and volunteer fire/EMS departments. He served on the Pennsylvania Urban Search & Rescue

Task Force and remains rostered as a technical specialist on the South-Central Pennsylvania All-Hazard

Incident Management Team.

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BRANDON SMITH: Communications – Best Practices Panel Brandon Smith is a Telecommunications Specialist with the Department of Homeland

Security’s Office of Emergency Communications (OEC). In this role, he coordinates

communications exercises and presents information on interoperability and

emergency communications to OEC’s stakeholders.

Mr. Smith has 15 years of experience in the public safety industry and served as a

Communications Unit Leader for incident management teams in the Pacific

Northwest and participated in numerous all-hazard incidents, exercises and planned events. Mr. Smith also

serves in the Air National Guard with a focus on radio communications and Defense Support of Civil

Authorities.

Mr. Smith received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Idaho and a Satellite, Microwave and Electronic

Systems Degree from the Community College of the Air Force.

JASON STEINMETZ: Federal Agreement Process – Details + Q&A

Jason Steinmetz: Emergency Management Specialist, Department of the Interior,

Washington, DC. Jason’s current job is an Emergency Management Specialist,

specializing in the National Incident Management System (NIMS), Incident Command

System (ICS), and is currently developing the All-Hazard program for all DOI Bureau.

Jason is also the liaison between the DOI and the Federal Emergency Management

Agency (FEMA) in all NIMS and ICS related issues and works with FEMA to help revise

and create NIMS doctrine and policy for the nation.

Jason began his career with the Forest Service (FS) on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in Oregon.

Beginning with his first job with the FS at the age of 15 he has worked on many different aspects of wildland

fire and emergency management. Jason has worked in the field for over 10 years on wildfire engines, wildfire

Hotshot crews, and helicopter rappelling crews responsible to suppress wildland fire. He spent over 13 years

working in interagency dispatch centers and eight of those years being a dispatch coordinator at the Virginia

Interagency Coordination Center. He spent four years working at the FS National Office as their NIMS/ICS

specialist.

CHRISTOPHER TARANTINO: Situational Awareness Meets Public Information

Christopher Tarantino, MEP CMCP, has ten years of experience in emergency

response/management and has acted in a variety of positions across the public-

and private-sector, including roles at the volunteer, local, county, state, and federal

levels. Mr. Tarantino serves on the NYS Type II Incident Management Team, is a

Subject Matter Expert/Instructor for the National Disaster Preparedness Training

Center, a Digital Communications Specialist for FEMA, is the Vice-Chair of the

International Association of Emergency Managers' Emerging Technology Caucus, a volunteer

Firefighter/EMT, Hazardous Materials Technician and a Rescue Specialist with the Monroe County (NY)

Special Operations Unit.

Mr. Tarantino is a certified Crisis Management Communications Professional and is the CEO of Epicenter

Media & Training, a crisis/emergency management consulting and training agency with a focus on technology

and information/communications management; he leverages his social media, public information, and

emergency management communications expertise to help government and public safety organizations

communicate to citizens in times of disaster.

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CHARLES “BOO” WALKER: Working with Area Command in the All-Hazards

Environment

“Boo” Walker’s in-depth experience in Incident Command Management has placed

him on the front lines of numerous all-hazard incidents of national complexity.

Walker has served on National Area Command teams as an Area Commander,

Assistant Area Commander Logistics and Deputy Area Commander. As a member of

the Southern Regional National Type 1 Incident Command team he served as

Operations Section Chief and Air Operations Branch Director, positions requiring

intensive knowledge and application of Incident management and tactical operations. His duties as a

National Type 1 Safety Officer requires that he validate tactical operations and incident plans for safe

operations in all areas.

“Boo” was an original member of the Texas Forest Service Training Committee that introduced the Incident

Command System to Texas in 1985. Since that time he has taught ICS classes to a wide variety of Local, State,

and National Organizations all across the United States. Currently he is the State Coordinator for the Type 3

AHIMT program in Texas.

