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Instructor Bio’s
Captain Sean Gray began his fire service career in 1993 and currently serves with Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services in the Metro Atlanta area. Over the course of more than three decades in the fire service, he has been an active contributor to multiple technical panels focused on fire safety research and serves as an appointed member of the UL Research Institutes’ Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) Advisory Board.
Sean is the co-author of The Evolving Fireground book published by Fire Engineering and is recognized nationally for his leadership in advancing evidence-based firefighting tactics. In addition to his fire service career, he consults as a subject matter expert in emerging technologies, leveraging his direct involvement with cutting-edge fire safety research to help organizations integrate science-based strategies into operational practice.
He serves on multiple National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) technical committees as a voting member representing the fire service. At FDIC International, Sean is both a HOT instructor and classroom speaker, teaching his signature class, Attack from the Burned Side, which explores how the modern fireground continues to evolve and how research-driven procedures can enhance tactical effectiveness. His instruction focuses on applying evidence-based methods to create a safer, smarter, and moreefficient fireground for today’s firefighters, and he manages the website www.evolvingfire.com
P.J. Norwood is the Director of Training for the Connecticut Fire Academy and a retired Deputy Chief of the East Haven Fire Department. Appointed as an East Haven Fire Commissioner in 2025, he has also served in the Connecticut Army National Guard.
P.J. is an FDIC instructor, Fire Engineering Advisory Board member, and co-author of The Evolving Fireground: Research-Based Tactics. He serves on the UL-FSRI Technical Panel and Training Advisory Committee, contributing to firefighter training, research, and safety initiatives.
An active member of the North American Fire Training Directors, he helped develop a National Instructor Development Program and continues to advance firefighter education and training innovation nationwide.
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Aggressive Search— It’s Your Turn to Make the Grab
Thank you to Chief Ricci and Aexion for a great webinar. Stay tuned for the online course version, available soon, or watch a reply on youtube.
Instructor Frank Ricci ret Battalion Chief, Drillmaster
Author of Tactical Perspectives of Search & Command Presence
2 Hour Search Class
Frank Ricci is the author of Command Presence and was the lead plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court case Ricci v. DeStefano. He is a retired battalion chief and union president for the city of New Haven, CT, Fire Department. Frank also served as the department’s drillmaster, being the highest-ranking chief assigned to Special Operations Command. Frank is on the advisory board for FDIC and Fire Engineering. He has been qualified as an expert witness for court and administrative cases involving hazardous material incidents, structure fires, and promotional exams. He currently is a fellow at Yankee Institute that is one of the nation’s oldest think tanks working on state and national labor issues. He is a contributor for the Daily Caller and has been bylines in the Wall Street Journal, Human Events, Washington Examiner, The Hill, Newsweek and The Federalist. Frank has appeared on Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Hardball, NBC Nightly News, Fox & Friends, Laura Ingraham, Newsmax Sunday, and other notable news shows. He has testified before Congress, been a lead consultant for Yale on several studies, and has lectured at the Reagan Library. Frank has worked for the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad on a heavy rescue and ambulance unit covering Bethesda, Chevy Chase, MD, and northwest DC. He was a “student live-in” at Station 31 for the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department in Maryland. Frank has been awarded the Medal of Valor, the Medal of Merit, the department’s Meritorious Citation, Frances Sweeney Award, and several unit citations by the New Haven Fire Department. He graduated from the Charter Oak Leadership program and developed the Fire Engineering Film Smoke Showing. Frank authored several DVDs, including Firefighter Survival Techniques and Fire Engineering’s Tactical Perspectives series, including the titles Command, Ventilation, Search, Fire Attack, and Mayday. Frank was a contributing author to Fire Engineering Handbook for Firefighter 1 and 2, and he cohosts a monthly podcast called Politics and Tactics. You can reach out to him on Twitter @frankricciDC
“You can never learn too much about a job that can kill you.”
