What State do you live in?

CA

Type of Organization

Paid Fire Department

Job Function

Company Officer (Captain/Lt/Supervisor)

Years in Fire/EMS:

9

Primary Fire/EMS Department:

University of California Santa Cruz Fire Department

Years With Department/Agency

6

Dept. Web Site:

http://fire.ucsc.edu

Web Site:

http://www.ca1dmat.org/

Other Past or Current Departments and Organizations

Formerly served with the Sierra Madre Volunteer Fire Department (Sierra Madre, CA) from 2003 to 2007 as an Engineer and a Firefighter. Also served as the department Safety Officer and Equipment/Supplies Officer.

My Training:

Certifications include Firefighter I, Firefighter II and Fire Officer from the California State Board of Fire Services as well as the Certified Emergency Manager and Certified Fire Protection Specialist national designations.

Other training includes: Driver/Operator 1A/1B, Rescue Systems 1/2, HazMat FRO/Decon, ICS 100-400, Planning Section Chief (S-440), Safety Officer (S-404), Liaison Officer (L956), Situation Unit Leader (S-346), Terrorism Liaison Officer Basic & Intermediate, and National Fire Academy Effective Leadership Skills for Fire & EMS Organizations.

M.S. in Emergency Services Administration from California State University, Long Beach (graduating Dec. 2013) and B.S. in Safety and Health from the University of Southern California (1997).

About Me:

I'm the Campus Emergency Manager at UC Santa Cruz and a Captain with the UCSC Fire Department. I supervise campus emergency preparedness and continuity planning activities, the department public education program and serve as the EOC Coordinator during major emergencies.

I also serve as Planning Section Chief for Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) CA-1, which is a federal disaster response team under the National Disaster Medical System of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I've been with the team since 2005 and have deployed to Biloxi, MS in response to Hurricane Katrina and to Atlanta, GA and various locations in Texas in response to Hurricane Ike. I initially served as one of the Safety Officers before reclassifying to PSC in 2010.

I'm a registered State Fire Training Instructor for the State of California for Fire Management 1, ICS 200-400, and several S-series classes.

Relationship Status:

Married

Facebook or Other Online Profile:

http://www.facebook.com/cgaylord

Why I Joined Fire/EMS

Grew up next door to an Engineer from the Pasadena FD and spent a lot of time at his station as a kid. Went to college and got a degree in safety & health and started working in that field specializing in emergency preparedness, fire safety and hazmat. One job required me to set-up a medical response team...found out I loved EMS, so went and got my EMT cert. Moved to a town with a VFD and joined. After 11 years in workplace safety and and 4 years as a volunteer, got the chance to become a career member of the UCSC Fire Department, and I'm loving every minute of it.