Rob’s emergency response career spans 30 years in international public safety as a Special Operations Fire Chief, Incident Commander, consultant and published author. Rob commanded numerous large-scale emergencies for the Alameda County (CA) Fire Department, protecting 500 square miles and two national laboratories in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. Rob has responded on Unified Command/Incident Management Teams to high profile incidents including: ⁹⁄₁₁ World Trade Center terrorist attack; oil spills in San Francisco Bay (Cosco Busan and Dubai Star); large propane gas explosions; campaign wildland fires and numerous large scale emergencies. Rob planned and directed Red Command at Urban Shield, the largest Homeland Security exercise in the United States. Rob has planned and directed full scale exercises for the Department of Defense in 12 countries.

Rob is on the curriculum development team and teaches Special Operations at the U.S. Fire Administration’s National Fire Academy. Rob authored Hazardous Materials: Awareness and Operations and serves on the Fire Engineering magazine editorial advisory board, and the Fire Department Instructors Conference executive advisory board. Rob is a member of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Technical Standards Committee Technical Committee for Hazardous Materials Response Personnel NFPA 472.

Rob has developed risk assessment, incident management and incident command training for Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments, and US national laboratories.