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Michael S. Williams
Williams founded the Fire Services Training Institute in 1995 to find solutions to the challenges confronting the volunteer fire service. He has been an active member of California State Firefighters Association (CSFA) since 1994, having served on the volunteer and public relations committees, and as a southern division deputy director. He sits on several local organizations including the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council, the Tri-Counties Training Officers Association, Santa Barbara Chapter of CAER and is a founding member of the Santa Barbara PIO group Emergency Public Information Communicators (EPIC). He has been the author of many articles and a columnist for a local newspaper on public safety matters. He is also the co-host of Community Alert on KZSB AM-1290 in Santa Barbara. Williams has been a member of the California State Board of Fire Services since 2008. Prior to becoming involved in the volunteer fire service, Williams was a California police officer for 12 ½ years and a POST certified Field Training Officer. He is a licensed private investigator and security consultant specializing in self-insured, government and insurance defense assignments.
About Mike’s Library
“I was bold in the pursuit of knowledge, never fearing to follow truth and reason to whatever results they led, and bearding every authority which stood in their way.” – Thomas Jefferson You can access my own collection of documents…
Read MoreMiscellaneous Books, Reports & Papers
“Not only in research, but in the everyday world of politics and economics, we would all be better off if more people realized that simple systems do not necessarily possess simple dynamical properties.” – Robert May Mathematical Ecologist (1976) Federal…
Read MoreLaw Enforcement & Security
“Let’s be damned sure that no man’s ghost will ever say – “If your training program had only done it’s job.” – United States Marine Corps. Samuels, et al, A Guide for Explosion and Bombing Scene Investigation, (June 2000), U.S. Department…
Read MorePublic Information / Affairs Officer
“Our house is on fire. These have been a bad few months for journalism. We are getting the big stories wrong over and over again…Never before in human history has more information been available to more people. But at the…
Read MorePrevention & Risk Management
“If you can think of it, it can happen.” “High risk, low frequency and no time to think…. slow down – slow down.” – Gordon Graham, Esq. Ager, et al., A comparison of landscape fuel treatment strategies to mitigate wildland…
Read MoreEmergency Medical Services
“The dilemma in the fire/EMS protection is cultural. Everyone expects an immediate, massive response when they dial 9-1-1, fire trucks paramedics, ambulances, planes, overhead, bulldozers, etc. The level of service in a community is linked to its financial ability and desire to…
Read MoreFire: Operations, Command, Investigations & Training
“A little fire is quickly trodden out, Which being suffered, rivers cannot quench.” – William Shakespeare MacIntyre and Williams, 3rd Edition Volunteer Fire Fighter Training Syllabus (December 2014), Fire Services Training Institute, ISBN: 13: 978-0-692-32540-7 Markley, 5 Most Common Fireground Mistakes, (August…
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