MEET THE

S.W.A.T TEAM

The leadership team of SWAT has a combined working experience of well over 130 years of integrated wildfire management.  They have been involved in some of the biggest wildfires on the planet and even had time on other disaster and sporting events.

TIM M. MURPHY

Tim at a very young age told his father when he grew up, he wanted to be a firefighter. His father responded, “Son you cannot do both.” At 17 Tim became a firefighter and now some fifty years later has never looked back negatively one day. He is not an expert but has been to thousands of fires in his career. Through his experience he has met some of the best firefighters in with world. “Beware of the Expert.”

Tim is currently working as a contractor for the US Forest Service as the Africa Disaster Management Technical Specialist. Before this position, he worked 16 ½ years for the US Forest Service and the Northern Rockies Coordinating Group as the Deputy Fire Operations Specialist / Contractor Liaison. Tim previously retired as the Chief of Fire and Aviation for the Montana Department of Natural Resources Conservation after 32 successful years. In this position, for 18 ½ years, he oversaw all fire and aviation functions for the Department. He started his forestry and fire career as a seasonal firefighter with the Anaconda Unit. He is currently qualified as an Area Commander.

Tim graduated from the University of Montana with a BS degree in Forestry. He served 20 years as a volunteer firefighter with Missoula Rural Fire District & West Helena Valley Fire Department. Tim was Chief of the Department with the West Helena Valley FD and Ladder Truck Captain with Missoula Rural. He has traveled to Australia, Botswana, Canada, France, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Namibia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Zambia sharing the Incident Command System and Integrated Fire Management Programs.

Tim is the past Co-Chair of the Emergency Preparedness Committee – Argentina/Montana Partners of the Americas. For 5 years, he was the US representative on the Canadian ICS Working Team and 10 years as a member of the South African ICS Working Team and is presently on the Board of Directors of the South Africa Wildland Fire Association. Currently, he is part of the USFS International Programs team providing technical ICS, Disaster Management, and Integrated Fire Management input to Angola, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and southern Africa. Tim is the co-author of the book Leadership for the Wildland Fire Officer.

ALAN SINCLAIR

Alan Sinclair, Managing Director, Siphon Draw Fire and Fuels and the owner of T1D1 Consulting.

In 2021, Alan retired after 31 years of federal service spending his first 18 years with the US Forest Service and the last 13 years of his career as the Zone Fire Management Officer for the Pima and Salt River Agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. With a solid background in Operations, Alan spent 20 years on rostered Incident Management Teams, serving as a Division Group Supervisor, Operations Section Chief, Branch Director, TypeII IC, and from 2019-2021 as one of the United States 17 National Type I Incident Commanders
with Southwest Area Team #1.

Alan has worked as a Military Crew Advisor during the deployment of the 101st Airborne Division to the Montana fires of 2000 and again in 2002 with a military deployment to fires in Oregon.
He responded to the Space Shuttle Columbia recovery effort, 2003. He was a Shelter Branch Director for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2012 he was part of the Hurricane Sandy Response to New York and New Jersey.

Alan has mentored teams tasked with managing large planned events such as concerts, NASCAR, Fiesta Bowl, Pro Bowl and the 2015 and 2023 SuperBowls.

In 2000, Alan completed the Southwest Fire Use Training Academy and in August of 2009, he received a Certificate for Studies in Fire Ecology and Management from Northern Arizona University. This education along with over 30 years of boots on the ground experience with wildland fires and emergency response have made him an extremely effective wildland fire manager and trainer.

In his role as Fire Management Officer, Alan partnered with the tribal communities he served creating a Tribal Fire Archaeology program, a Tribal Fuels Program and a Tribal Type 3 All Hazard Team. Engaging internationally has been rewarding to Alan. He was a keynote speaker for the 2009 Wipfelfeur conference in Brandenberg Germany, the 2010 conference in Braunschweig, Germany and the 2014 conference in Gampel, Switzerland.

In 2012 he deployed to Villa Real, Portugal providing oversight for a German hand crew assisting local volunteer fire departments responding to vegetation fires.
In September of 2019, Alan deployed to Santa Cruz, Bolivia to assist Bolivian NGO’S in protecting indigenous communities impacted by the fires in the Amazon and Chiquitania Forests.

Alan shared Incident Command System information with international colleagues during the October 2019 Incident Command Workshop in Bitburg, Germany.

In 2022, Alan traveled to South Africa twice as a subject matter expert for Incident Management Team training for the Western Cape Government.

Alan is a proponent of Integrated Fire Management and the Incident Command System and has spoken internationally about both. He enjoys learning from and collaborating with Fire Management and ICS practitioners around the world.

NICK HILL

Nick Started his journey in wildfire suppression in 2010 with the BC Wildfire Service on a Vancouver Island Initial Attack Team. He has served on numerous incident management teams throughout the duration of his career. During the 2017 wildfire season in BC, Nick played a key role in managing crews on the Chilcotin Plateau Complex Fire (550,000 HA), tasked to plan suppression efforts to save numerous ranches in the fires path. A successful mission left Nick with a passion for wildfire and a desire to make a meaningful impact in the sector. Shortly after, the idea of Carmanah Wildfire was birthed.

Nick is the founder, managing director, and CEO of Carmanah Wildfire ltd. Carmanah is a contracted wildfire suppression, mitigation, and emergency response company based out of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Carmanah was established in 2019 and has since catapulted to being a top contender for contract companies working with the BC Wildfire Service. Year after year we consistently strive to raise the standard of wildfire crews in British Columbia. We do this by developing and practicing advanced training regimes, creating great company culture, providing top of the line equipment, and streamlining safety protocols and safe work procedures.

Nick Is endorsed to teach an array of wildfire suppression courses through BCWS. He Attended the University of Victoria for both (wildfire) ecology and Business. His mission is to implement an integrated wildfire management program on a global scale.

DEAN FERREIRA

Dean has over than 35 years of organizational (including wildfire) leadership and management experience. He has a BTech Degree in Nature Conservation and has completed various other courses, many of which are specifically related to wildfire. Dean is a Certificated Natural Scientist under the South African Council of Natural Scientific Professions.

Throughout Dean’s career, he has been involved with the managing, leading, and training of wildland firefighting crews. This experience was gained in various senior positions working for the City of Cape Town, South Peninsula Municipality, and currently as the Managing Director of NCC Environmental Services.

As the Managing Director and founding member of NCC Environmental Services, Dean has a high level of leadership and communication skills. In addition, he has good planning, organizational, and time management skills and works accurately under pressure.

Throughout his career, Dean has been required to conduct public speaking and is quite comfortable doing so.

Dean has visited the USA on numerous occasions to better understand their way of managing professional wildland firefighters. While there, he gained great insight into how the various American agencies function, coordinate, and, more importantly, how the Type I IHC and Type II IA firefighting crews operate. This has now been translated into a South African version, and NCC has only Type I and II wildland firefighting crews in Southern Africa. This has led to three active deployments to the USA in 2017, 2018, and 2022.

In 2019, Dean led the initiative to create the first All Women Wildfire Crew in Africa, known as Juliet Crew. This crew has now developed to the stage where they have been integrated into the other NCC wildfire crews.

Another area of expertise that Dean brings to the table is the training of wildland firefighters. This includes basic wildfire training right up to the training and coaching of Incident Management Teams.