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Adam K. Thiel

Fire News in Focus

Adam K. Thiel is the fire commissioner and director of the Office of Emergency Management in the city of Philadelphia. Thiel previously served as a fire chief in the National Capital Region and as a state fire director for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thiel’s operational experience includes serving with distinction in four states as a chief officer, incident commander, company officer, hazardous materials team leader, paramedic, technical rescuer, structural/wildland firefighter and rescue diver. He also directly participated in response and recovery efforts for several major disasters, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Tropical Storm Gaston and Hurricane Isabel.

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In this era of reduced budgets, not all fire departments can keep up with the specialized training and equipment required to safely provide technical rescue services
However your department accomplishes the RIT function, make sure those crews are highly-trained, well-equipped, and diligent
Hopefully your department is one of the more than 22,000 fire departments across the United States that participate in the system