Tim Murphy
Timothy Murphy is one of the top wildfire management leaders in the United States. Despite the ominous trend of wildfire in the United States in the last two decades, he is optimistic that the partnership of federal and state agencies, assisted by smaller, local fire departments, can cope with these significant changes. Although fire managers and researchers have been aware of these trends for a number of years, Mr. Murphy will describe why 2007 marked a turning point in the way the fire community, public officials and much of the public began to view and act upon wildfire in a different light – and why these changes in public perception and fire management strategies are needed to support safe and effective operations today and in the future.
Paul Richardson
International President Elect of the Institution of Fire Engineers, Paul currently holds the post of Deputy Chief Fire Officer, Director of Service Delivery Performance, Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, a service he has been with for over 27 years. He has obtained a BEng (Hons) in Fire Engineering (First Class) in 1995 and became Chartered Engineer in 1997. He initially joined the IFE to gain further qualifications and professional recognition, and latterly to take the opportunity to make an effective contribution to the work of the Institution both within the fire community and engineering community as a whole.
Paul is presently responsible for the Professional Competence Standards Portfolio on the IFE board.
Jim Steffens
Chief Steffens experience in the fire and emergency service field totals over 40 years in both the volunteer and career components. During his fire service career he has served at all ranks from fire fighter to Fire Chief. Since his retirement Jim has directed his own consultancy firm that provides training, organizational, and managerial services to a wide variety of emergency service agencies.
He has been an active adjunct instructor at the National Fire Academy in both the residency and field programs for over fifteen (15) years. In addition, Jim develops and delivers a wide range of managerial training programs to major departments throughout the USA.
Dr Gavriil Xanthopoulos
Dr. Gavriil Xanthopoulos is a forester specialized in Forest Fire Science. In 1992 he founded his own consulting firm “Natural Resource Technologies Consulting”, which he operated until 2001, when he joined the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems and Forest Products Technology as a forest fires researcher.
The research interests of Dr. Xanthopoulos include forest fire behaviour, fire danger rating, forest firefighting and forest fuel management.
Dr Xanthopoulos will talk about the disastrous 2007 wildfires in Greece, what happened, and the circumstances that led to it. He will also talk about the dangers associated with forest fire fighting, the accidents that occurred, and the lessons learnt from them.