S7 Presenters

Karl Fippinger

Karl Fippinger, CEM, PMP is Vice President, Fire and Disaster Mitigation for the International Code Council. He is a 30-year veteran of the fire and emergency services having served as an Assistant Fire Chief with the Occoquan-Woodbridge-Lorton Volunteer Fire Department in Prince William County, VA as well as an adjunct instructor with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in Fairfax County, VA. Karl is also a Certified Emergency Manager and brings more than 25 years of public and private sector experience in federal, state, and local disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation.

Rick Freier

Richard (Rick) Freier has worked for the Spokane Valley Fire Department for 22 years and is currently a Firefighter and served as a Fire Investigator for more than 14 years. As a fire investigator for the SVFD he was a commissioned law enforcement office for 9 years and accelerant detection K9 Handler for 5 years.  In 2011, Rick created a middle school program based on the Scientific Method, that is designed to inform the kids on the consequences of playing with fire designed to reduce the number of fires started by children 12 to 16 years old.

Matthew Hull

Matthew Hull has served over 25 year on the Athens Fire Department and currently holds the rank of Captain and Training Officer. He holds an Associate’s Degree in Fire Science from Hocking College and a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Safety Management from Franklin University.

Matthew is a member of Ohio Task Force 1 and works part time for the Ohio Fire Academy as a Fire Training Officer. During his time with the Ohio Fire Academy Matt has held three Intermittent Coordinator positions over the years covering the Firefighter II Program, the Fire Safety Inspector Program, and the Hazardous Materials and Rescue Technician Program.

Tonya Hoover

Tonya Hoover is the deputy fire administrator at the United States Fire Administration (USFA). As the senior career federal fire official, she is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the USFA. This includes the annual training of over 100,000 first responders at and through the National Fire Academy (NFA); the National Fire Incident Reporting System, which documents and analyzes 27 million fire department emergency responses a year; the USFA’s fire prevention, public information and public education programs; and the 26 campus buildings and the grounds of the historic National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  From May 2017 to January 2020, Chief Hoover served as the superintendent of the USFA’s NFA, which focuses on enhancing the ability of fire and emergency services and allied professionals to deal more effectively with fire and related emergencies. She currently serves in the position until a new superintendent is named.

From July 2009 to July 2016, Chief Hoover served as the California state fire marshal, where she was responsible for statewide fire prevention, fire service training, pipeline safety, code and regulations development, analysis and implementation. Chief Hoover served on the board of directors for the National Fire Protection Association and the International Fire Service Training Association and continues to engage with the International Code Council.

Jake Janecek

Jake Janecek is a Senior Program Associate at the American Red Cross National Headquarters supporting the Home Fire Campaign. Jake joined the Red Cross as a graduate student intern in 2013, where he supported curriculum development and researched disaster and emergency best practices. Jake previously served as a wildland firefighter and as an AmeriCorps member at a non-profit community radio station. Jake holds a BA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Washington and an MA in International Security Studies from George Washington University.

Justice Jones

Justice is on a mission to realign human culture with the fire environments we live in and are inextricably connected to. He divides his time equally between burning things and trying to keep other things from burning.  In his current role Justice serves as the Wildfire Mitigation Officer for the Austin Fire Department’s Wildfire Division, where has helped lead Austin and the surrounding area to embrace wildfire preparedness and become rapidly fire-adapted.  Most recently Austin became the largest municipality in the country to adopt the ICC Wildland Urban Interface Code, ensuring sustainable wildfire resilience, is built into Austin’s future. Prior to joining AFD, Justice served as the Texas A&M Forest Service’s State Wildland Urban Interface and Prevention Coordinator, where he assisted communities across the state of Texas in enhancing their resilience to wildfire.  In addition to his work locally He also serves on multiple committees including the International Association of Fire Chiefs Wildland Fire Policy Committee, National Fire Protection Association’s Technical Committee 1140, is a member of the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network, and a Technical Specialist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Arthur Lee

