Matt McDowell.
Founder, President.
Matt has been serving in emergency response, management and planning since 2001. He currently serves as the local Emergency Response and Security Director for a large, multi-national manufacturing company. Previously, he served seven years as an Assistant Fire Chief with a busy, urban fire department where he was responsible for all new hire, fire, medical, rescue, hazmat, marine/dive, active threat and health & wellness training programs.
He has coordinated numerous full-scale, multi-jurisdictional, multi-discipline exercises to include response to natural disasters and to active threat incidents. He previously served as the president of the Charleston Area Training Officers Association and president of the Charleston Area Safety Officers Association.
During his 21-year municipal fire service career he served in volunteer, live-in, part-time and full-time positions. His experiences include serving as a firefighter and company officer on advanced life support (ALS/paramedic) units, special operations units (hazardous materials and technical rescue) in addition to being a Rescue Specialist on a Type II Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) Team.
His emergency management experience includes serving as the Liaison Officer for the City of North Charleston to the Charleston County Emergency Operations Center (EOC), the Deputy Fire/Rescue Coordinator (ESF 4/9) for the Charleston County EOC and as a Fusion Liaison Officer to the Regional Law Enforcement Fusion Center. He has served in those capacities during multiple EOC activations to include multiple hurricanes, historic floods, civil unrest and other incidents and exercises. He has also deployed as a qualified Agency Representative for the US Coast Guard during Hurricane Florence.
He serves in the US Coast Guard Reserve as a Maritime Enforcement Specialist assigned to the Shoreside Security Division of Port Security Unit 305 in Fort Eustis, Virginia. He is qualified, and instructs, in multiple weapons systems, teaches Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC), use of force and is an administrator for the Judgmental Use of Force Evaluation (JUFE) program. He was previously assigned to Station Tybee Island (GA) where he was a qualified Boarding Officer and conducted safety and law enforcement boardings of recreational, commercial and high-interest vessels in addition to instructing unit medical, law enforcement and emergency management training. He has multiple deployments that include emergency management, Southwest border operations and antiterrorism/force protection missions.
Matt is also a reserve police officer. He began this pursuit after being involved in four active threat incidents; having made entry into a middle school as a member of a “Response Task Force (RTF)” and being a “survivor” of another that occurred during a “routine” incident response. As a result, he has taken a specific interest in this topic throughout his career and helped grow and integrate robust active threat programs, served on the Berkeley, Charleston, Dorchester (BCD) Multi-Agency Coordination (MAC) Committee-Active Threat Subcommittee and on the Charleston Area Maritime Security Committee Active Shooter Subcommittee.
Matt has been an Instructor for the South Carolina State Fire Academy since 2004 and currently works as an Education Specialist developing curriculum in safety, survival, command and leadership. He is trained by the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) as a Basic Tactical Medical Instructor and Active Shooter Threat Instructor, is a certified Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (TECC) instructor by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) and ALERRT Level 1 instructor. He also teaches for the State Active Shooter/Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack program.
A former Division I college athlete & Firefighter Combat Challenge competitor, Matt believes in tactical fitness and resiliency. He is a Certified Personal Trainer (CPT), Nutrition Specialist and avid outdoorsman who enjoys hunting, camping and hiking. He is also active in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and various combatives programs. Matt has been developing fitness/wellness plans and programs for individuals, recruit schools and organizations since 2010.
Matt is FEMA trained in Threat & Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment (THIRA), Continuity Of Operations Planning (COOP) and Homeland Security Exercise & Evaluation Program (HSEEP) planning. He holds degrees in Business and Occupational Safety & Health and is currently in graduate school for Homeland Security and Disaster Management.
For specific questions about services offered and/or his experience(s), please click the “Contact” button below…