Instructor/Owner- Gary Johnson
Gary Johnson has over 24 years of experience in combination career fire departments in Northern California. He holds an Associates Degree in Fire Science, California State Fire Training Fire Officer, Chief Officer, Fire Investigator and registered State instructor qualifications. He has served as a Firefighter, Engineer and Emergency Command Center dispatcher for CalFire. He has been a Paramedic for over 15 years and currently holds the position of Fire Captain at a career fire department in Northern California. He is also the founder of the first career fire based Animal Technical Rescue Teams in Northern California.
Instructor- Loyde Johnson
Loyde Johnson has over 36 years in the fire service. He retired as the Unit Chief in the Mendocino Unit for CalFire. He worked throughout the Sonoma and the Lake-Napa Units in various positions including Fire Station assignments, Fire Prevention, and Emergency Dispatch (911) operations. He also performed as the Incident Commander for the Type 1 Northern Region Incident Management Team 4, for five years. His ICS qualifications include Operations Section Chief, Safety Officer, Information Officer, and Plans Chief. He has trained numerous fire personnel throughout his career in both fire control operations and fire management.
Instructor- John Maretti
John Maretti started as a Firefighter with the City of Chico Fire Department in 1984 and served on their Technical Rescue Team and well as the Butte Interagency Rescue Group (BIRG) for the majority of his career. A recently-retired full-time Firefighter, John is a Technical Rescue Specialist, Hazardous Materials Specialist, Helicopter Crew Chief, Emergency Medical Technician, and Swiftwater Technician. He has extensive training in Rope, Water, Large Animal, and Aviation Technical Rescue. Since 1999 he has responded to numerous national and international disasters including Hurricane Katrina, Nepal Earthquake, Mt. Agung Volcano, and numerous California Fires. In 2002, John founded the North Valley Animal Disaster Group (NVADG) in Northern California which Butte County has adopted as their recognized County Animal Response Team (CART).