L2 Defense hosted a webinar to discuss the Surfside Building Collapse in Florida and lessons learned on managing a complex disaster on November 12th, 2021.
A recording of the webinar can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHxAtMg-BXw
Our event had 2 special guests: Chief Raied “Ray” Jadallah, Chief of Operations for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR) and Dave Downey with the State Fire Marshal’s Office to discuss the challenges managing this complex disaster.
Special Guest Bio’s:
Dave Downey is a 37-year veteran of the fire service working through the ranks as a firefighter, company officer, Battalion Chief, Division Chief, and Assistant Fire Chief. Chief Downey retired as the Fire Chief of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue in May 2019 after serving in that capacity for 6 ½ years. Dave currently serves as the Deputy Coordinator for the State of Florida ESF 4 & 9 Statewide Emergency Response Plan.
Currently, Chief Downey serves as the Chair of NFPA 1710, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments, a Technical Committee member on NFPA 3000, Standard for Active Shooter/Hostile Events Response (ASHER) Program Committee and the Chair of the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ US&R Committee.
Chief Downey is an active member of FL-TF1 US&R since 1991 and currently serves as one of the Task Force Leaders. He has responded to numerous disasters domestically as well as internationally, including the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina, and earthquakes in Haiti and Turkey. He has served in the DHS/FEMA’s National US&R Response System previously as the East Coast Sponsoring Agency Chief Representative and the National Task Force Representative for the System.
Chief Downey has an associate degree in fire science, a bachelor degree in public administration, and a master’s degree in public administration. Chief Downey is a designated Chief Fire Officer by the Commission on Professional Credentialing.
Chief Downey is a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters, International Association of Fire Chief’s, National Fire Protection Association, Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, and the Florida Fire Chief’s Association.
Raied ‘Ray’ Jadallah
Assistant Fire Chief of Operations
Chief Jadallah is a 25-year veteran of the fire service, 21 of which are with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (MDFR). The Assistant Fire Chief of Operations leads approximately 2100 employees, responding to emergency calls throughout Miami-Dade County. As part of his portfolio, Chief Jadallah is also responsible for the Special Operations Division, managing assets such as MDFR’s Air Rescue units, Marine Services, Lifeguards, Haz Mat, Technical Rescue, SWAT Medic, and the Florida Task Force One team. Additionally, all airport operations (ARFF), operating from the three county airports are overseen by Chief Jadallah.
Chief Jadallah has been a member of FEMA FLTF-1 since 2003. Additionally, Chief Jadallah was a co-developer and an instructor of the Florida International University’s Incident Command System Simulator Program curriculum incorporating design factors and adult learning principles for an experienced/advanced audience. Chief Jadallah has a passion for the Incident Command System, which he has assisted with revamping the Department’s IC and Planning Section role for initial emergency operations.
Chief Jadallah has attained numerous certifications and holds an Associate of Science in Emergency Medical Services and a Bachelor of Science in Fire and Emergency Services Management.
Moderated by Russell Accardi, Directory of Public Safety Division at L2 Defense.
Mr. Russell Accardi has more than 38 years of diversified experience in Fire-Rescue, Emergency Services, Emergency Management, EOC Operations, Natural and Man-Made Disaster Response, Hazardous Materials/WMD Response serving on the FEMA Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) Working Group for First Responders. Mr. Accardi served over 20 years on the DHS-FEMA Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) South Florida Task Force 2, as a Haz Mat Specialist & Search Team Manager.
Mr. Accardi’s work has led to his current position as Director, Public Safety Division with L2 Defense, Inc. where he oversees local, state, federal, and private sector business engagements. Using his national network, he designed and coordinated numerous functional and Full-Scale Exercises (FSE) between the Federal DoD and metro first responder organizations such as New York City, Miami Dade, and Las Vegas. These exercises involve some of the busiest Critical Infrastructure Key Resources (CIKR), and sports venues in the nation. As project executive he assembled key teaming partnerships resulting in contracts for the Atlanta UASI, San Francisco Bay Area UASI, and other homeland security, training and preparedness initiatives.
Prior to this Mr. Accardi held the position of Operations Manager & Subject Matter Expert (SME) for ATEC, Inc. His main responsibility was program management for the U.S. Army North (USARNORTH) contract providing hundreds of Subject matter experts to support mobile training and evaluation of the 12,000 soldier Federal Defense CBRNE Response Force, C2CRE throughout the United States. The Response Forces are assigned to conduct mass casualty decontamination, medical, haz mat recon, and urban search & rescue operations for U.S. Northern Command.
Prior to coming to the private sector, Mr. Accardi served at the executive level as the Chief in Charge of Operations for the City of Delray Beach (FL) Fire-Rescue Department. In this position of Assistant Fire Chief, he oversaw all fire rescue operations personnel. Chief Accardi held the position of Emergency Management & Homeland Security Coordinator for the City of Delray Beach, FL. Mr. Accardi is a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy, and completed the Master’s program at the Center for Homeland Defense & Security at the Naval Postgraduate School.
