Douglas Dillon is Executive Director of the Tri-state Maritime Safety Association and Chief of the DE/NJ/PA Maritime Incident Response Team. He is a 23-year veteran of the United States Coast Guard. He is the president of the Association of Marine Fire Fighting Organizations, a national non-profit created to address Maritime Consequence Management issues affecting first responders and our nations Maritime Transportation System. He was the Port Safety and Security Officer for the Fifth Coast Guard District during DESERT SHIELD/STORM and was responsible for training and equipping the Port Security Detachment in the 5th District. He supervised all port security at outload operations in the Port of Wilmington NC during OPERATION UPHOLD DEMOCRACY. He is a member of the Maritime Transportation System National Advisory Council (MTSNAC) Security Team. He has served as a police officer in NJ and has been with the fire service since 1979 and is currently a chief officer with the Broomall Fire Company in Broomall, PA. He serves as the Marine Safety Officer of the Camden City Fire Department, Camden New Jersey. He is currently the chief instructor for the Delaware River and Bay Marine Fire Fighting Task Force. He is currently a member of the IFSTA Marine Committee and a past member of the NFPA 1925 Fireboat Committee. He has been involved in 13 significant marine fires in his career and numerous other vessel and waterfront incidents as well as the 2001 fatal Pier 34 collapse in Philadelphia, PA
Deputy Chief Huelsenbeck retired from the Wilmington Fire Department in Wilmington, Delaware with over 41 years of service. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire service management from the University of Maryland. He is a 41-year veteran of the career fire service and has been served as a chief officer from 1987 to 2014. He was a USCG licensed Master 100 Gross Tons Near Coastal. He serves as Deputy Chief, Operations for the DE/NJ/PA Maritime Incident Response Team as well as the Board of Directors of TMSA. He is a fire service instructor in New Jersey and Delaware and currently part of the NJ Fire Officer training and certication cadre. He is also a lead instructor with the Delaware River and Bay Marine Fire Fighting Task Force and with the curriculum development group that designed the marine fire fighting training. He has been involved in several major marine fires including the initial incident commander of the M/V Centaurus in 1989, which can be seen in the American Heat video series. He is one of the leading professionals in Marine Fire Fighting in the U.S. having trained responders from the United States, Canada and Latin America. He is a routine guest speaker on marine fire fighting throughout the country including a 2000 & 2001 presentation of Marine Fire Fighting Awareness, Operations & Technician hosted by the Boston Fire Department. He was an instructor in Boston’s MIRT sponsored Train-the-Trainer Marine Fire Fighting program. He was a contributor to the 2001 revision of NFPA 1405, USCG Incident Management Guidebook and IFSTA’s Marine Fire Fighting for Land Based Firefighters manual. He has presented the Marine Fire Fighting Training Program at the National Fire Academy. Al is co-author of Rapid Intervention in the Marine Environment that appeared in the July 2001 issue of Fire Engineering.
Battalion Chief Gresch is a recently retired from the Chester City PA Fire Department as Batllion Chief. He is a 37-year veteran of the career fire service. He serves as Assistant Chief of the DE/NJ/PA Maritime Incident Response Team, He is a ProBoard Marine Firefighter 2.
George Kaiser, DCC, USNR (Ret), Collingdale Fire Company
• Captain, Maritime Incident Response Team, Team Leader. George has been involved with the fire service for more than 4 decades. During his Navy career, he was an instructor at the Philadelphia Naval Yard Firefighting and Damage Control School. He has been an instructor at the Delaware County Emergency Services Training Center for many years. His is also an instructor with TMSA and has been instructing at the annual Marine Firefighter School in Hampton Roads each year. He is a ProBoard certified Marine Firefighter 2.
• Assistant Chief, Maritime Incident Response Team. Gary Burgin brings many years of experience in the fire service having served as a chief officer, company officer and firefighter. He has been both a career and volunteer for over 40 years. He is a certified instructor and has been involved in training the fire service for many years. He is a ProBoard certified Marine Firefighter 2.
Captain Vassilios "Val" Pamboukes (Ret.)
In 2008, Captain Val retired from Portsmouth Fire Department, Portsmouth, NH with over 35 years of combined fire service experience, retiring as a Shift Commander. He has worked within every major aspect of fire service delivery, including: traditional fire suppression, emergency medical services, municipal fire service instruction, mass-casualty planning and exercises, marine emergency management for: oil pollution spills, marine fire fighting and other marine incidents. He is a ProBoard certified Marine Firefighter 2.
Val is a co-author of Command Strategies and Tactics for Marine Emergencies (DHS-Approved Course), and has worked closely with his MEMCI partners to form cooperative working relations with Tri-State Maritime Safety Association, Maine Maritime Academy, Maine Emergency Management Agency and the Maritime Institute of Quebec (Institut Maritime du Quebec, Canada). He has been instrumental in developing comprehensive, yet easily understood instructional materials on the practical applications of emergency management and planning, response and recovery within the marine environment. Still serving today as a Maritime Liaison for the Piscataqua / Merrimack - Maritime Incident Resources and Training Association (MIRT), Val is a working member of the region's Area Maritime Security Committee - USCG Sector Northern New England and the locally regulated marine industry cooperative, Piscataqua River Co-Op (PRC). In 2008, Val was awarded the Meritorious Service Award by the New Hampshire Fire Service and EMS Committee of Merit, for humanitarian work performed in Greece during the major forest fire events of 2007.
Chief Ianelli is currenty working for the U.S. Governement in the Hazardous Material Response field. He is a well know expert in hazardous material response both nationally and internationally. He has been involved with TMSA as an instructor both with TMSA courses as well as internationally recognized Hampton Roads Marine Firefighting Symposium.
Mike Solecki, US EPA (RET)
• EPA HAZMAT/RESPONSE Coord
Daniel Glen Taylor, CAPT Alexandria City VA Fire Dept (Ret)
• Glen Taylor is a recently retired captain from the Alexandria City VA Fire Department. Glen brings years of experience working with the marine unit in Alexandria and serving as an instructtor at the Marine Firefighter School in Hampton Roads Virginia. He is a ProBoard certified Marine Firefighter 2.