Arthur Lee is a senior electrical engineer in the Division of Electrical Engineering at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). He is responsible for a wide range of activities, which play a major role in consumer product safety issues in the U.S. with regards to analysis and testing of potentially dangerous products and researching methods to improve product safety through voluntary standards development.  Arthur is the CPSC staff lead technical expert on smoke alarms, which includes serving as a member of the NFPA 72 code-making panel and on the standards technical panel for Underwriters Laboratories (UL) 217 –Smoke Alarms.  His work to improve the efficacy of smoke alarms has included catalyzing changes to reduce nuisance alarms, improve smoke alarm performance, increasing smoke alarm audibility, and expanding interconnectivity to battery-only models. Mr. Lee graduated from the University of Maryland in 1988 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics.

Alexander Maranghides

Mr. Maranghides has been at NIST over 20 years where he has focused his research on the national Wildland Interface (WUI) Fire problem. He has spent years in the field collecting, analyzing and documenting WUI fires and had led all four NIST WUI Fire reconstructions. His WUI findings have impacted national and regional standards.  He is currently leading a multiyear/ multiagency effort to quantify fire spread between residential structures.

Eileen McDonald

Eileen M. McDonald is senior scientist in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH), where she directs the master’s program in health education and health communication. She is core faculty of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy and holds joint faculty appointments in the Department of Health Policy and Management (JHSPH) and the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins Medicine.  Eileen’s injury research focuses on the application of innovative health education methods, health communication technologies, and other clinical- and community-based interventions aimed at reducing pediatric injuries. In collaboration with Center colleagues, Ms. McDonald has conducted numerous randomized controlled trials on topics as diverse as infant safe sleep, home safety for children, and decision aids to guide prescription opioid use practices. She has worked on various fire and life safety topics for more than two decades, including partnering with the Baltimore City Fire Department to offer a mobile safety center, and to strengthen their smoke alarm distribution program, to studying fire and life safety priorities in the US fire service. Ms. McDonald holds a bachelor’s degree in health education and a master’s degree in health administration.

Jason Moore

Jason Moore started his fire service career in 2000 as a fire protection specialist with the United States Air Force.  After serving several tours in the Middle East he was hired as a Captain in the greater Charleston, SC region where he was promoted to Battalion Chief.  Following his time in South Carolina, he was hired by the City of Bloomington (Indiana) as the fire chief in 2016.  During his tenure as fire chief, the department has forged relationships, made major investments in technology, and improved the service to the community resulting in no fire related fatalities since 2017 and reaching an ISO Class 1 status.  Chief Moore holds two master degrees and a bachelor degree from Columbia Southern University and Strayer University and currently serves on the Technology Council for the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Lori Moore-Merrell

Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell was appointed by President Joseph Biden as the U.S. Fire Administrator on October 25, 2021. Prior to her appointment, Lori served nearly 3 years as the President and CEO of the International Public Safety Data Institute (IPSDI), which she founded after retiring from a 26-year tenure as a senior executive in the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). She began her fire service career in 1987 as a fire department paramedic in the City of Memphis Fire Department, Memphis Tennessee.

Today, as a Doctor of Public Health and data scientist, Lori is an award-winning international speaker, presenter, and author. She is considered an expert in executive leadership, community risk assessment, emergency response system evaluation, public safety resource deployment, and generational differences in the workplace.

Will Mueller

Will Mueller is an Assistant Fire Chief with the Colerain Township Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services (OH) and is a 26-year veteran of the fire service with certifications as a Firefighter/Paramedic, Fire Safety Inspector, Fire Instructor, and EMS Instructor. He also serves as an Adjunct Professor for the University of Cincinnati’s Fire and Safety Engineering Technology Program teaching courses in Community Risk Reduction.  Chief Mueller is a graduate of the Ohio Fire Chief’s Ohio Fire Executive Program earning him the Ohio Fire Executive designation.  He also serves on many national, statewide, and regional committees including the Public Health and Emergency Medical Services Director’s Advisory Council, Regional Community Paramedicine Advisory Board, Ohio Fire Chief’s Education Committee, Ohio Older Adult Falls Prevention Coalition, and the Ohio Injury Prevention Partnership serving as Co-Chair of the Falls Awareness Committee.  Chief Mueller holds a Bachelor’s degree in Emergency Services Management and is in the process of obtaining a Master’s degree in Higher Education specializing in Adult Education.

