Ever since my first public sector job with the City of Cerritos in Southern California, I’ve had an “extreme” passion for Emergency Management, even before this relatively new public safety discipline even existed! I gained valuable experience in Field Response to disasters when I moved to North Dallas and became a Fire Fighter, EMT and Public Information Officer for Double Oak Volunteer Fire Department.
When I returned to California, I had the perfect combination of skills to become an Emergency Services Officer with San Bernardino County Fire/Office of Emergency Services. I earned my Emergency Management Specialist Certificate, gaining emergency management skills as the county’s Training and Exercise Coordinator, WebEOC (disaster communications platform) Administrator and the lead planner for the Airport Repatriation and Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Readiness Programs.
As a certified Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP), I designed and facilitated tabletop and functional exercises for several of San Bernardino County’s award-winning EM Programs such as the Response Organized for Pass Emergencies (ROPE) and San Bernardino County’s Shelter Operations Compound Program (SHOC).
More importantly, I played a role in 60 EOC activations for disasters that ranged from multiple day, fire and flood campaigns, to landslides, civil unrest and public health emergencies. As a result of these “extreme” emergency management skills, in 2017 I became a CalOES credentialed EOC Planning and Intelligence Section Chief. EOC activation experience is integral to addressing all phases of Emergency Management.
The December 2, 2015 San Bernardino Terrorist Attack took the lives of 14 of my San Bernardino county co-workers. It was an “extreme” life changing and career changing event. The years of collaborative mitigation, planning, training and exercise proved to be a major contributor to the County’s model response. The “Waterman Incident” launched my mission to elevate the discipline of emergency management and makes the case for “all threat/all hazard preparedness”. It is my extreme desire to educate, equip and prepare a new generation of Emergency Managers equipped to prepare the public and private sectors to be prepared for “their finest hour”.
Since 2017, I have provided Emergency Management consulting and training services through my company, Robin Lindsay LLC. As a career Emergency Management Practitioner I hold the following qualifications:
- IAEM Certified Emergency Manager CEM®
- FEMA Credentialed Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP)
- CalOES certified Emergency Management Specialist
- CalOES credentialed EOC Planning and Intelligence Chief
- Graduate – FEMA’s National Emergency Management Advanced Academy (NEMAA)
Currently I am on FEMA/EMI Faculty – an instructor for the National Emergency Management Advanced Academy Program, facilitating academies at the FEMA National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, MD and various in-state deliveries.