Justin Francis has 20 years’ experience within Queensland Fire and Rescue with a significant amount of operational experience gained whilst working as a Station Officer in the CBD of Brisbane. He performed the role of Incident Controller at many tall building incidents but has also had extensive experience working in the Building Approval section liaising with the Building Development Sector. In recent years Justin combined his operational knowledge as a Fire Fighter with the knowledge on building design and building systems to develop a course across Queensland that teaches all Fire Fighters on the subject of Fire Fighting in Tall Buildings. He is also part of Queensland’s International USAR deployment team. His academic qualifications are a Bachelor Degree in Emergency Management from Charles Sturt University.

In recent years Justin has been positioned as the Australian Representative on the Tall Building Fire Safety Network and presented at the yearly Tall Building Fire Safety Conference in London. He has sat on panels with Deputy Commissioners Internationally and numerous other panels as a content expert for Tall Building Fire Safety.

D.O.B: 7/22/1958

Entered Chicago Fire Department: 2/19/1980
Promoted to Lieutenant: 8/1/1993
Received Emergency Medical Technician License: 6/1/1998
Promoted to Captain: 12/1/2000
Received Hazardous Material Technician Certification: 8/25/2006
Received Safety Officer Certification: 12/22/2006
Promoted to Battalion Chief: 3/16/2007
Assigned to Downtown Battalion 1: 3/1/2009 to Present
Other Certifications:

USA Homeland Security Emergency Management Institute Courses:

• Incident Command System
• National Incident Management System
• Resource Management
• All Hazard Incident Management

Illinois Fire Service Institute Certificates:

• Command and General Staff Functions
• Weapons of Mass Destruction Unified Command
• Emergency Response to Terrorism
• Active Shooter Incident Command

Barry Lynham is the current President of Fire Safe Europe (http://firesafeeurope.eu/).

Fire Safe Europe was founded in 2011 by a group of European fire experts, fire fighters and related associations. It was founded with the aim of bringing fire safety in buildings higher on the agenda of European policy makers, and of improving fire safety for European citizens. Today the group works closely with EU Institutions and national governments for fire safety standards.

Barry Lynham is also Group Director for Strategy and Communication at Knauf Insulation having responsibility for Group Strategy, Global Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability.

He earlier worked as Director of Climate and Energy at The Centre, a Brussels-based consultancy and think-tank. He started his career working at the European Commission, DG Environment, where he was responsible for drafting legislation on CO2 from cars. Barry studied English and French law at University.

Mark’s fire service career spanned over 32 years serving in three different UK fire and rescue services, culminating in him leading Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service as Chief Fire Officer/Chief Executive for six years until March 2016. During Mark’s extensive career he held numerous specialist roles, also at various times being a Director of operational response, fire safety and training.

In December 2005, as Deputy Chief Fire Officer of Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service and Incident Commander, he successfully led the fire fighting operations at the Buncefield Oil Depot explosion and fire. This major incident is thought to have been the largest peacetime explosion in Europe. It was tackled and successfully resolved under the constant glare of international media and was one of the first major incidents where film footage from ‘citizen journalists’ was widely used by the media. Whilst in Hertfordshire Mark also had oversight of the investigation into the tragic high rise fire incident at Harrow Court (Feb 2005) where three people, including two firefighters, lost their lives.

Mark is a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers and also holds a number of management qualifications including a Master’s Degree. Until his recent retirement, Mark was also a long standing member of the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA) National Operations Committee and led CFOA’s Health and Safety reference, regularly meeting with the UK Heath and Safety Executive. Mark remains the Vice Chairman of CFOA National Resilience Limited, a company that coordinates the assurance of the UK’s assets which deal with major or wide-scale incidents.

