NCIER®
Joe Ferrara, Fire Chief (Ret.)
Lead Instructor · National Center for Integrated Emergency Response
Personal Profile
Joseph "Joe" Ferrara retired as Chief of the Martin County (FL) Fire Rescue Department after 28 years in the fire service. He is an Instructor for C3 Pathways, a public safety consulting, training, and exercise firm. He has a Masters Degree in Public Administration with additional degrees in professional administration (B.S) and EMS management (A.S.). He is a paramedic, firefighter, accredited Chief Fire Officer and fire instructor III; a former EMS professor, flight paramedic and licensed Pilot. He worked for 28 years in Martin County progressing through the ranks to become Chief of Department, he was pivotal in combining services within Martin County into a full service Fire Rescue department, including Emergency Management, 911 Dispatch and Ocean Rescue. He is credited with obtaining a multimillion dollar SAFER grant to enhance staffing which resulting in the largest single hire in Martin County history, as well as instituting staffing standards to control overtime while maintaining safety staffing.
Experience
National Center for Integrated Emergency Response
Director of Training
Joe provides Incident Management and Unified Command instruction with an emphasis on Fire and EMS, Medical Care, Incident Command and Active Shooter response. He is involved in classroom instruction, simulation hands-on training, train the trainer, and curriculum development.
ncier.org
Martin County Fire Rescue
Chief of Department
Joe served as Fire Chief for Martin County's population of 145,000 residents. Joe implemented processes for financial planning to ensure future financial health of the department, he nurtured labor management relations and imposed new safety standards to protect firefighters.
martin.fl.gov
Department of Health
Health Safety Specialist
Work with the office of EMS providing clinical support to data operations. Assist with bio-surveillance tools to enhance the EMS provider's insight on syndromes in their area.
floridahealth.gov
Indian River State College
Adjunct Professor
Instructional position responsible for teaching the U.S. DOT EMT-B curriculum to entry-level students and preparing them to take the Florida EMT exam.
irsc.edu
“Dedicated to making the emergency service industry more efficient and safer.”
Knowledge & Skills
Fire, EMS, and Emergency Response
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25+ years Emergency Services experience with progressive supervisory, command and teaching experience.
Incident Management
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Expert in NIMS, ICS, and Unified Command. Type III Incident Command, Operations and Planning Section Chief qualified.
Training and Instruction
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25+ years teaching and training. College level experience, NIMS Qualified and American Heart Association experience.
Emergency Management
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9+ years staffing Emergency Operations Center positions, several ESFs, Command positions and Emergency Manager.
Information Technology
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Led Department wide team focusing on technology planning and implementation. Implemented LMS, Reporting System, Billing Integration and Staffing software.
Specialities
- NIMS/ICS
- Mass Casualty Incidents
- All Hazards Incident Commander
- All Hazards Operations Chief
- All Hazards Planning Chief
- Active Shooter Response Training
- Professional Speaker
- Instructor III
- Fire / EMS Instructor
- Firefighter / Paramedic (FL)
- Emergency Management
- eLearning and LMS
Accomplishments
NIMS Certifications
IS-100, 200, 300, 400, 700, 701, 775, 800, 801, L950, L958, L962. Instructor qualified in all.
Disaster Deployments
Responder, Operations Chief, Incident Commander. Hurricanes Andrew, Frances, Jeanne and Wilma, 1998 Florida Wildfires, 2009 Area Commander for "Mother's Day Fire" in South Florida.
Pilot (ASEL/AMEL) / Aviation
Air Crew Core Curriculum (Flight Medic), Instrument Rated.
Command Training Simulator
Multiplayer Incident Management Training. Line supervisor to executive leaders and Unified Command. Included fire, MCI, active shooter, law enforcement, terrorism, transit, transportation, and natural disasters.
Exercise Practitioner
HSEEP, FDEM, FPL. Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation program, Hurricane Exercises, Radiological Emergency Exercises.
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