Monica Owens Doyle

Monica Owens Doyle is the National Program Manager for the American Red Cross Home Fire Campaign. After serving two terms of service with AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps and supporting Hurricane response and recovery in 2004 and 2005, Monica accepted a position as a Client and Community Recovery Specialist with the American Red Cross working across Southern Mississippi and Southeast Louisiana. She was recognized in 2012 as a White House Champion of Change by the Obama Administration for her work in building community resilience. She joined the National Headquarters Team in 2013 and helped to develop and launch the Home Fire Campaign in 2014. Through the program she manages, over 2.2 million smoke alarms have been installed throughout the United States via in-home visits in over 900,000 homes.

Kymberly Pashkowksy

Victoria Reinhartz

Dr. Reinhartz is the Chief Executive Officer of Mobile Health Consultants, Inc., a woman-owned small business solving the access to care issue by empowering Mobile Integrated Health and Community Paramedicine teams.  She established the first ever paramedic-pharmacist partnership to address chronic disease and medication challenges for underserved populations – a venture which reduced healthcare costs in her community by over $5 million in 3 years.  Dr. Reinhartz currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Mobile Integrated Health Providers, an organization advocating for mobile interprofessional teams as the nation’s care solution.

Jessica Sondgeroth

Jessica Sondgeroth currently serves as the Program Coordinator for the Fire Safe South Carolina Program with the South Carolina State Fire Community Risk Reduction Section. This section supports fire and life safety data analysis, curriculum coordination, and outreach efforts statewide. Specifically, she provides technical and professional support through the coordination of outreach efforts to establish and sustain the community risk reduction process statewide. In addition to her role on the CRR team, Jessica also serves on the Palmetto Incident Support team, as well as the Community Loss Education and Response (CLEAR) Team which researches fire-related fatalities. Nationally, Jessica was selected to participate in the first cohort of the Vision 20/20 CRR Emerging Leaders Academy and supports the grant-funded Sound Off with the Home Fire Safety Patrol program as a mentor to others across the country.

Michele Steinberg

Michele Steinberg is the Wildfire Division Director at the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA^®). NFPA’s wildfire-related projects cover a broad spectrum of safety education, advocacy, and training and certification. Since 2002, she has guided the development and growth of the Firewise USA^® recognition program, the Wildfire Community Preparedness Day campaign, and Outthink Wildfire™, a policy initiative to end the destruction of communities by wildfire.

Michele serves as Secretary on the Board of Directors of the International Association of Wildland Fire and co-founded the Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Recovery Membership Division of the American Planning Association. She holds a Master of Urban Affairs degree from Boston University and has served as an adjunct professor of emergency management at Trine University, Angola, Indiana, and as a guest lecturer at the University of North Carolina, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Adam Thiel

Adam Thiel is the Fire Commissioner for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, overseeing a department of 3,000+ personnel. He also serves as the Director of the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management. From 2014-2016 he was Deputy Secretary of Public Safety and Health and Homeland Security for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Prior to this he was Fire Chief for Alexandria, Virginia. He holds a masters in Public Administration from George Mason University and has completed doctoral coursework in Public Administration and Public Policy. He is a Fellow of the Institution of FIre Engineers.

Dave Waterhouse

Dave Waterhouse is currently Division Chief at the Strategic Planning and Informational Resources Division for the city of Montreal’s Fire Department. He is the co-author of numerous studies on the economic and social benefit of Fire Department’s operational activities and Fire Prevention programs. His research also led him to develop an analytical model for the economic impact of Fire Department’s interventions on highways. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Management from HEC Montréal Business School and an MBA from Sherbrooke University Business School.