Temporary Event Structures

Don served over four decades in public safety before retiring in 2023 after seven years as the Director of Public Safety, Director of Administration, and Emergency Manager for the City of Tallmadge, Ohio. In the last two years, he also worked as a senior advisor, consultant, and expert witness in public safety where he helped develop multiple Emergency Operations Plans for jurisdictions around the world. 

In 1980, Don began his public safety career as a fire fighter in the Fire/EMS/Rescue Service in Northeast Ohio, where he moved through the ranks to Assistant Fire Chief before being tapped as the Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal in 2007, then State Fire Marshal in 2010 before accepting a position with Akron General Health Systems in Northeast Ohio where he served as the Executive Director of Medical Education and Research for two years.

Don has been a paramedic since 1980, formerly served as an Incident Commander for the Ohio Incident Management Team, has served as the Operations Chief of Ohio’s Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Force (OH-TF1), has served as a researcher and principle investigator for several significant search-related research projects sponsored by the National SAR Committee and funded by the Department of Defense and NASA, formerly served as the Chair and charter member of the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) Technical Search and Rescue Committee, served on the Disaster Management Committee (developed NFPA 1600, now 1660) for eight years, was awarded in 2002 the National Association for Search and Rescue’s (NASAR) most prestigious recognition—the Hal Foss Award—for both national and international contributions to the field of search and rescue, and was awarded in 2012 the Ohio Fire Service Distinguished Service Award for contributions to and leadership of the U.S. fire service including significant contributions on a regional, statewide and national basis. Don has authored several well-known emergency service textbooks including Fundamentals of Search and Rescue, The Event Safety Guide, Fundamentals of Mantracking: The Step-By-Step Method, The Aviation Survival Handbook, and has contributed to several other books and articles. He also had the honor of serving as a major contributor to the renowned medical reference Wilderness Medicine: Management of Wilderness and Environmental Emergencies.

In 2012, Don found common interests and new friends with the Event Safety Alliance when he helped write the Event Safety Guide and eventually was asked to join their efforts. He did and served as the volunteer Executive Director until 2025 when he retired from the role. The Event Safety Alliance is a non-profit membership-driven organization dedicated to promoting “life safety first” throughout all phases of live event production and execution. ESA’s mission is to help event professionals and guests be Empowered, Safe, and Aware of the reasonably foreseeable risks around them.

Don attended the University of Akron and Kent State University, earned an MBA and PhD in Business Administration from California Coast University, and completed a post-doctoral Fellowship in Academic Medicine Research at Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown, Ohio.

Credentials

PhD Business Administration (application of search theory), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Chief Fire Officer (CFO), Member Grade Institute of Fire Engineers (MIFireE), Public Safety Instructor (PSI), Fire Safety Inspector (FSI), Ohio Fire Executive (OFE), Incident Command System (ICS) Instructor, OSHA Authorized General Industry Trainer, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)