In 1991 he completed the “Advanced Incident Management” course at the National Advanced Resource

Technology Center and earned the Type 1 status. In 2003 he attended the National Advanced Fire Resource

Institute (NAFRI) to complete the “ICS for Area Command” training. In 1995 he joined the training cadre at

NARTC to teach courses at the National Level, such as I-520. He was a member of the 520 Steering

Committee from 2001-2015, and served as the Co-Chairman of that committee from 2005 to 2015. The

“Complex Incident Management Course” was developed for State Incident Management teams in 1999, and

“Boo” has been a member of that Steering Committee since its creation. He took over the role of Chairman

for the Steering Committee in 2015. He has helped train over 104 Incident Management Teams from some

32 States and Canadian Provinces.

Among his many vital positions in Incident Command are Area Commander and Incident Commander Type 3.

In these positions he is responsible for providing services and support to meet all incident needs. His type 3

team helped the counties of Southeast Texas recover from hurricanes Rita and Ike. “Boo” has been called on

to coordinate hospital evacuations since tropical storm Allison in 2001, when he was presented the Hero’s

Award from M.D. Anderson Hospital for his work. He has worked with the UTMB medical and professional

staff to successfully evacuate Galveston hospitals for the past six years. In 2003 “Boo” was awarded NASA’s

highest medal, for private citizens, for his work with the aviation program during the Recovery of the

Columbia Space Shuttle. He’s also the recipient of the Texas A&M University Vice Chancellor’s Award in

Excellence.

WILLIAM S (BILL) WALLIS: IIMTQS Guide – Into the Weeds

Bill is past chairman of the All-Hazards Incident Management Teams Association

Incident Qualifications Committee and currently works on the Committee to finalize

positions descriptions and task books for a majority of ICS positions that support

Type 3 All-Hazard IMTs. In March 2014 the committee completed writing the Inter

State Incident Management Team Qualification System Guide.

Owner of a wildland fire consulting and training business, Fire Whirl Services, Inc.

Bill provides instruction for wildland fire in organizational development of the Incident Command System,

wildland fire in the urban interface, and wildland fire behavior.

Bill’s volunteer activities include working with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency

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Management as the coordinator and training manager of the Jefferson County Incident Management Team.

He also served with the Colorado Division of Fire Safety as past Chair of a State sponsored committee to help

organize, train, and approve new All Hazard IMTs in Colorado and another committee to help organize and

improve mobilization of resources for large scale incidents in Colorado.

Bill spent 35 years with the federal government. His last position was State Fire Management Officer for the

Bureau of Land Management in Colorado. Bill spent 10 years as Chief of all fire management activities on 12

million acres of land in Colorado. He was a member of the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination group who

direct and prioritize all wildland fire activities in a 5 state region (CO, WY, SD, KS, and NB). Bill received the

Secretary of Interior’s Award for Meritorious Service for his efforts to improve coordination and collaboration

between multiple agencies who work in wildland fire.

Bill has extensive experience with prescribed fire, wildfire, and fire use. In the incident command system, Bill

has been qualified as a Type 2 Plans Chief, Type 3 Incident Commander, Fire Behavior Analyst, Fire Use

Manager, and a MAC coordinator. In July, 2011 Bill was the Incident Commander of a team that travelled to

Iowa to help with flooding and, in 2007, participated on a team to help a community that had its water

system contaminated by Salmonella.

NATHAN WEED: Building an AHIMT Within a State Agency

Nate Weed serves as the Operations Manager in the Office of Emergency Preparedness

and Response at the Department of Health in Washington State, where he works to

establish strategic direction for the agency’s operational readiness. This job gives him

the opportunity to work with an amazingly talented team to create systems for saving

lives, protecting our public’s health, and making communities more resilient to crisis.

He has worked in different areas of public health for over 20 years. He is a graduate of

both the National Preparedness Leadership Institute and the Northwest Public Health Leadership Initiative;

he serves as an Incident Commander for the Washington State Department of Health Incident Management

Team and has been leading agency efforts to develop this All-Hazards Incident Management Team.

