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Bill Godfrey

Fire Chief (Ret.)

Lead Instructor · National Center for Integrated Emergency Response

Personal Profile

William "Bill" Godfrey is a retired Fire Chief, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of C3 Pathways, Inc., and a Lead Instructor for the National Center for Integrated Emergency Response (NCIER). Over a 25-year fire service career he rose from firefighter/paramedic to Fire Chief, retiring from active duty in 2008 to teach and train responders full-time. He is the principal author of the Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) Checklist, first published in 2014 and endorsed by the National Tactical Officers Association in 2022 as the national standard for managing active shooter events and in use by approximately 10,000 law enforcement, fire, and EMS agencies across 51 U.S. states and territories.

Since 2016 he has served as Principal Investigator on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant for active shooter incident management training, overseeing the curriculum, instructor development, and quality control behind DHS/FEMA-certified and NCIER courses that have reached more than 32,500 responders in over 1,000 classes. A pioneer of simulation-based incident command training, Bill is also an author, software developer, and inventor of the simulation platforms used in C3 Pathways training and HSEEP-compliant exercises. He holds an MBA, a Bachelor of Public Administration, and an A.S. in Emergency Medical Services Technology, and was a Florida-licensed paramedic for 38 years (retired).
Bill Godfrey
LinkedIn

Experience

C3 Pathways, Inc.
Oviedo, Florida, 2004 - Current
Chief Executive Officer & Founder
Bill founded C3 Pathways in 2004 (originally FutureFD.com, Inc.; renamed in 2012) and leads its consulting, physical products, training, simulation, and exercise practice. He directs the technology and software development team behind the simulators and simulations used by C3 instructors and clients, and is the principal author of the ASIM curriculum and Checklist. Bill is an expert in both emergency response and technology, bringing innovation and value to the industry.
c3pathways.com
National Center for Integrated Emergency Response
Oviedo, FL, 2004 - Current
Lead Instructor
NCIER is the services and training division of C3 Pathways. Bill developed the Active Shooter Incident Management (ASIM) curriculum and serves as a Lead Instructor across the course series, leading classroom instruction, simulation-based hands-on training, and train-the-trainer programs. He oversees all curriculum development, instructor development, and quality control, drawing on his career as a fire chief officer.
ncier.org
Dept. of Homeland Security
Washington, DC, 2006 - 2012
Subject Matter Expert IV
Contracted through Lafayette Group, Bill supported several DHS branches in incident management and responder training, including evaluating, exercising, and improving radio and computer interoperability. He consulted and provided application development integrating state and local communications preparedness into the national response interoperability plan.
lafayettegroup.com
City of Deltona
Deltona, FL, 2007 - 2008 (Ret.)
Fire Chief
Bill served as Fire Chief for Deltona's population of 100,000 residents. Bill implemented new budget processes, capital improvement planning, response analysis, labor relations, Incident Management training, and embarked on a massive station maintenance and renovation effort before retiring from active duty in the fire service.
deltonafl.gov
Orange County Fire Rescue
Winter Park, FL, 1999 - 2006
Deputy Chief
During his tenure, Bill directed the EMS, Information Technology, and Training Divisions. Implementing numerous innovative programs that became national trends, Bill forever improved readiness and service delivery garnering the Department recognition and many awards.
ocfrd.com
City of Stuart
Stuart, FL, 1992 - 1998
EMS Division Chief
Bill had the unique experience of starting EMS from scratch in this traditional fire department only system. He nurtured and grew the system implementing many incredible EMS practice innovations that went on to become national standards.
cityofstuart.com

Knowledge & Skills

Fire, EMS, and Emergency Response
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
25+ years fire and EMS progressive experience from Firefighter/Paramedic to Fire Chief. Training and instructional expert with speciality in fire dynamics and tactics.
Incident Management
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Expert in NIMS, ICS, and Unified Command. Type I-IV incident management experience. Highly experienced coaching incident commanders for improvement.
Training and Instruction
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
40+ years teaching and training. Developed numerous training curriculums and methods including pioneering incident management training using simulation.
Disaster Exercises (HSEEP)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Broad experience designing, directing, and evaluating disaster exercises across public safety, transit, industry, and power. Pioneered use of simulation in exercises.
Multiplayer Simulation (Systems, 2D and 3D)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
25+ years developing and using simulations and serious games to conduct high-fidelity real-time multiplayer live action training utilizing 2D and 3D systems including immersive virtual reality.
Information Technology / Software Developer
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
35+ years developing software architecture, systems, design tools, client-server applications, user interfaces, and feedback systems for use in professional training.

Specialities

  • Active Shooter Incident Management
  • NIMS/ICS
  • Mass Casualty Incidents
  • Professional Speaker
  • Fire Instructor III (Ret.)
  • Fire Dynamics
  • Firefighter / Paramedic (FL, Ret.)
  • Exercise Design and Evaluation
  • Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)
  • Emergency Management
  • eLearning Developer
  • Multiplayer Simulation (2D and 3D)
  • Programming (PHP, Java, JS, C#, HTML, SQL)
  • Software and Database Developer

Accomplishments

ASIM Checklist - National Standard

Principal author of the NTOA-endorsed (2022) national standard for managing active shooter events; in use by approximately 10,000 agencies across all 50 U.S. states and territories.

C3 Podcast Host

Active Shooter Incident Management. 130+ episodes since 2018.

NIMS Certifications

IS-100, 200, 300, 400, 700, 701, 775, 800, 801, 806 - all FEMA.

National Conference Faculty

FDIC faculty (2005-2014); Fire Rescue East faculty (2003-2014)

National and regional presenter 2016-2025, including the NTOA Law Enforcement Conference, FBI National Academy Associates, ALERRT, and EMS Today

Pilot (SEL) / Aviation

FAA Private Pilot (Single-Engine Land)

S-270 Basic Air Operations and S-217 Interagency Helicopter Crewmember (USDA Forest Service)

Air Medical Crew Core Curriculum

Hurricane Deployments

Planning Manager, Urban Search & Rescue Florida Task Force 4 (FL-TF4)

Deployments including Katrina and Ivan

Simulation Platforms (NIMSPro)

Author and principal architect of NIMSPro, a multiplayer incident command simulation used in DHS-certified training - from line supervisor to executive leaders and Unified Command, spanning fire, MCI, active shooter, law enforcement, terrorism, transit, transportation, and natural disasters.

Exercise Designer, Director

HSEEP, IS-120, IS-130, IS-139.

Published Author

Author of The Tactics, Strategy, and Command Relationship (2009)

Principal author of the ASIM Basic, ASIM Advanced, and SSAVEIM course textbooks and of C3/NCIER white papers

Numerous magazine articles in Fire Engineering and JEMS

Published Research

Co-author peer-reviewed study on gender bias in prehospital chest-pain care (Prehospital Emergency Care, 2001; PMID 11642580).

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