In 2010, Mark was awarded the Queen’s Fire Service Medal (QFSM) in Her Majesty the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

With a Professional career beginning with the Armed Forces of the UAE, the Major General progressed through the ranks undertaking more senior managerial roles and was transferred to commence a strategic role with the Dubai Police Rescue Corps. Where he excelled and displayed a true passion for the Emergency Response sector. As a true visionary his abilities and talents would soon realize a new role as Director General of the Dubai Civil Defence. Whilst the dynamic of Dubai evolved he kept pace, carefully planning the future capabilities whilst proividing an effective Fire & Rescue Service. His pioneering initiatives like ensuring all commercial buildings in Dubai have a 24/7 moinitoring status, the introduction of new UAE Life safety Codes of Practice and UAE Standard Operating Procedures, various fire safety campaigns aimed at Risk Awareness and re-assuring all sectors that the Civil Defence is a highly skilled and motivated entity driven by the latest technologies and apparatus available for FRS, with a commitment to be always accessible for anyone at all times. As a first class leading agency for emergency response in the area and hence is often used as a 'benchmark' for the Region of the GCC. This has now culminated in the Major General being the Commander in Chief of the entire UAE Civil Defence forces.

Major General Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi, Director General, UAE Civil Defence Previously worked as Director of Transportation & Rescue Department - Dubai Police GHQ. He also holds the memberships of Permanent Higher Committee for Crisis & Disaster Management - UAE, Crisis & Disasters Management Team - Dubai, National Fire Protection Association - UAE, Police Operations Higher Committee - UAE, Health & Occupational Safety Committee - Dubai, Higher Committee for Framing National Polices & Strategies - UAE, Police Commanders Council - Ministry of Interior - UAE, Center for Ambulance Services Board of management - Dubai.

Major General Al Matroushi has been awarded with the fellowship of the Institution of Fire Engineers In recognition of his initiatives and achievements towards fire and life safety within the community.

Ali Almutawa started his career in 1998 as a Corporal Watch Commander in Dubai. His role was multi-functional and included writing new training and development policies for operational crews, together with setting fire safety inspection regimes and controls. He gained his first degree in ‘Fire Science’ and a diploma degree in ‘Fires in Airports and Seaports’ in an international fire officer training program in Toronto, Canada in 1999. A year later Mr. Almutawa was was appointed as a District Officer taking charge of many incidents as the initial incident commander, whilst still continuing studies to advance the protection of life and property and his career.

In 2002 he was appointed as a Station Director focusing on policy writing for operations, communications and training. As the new operations control room was being developed and expanded in 2005 he was deployed as the Senior Group Officer responsible for staffing, training and equipping the control suite.

After graduating with a bachelor degree in ‘Law’ from Dubai Police Academy in 2007 and attaining another diploma for ‘Operations Room Management’ from Germany in 2014, he was promoted to the rank of Senior Director of Operations, in charge of the department.

Chief Morris currently serves as fire chief for the Pine-Strawberry Fire District in north central Arizona. Prior to this position he was the Fire Chief for the Rural-Metro Department and was responsible for operations in Maricopa and Pinal counties in the Phoenix, Arizona metro area. Previously, he was the Fire Chief for the Seattle, Washington, Fire Department. Chief Morris also served 30 years with the Phoenix, Arizona, Fire Department retiring as Assistant Chief and Fire Marshal. During his career with Phoenix, he was assigned to more than a dozen staff and operations positions. He also held a paramedic certification from 1975-1990.

Chief Morris has authored more than 100 articles that have been published in fire and emergency medical service journals, both nationally and internationally. He frequently lectures on fire service management, health and safety programs, disaster planning, mass casualty management, police-fire unified command operations, as well as, the application of the Incident Management (Command) System to major incidents. He has lectured internationally in Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Venezuela, Finland and Canada. He also served as a member United Kingdom-United States Symposium Group.

Chief Morris holds a Masters of Arts degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix, a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Supervision from Arizona State University, and an Associate of Arts degree in Fire Science from Phoenix College. He is a graduate of Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government. He also is a Certified Public Manager.