Nate grew up in Wyoming and attended graduate school in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2004, he joined the

State of Louisiana’s Office of Public Health Infectious Disease Unit as the Bio-terrorism Epidemiologist.

Serving in this position, he responded to West Nile Virus and St. Louis encephalitis outbreaks, many food

borne and waterborne illness outbreaks, and had the opportunity to respond to multiple Gulf Coastal

hurricanes, including Hurricane Katrina. Following his move to Washington State, Nate worked as the

Regional Emergency Response Coordinator in Southwest Washington for several years while working to build

the response capabilities of four local public health departments and a tribe. While working in this position,

he led response efforts to more than 15 multi-day public health emergencies that required written Incident

Action Plans including the H1N1 pandemic. Additionally, he worked with the Southwest Washington All-

Hazards Incident Management Team for several years, serving in various roles.

GEOFFREY D. WILFORD: Mastering PTBs and the Process

Geoffrey D. Wilford retired as a Battalion Chief from the Kern County Fire Department

(CA), with 31 years of service. Chief Wilford has 21 years of National Incident

Management Team experience working as a Type 1 Planning Section Chief and Type 1

Operations Section Chief on fires, hurricanes, memorials, the Shuttle Recovery, and

numerous other complex incidents throughout the United States. For eight years he

represented FIRESCOPE, the originators of the Incident Command System, to the

National Wildfire Coordination Group (NWCG) Training Working Team. From 2007 through early 2014, Chief

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Wilford was a subcontracted Subject Matter Expert (SME) and technical writer/editor for the Working Groups

sponsored by the National Integration Center (NIC) that provided national guidelines and standards for the

implementation of NIMS and the All-Hazards ICS forms currently in use. Chief Wilford was also a subcontract

SME in incident management to DHS’s NIC staff and was responsible for the technical editing of numerous

All-Hazards guidance document drafts including the model Position Task Book. He was also a co-developer of

several of the EMI position-specific ICS courses and project manager during several course developments.

Chief Wilford is an active contributor to the Credentialing Work Group of the All-Hazards Incident

Management Team Association. Chief Wilford is the owner, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder of the

Incident Management Training Consortium, LLC (IMTC), the publishers of the new 2016 All-Hazards Incident

Management Team Response and Planning Guide. Geoff.wilford@imtcllc.com (661) 619-8600

LEE WILLIAMS: Type 3 IMT uses Lessons Learned from NWCG Assignments to

Organize Massive Search in Virginia

Lee Williams is the Acting Chief of Incident Management Programs for the Virginia

Department of Emergency Management in the Special Operations Branch. He

coordinates the development of the Incident Management Team, Radio Cache, and

Technical Rescue Team Programs for Virginia. Specifically, he will be developing MOUs,

budgets, team leadership coordination, establishment of membership and training

criteria, and exercise schedules for the teams that are listed as state assets.

Lee just retired as Assistant Fire Chief with Chesterfield Fire and EMS (Virginia) following a 31 year career. He

has been a part of the Chesterfield Fire and EMS Senior Leadership Team since 2012. Lee also served as the

Program Manager for the Central Virginia All Hazards Incident Management Team since 2009. He was also a

long time member of the Hazardous Materials and Technical Rescue Teams.

Lee also serves as the BOD Region 3 representative for the All Hazards Incident Management Team

Association (AHIMTA).

ERIK WOOD: Rural Department Challenges in a Large-Scale Incident

Captain Erik Wood is a 17-year veteran of the fire service. He started his fire service

career in the United States Coast Guard in 1997 where he specialized in shipboard

and oil rig firefighting as well as Hazmat mitigation. This included acting as the

Situation Unit Leader, and Planning Section Chief for the Marine Safety Office in

Cleveland and the Atlantic Strike Team. He currently serves as a captain with

Shawnee County Fire District #2 in Auburn, Kansas. Erik is a contributor with

Firehouse.com, FirefighterToolbox.com, and Firetrainingtoolbox.com. His current responsibilities with

Shawnee County Fire District #2 include acting as the on-call shift commander, supervision of department

probationary personnel and general oversight of the departments training program. Captain Wood has been

an IFSAC-certified Fire Service Instructor since 2005. He currently serves as an Associate Instructor with the

University of Kansas Fire & Rescue Training Institute.

