Industrial Fire Brigade

Our Team

Creating confident responders since 2005.

Robert Hughes

Robert is a Battalion Chief in Columbia, SC with 22 years in the fire service. Rob has has been teaching for nearly 18 years and is also an Adjunct instructor with the South Carolina Fire Academy. Rob is one of E-Med's senior instructors with instruction specialty in Hazmat response and introductory fire fighter programs, along with industrial response training programs, covering all 6 of E-Med's training disciplines.

Jeremy Boyle

Jeremy is a Battalion Chief in Columbia, SC with over 22 years of experience and has a background in Hazmat, Technical Rescue and Medical. Jeremy is the senior instructor-trainer and client program coordinator. Jeremy teaches all of E-Med's programs nationally and internationally.

J.Travis Carricato

Travis is the principal owner and one of the main program developers for many of E-Med’s courses. Travis retired as an Operations Division Chief from the Columbia Fire Department with over 25 years of service and is now sharing his passion for teaching and training full-time.

Travis is an accomplished fire service speaker and has conducted multiple international train-the-trainer sessions in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

Will Marker

Will has been in the fire service for 13 years, beginning his career in Indiana. He is now assigned to Rescue 1 with the Columbia Fire Department as an engineer. Will holds extensive rescue technician certifications, including; Confined Space Rescue, High-Angle, Trench Rescue, Swiftwater Rescue, Hazmat Technician and patient extrication.

Chris Branham

Chris is a Captain with the Columbia Fire Department assigned to Ladder 7 with nearly 24 years of fire service experience. Chris is an adjunct instructor for the South Carolina Fire Academy, and teaches new recruits for the Columbia Fire Department. Chris also has technical rescue expertise, and industrial fire brigade instruction.

Ethan Blackmon

Ethan Blackmon started his career in emergency services as an EMT with Kershaw County EMS in 2010 and now is currently a full-time firefighter with Columbia Fire Department and holds the rank of Engineer. Ethan is also a NREMT with Kershaw County EMS and a South Carolina Fire Academy adjunct instructor for Columbia Fire Department teaching new recruits fire fighting, emergency medical responder, in-service training for EMTs, and conducts portions of the promotional classes. Ethan is E-Med's resident state certified In-service Training instructor.

Robbie Warf

Robbie is a Battalion Chief with the Columbia Fire Department with over 16 years of fire service experience, assigned to Battalion 4 in Richland County. Robbie has technical rescue experience as well as Hazardous Materials response and is one of E-Med's industrial fire brigade instructors.

Don Townley

Don Townley is a veteran of the US Army special operations community and is currently a Captain with Ft. Gordon Fire Department. Don has over 15 years of combined municipal and DoD experience. Don has extensive experience in Medical Response, Technical Rescue, and Hazardous Material Instruction.

Chad Harmon

Chad is a Captain with the Columbia Fire Department with over 20 Years of fire service experience. He is assigned to Rescue 1, the department's heavy technical rescue unit. Chad is also an adjunct instructor for the South Carolina Fire Academy.

JP Watson

JP started his fire brigade career in 1983 while serving in the U.S. Navy. He has been serving his community as a volunteer captain for nearly 25 years. JP currently works as a Reliability Technician for Michelin and serves as a Team Leader on their industrial fire brigade. He has also been an adjunct South Carolina Fire Academy Instructor since 1996.

Danny Shealy

Danny joins the E-Med team with over 30 years of Nuclear and Industrial fire brigade expertise. He is a credentialed master-instructor through Texas A&M and has taught extensively in the US and Canada. Specialties include Emergency Care Programs, National Safety Council Emergency Care Course Instructor-Train-the-trainer, NIMS All-Hazard Training / ICS, NFPA 1006/1670 Rescue Technician, OSHA 1910.120 Hazmat, and NFPA 600/1081 Industrial Fire Brigade Emergency Response.

Steve Curry

Battalion Chief (Retired) Steve Curry was a member of the Columbia Fire Department for 25 years and served as the Chief of Training for 5 years as well as an Operations Battalion Chief. Steve has been instructing at the South Carolina Fire Academy for the past 23 years primarily focusing on Hazmat training programs and is a Lead Instructor with FEMA Homeland Security at the Center of Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, Alabama where he has been teaching hazardous materials and WMD classes for the past 15 years. Steve is also an Instructor for SERTC remote delivery in Pueblo, CO. Before retirement, he served as the assistant hazmat team leader for the Midlands WMD Regional Response team and functioned as Safety Officer for the Midlands Type 3 IMT team and as also served SCTF-1 as a Hazmat Manger and Safety officer and with Columbia Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Team for over 16 years..

Jonah Smith

Jonah Smith is a Captain with the Charlotte Fire Department. He is also a Professor at Fayetteville State University, and an Instructor at Rowan Cabbarus Community College. He is assigned to Ladder 32 in the South side of Charlotte, and is an active volunteer member with the Pleasant Valley, SC Fire Department. Jonah is a highly respected fire service instructor, presenting multiple courses at FDIC over the past several years.