Captain Wood is currently a member of the Kansas State Firefighters Association, State Capital Area

Firefighters Association and the International Society of Fire Service Instructors.

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James R. Blankenship II, of Corvallis, Oregon, passed away Friday, July 3, 2015, at his home; he was 61 years old. He was born Aug. 25, 1953, in Los Angeles, the son of the late James R. and Noline D. Blankenship.

Jim was a Charter Member of the All-Hazards Incident Management

Teams Association (AHIMTA) and an original member of the AHIMTA

Interstate Qualification System (IQS) Committee; Jim was a key

contributor of the Committee and a tremendous asset to the AHIMTA.

Jim grew up in California, where his father was a California Highway Patrol officer; Jim graduated from Enterprise High School in Redding, California, in 1971. During the following two summers, Jim worked for the California Division of Forestry.

Jim moved to Pullman, Washington, where he attended Washington State University. While in Pullman, Jim worked for the Whitman County Sheriff’s Office. While attending Washington State University, Jim started as a resident firefighter with the Pullman Fire Department.

In 1976, Jim moved to Wenatchee, Washington, to join the Wenatchee Fire Department, where he obtained the rank of battalion chief. On June 23, 1979, he married Rhea L. Delaney in Wenatchee.

In 1987, they moved to Graham, Washington, where Jim was fire chief for Pierce County Fire District 21 until his retirement in 1993. Jim later worked for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources in wildland fire and recreation management. In 2004, Jim moved to Montana, where he started working for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in wildland fire training, prevention and investigations. In recent years, Jim also served on the Western Montana Incident Management Team.

In 2008, Jim joined the Corvallis Rural Fire District as a volunteer firefighter and later served as the department training officer. Starting in 2009, Jim served as a trustee for the Corvallis Rural Fire Department.

During his life Jim served on many boards and was a member of many organizations, including the Washington State Fire Chiefs Association, Pierce County Fire Chiefs Association, Fire Department Safety Officer Association, Montana State Fire Chiefs Association, International Association of Arson Investigators, Advisory Board for Montana State Fire Service Training Services, member of the All Hazard Incident Command Team Association, Keep Montana Green, American Red Cross and Ducks Unlimited.

Jim is survived by his wife of 36 years, Rhea; his son, James and fiancée Kristen of Spokane; his sister, Jane Winning and husband Bob Winter of Chowchilla, California; his sister, Jan and husband Ron Geib of Oakdale, California; two nieces and three nephews.

The AHIMTA, and the incident management team community, mourn the loss of Jim.

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Denver Hyatt Regency Floor Plan – THIRD FLOOR

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DOWNTOWN DENVER

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EXHIBITOR BOOTH

American Humane Association 13

AirBoss Defense 8 & 9

CO Dept of Fire Prevention & Control 4

Columbia Southern University 11

Emergency Management Services International (EMSI) 19

Hydrosystems – KDI 10

Incident Management Training Consortium (IMTC) 21

Incident Response Technologies, Inc. 3

International Disaster Management Group 17

Kinsco 1

Laramie County Community College 20

MidWest Card & ID Solutions Registration Table

Noggin IT 6

OmniProGear, Inc. 16

Organizational Quality Associates 2

Orion Mobile Damage Assessment 18

Richard Wiland & Associates 7

Risky Business Incident Management 12

Simtable 22

US Dept of Homeland Security –

Office for Bombing Prevention – TRIPwire 5

US Dept of Homeland Security –

Office of Emergency Communications 15

31

Incident Management Training Consortium

1.877.464.4682

www.imtcllc.com

Mission-Centered Solutions

1.866.527.5627

www.mcsolutions.com

Emergency Management Institute (EMI) FEMA/DHS

https://training.fema.gov/emi.aspx

Emergency Management

Services International, Inc.

1.540.423.9004

www.emsics.com

Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab

(CELL) http://www.thecell.org/