As one of the founders of EMSI and former EMSI President, Chuck Mills has been with EMSI since its inception in 2000 and presently serves as a Senior Consultant. He has over 50 years of experience in all-risk, all-hazards emergency management.
With over 32 years in fire management with the U.S. Forest Service, Chuck rose to the rank of Chief Officer, focusing on challenges associated with the wildland-urban interface, multiagency coordination, and incident management. During the 1970s, he served on the FIRESCOPE Technical Team during the development process of the Incident Command System (ICS) and the Multi-Agency Coordination System (MACS), then later on the FIRESCOPE Task Force to assist with the implementation of ICS and MACS. Following the development of ICS and MACS, Chuck was one of the first National Type 1 Incident Commanders under the Incident Command System and led one of the first Incident Management Teams designed around ICS.
In 1986 Chuck was detailed from the Forest Service to the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), where he served as a Disaster Management Specialist helping to develop international response capabilities based upon ICS, MACS, and the International Disaster Response System. During this time, Chuck participated in the development of the OFDA international Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) program, a program that is still an active U.S. Government international response program today.
In 1988, Chuck Mills retired from the Forest Service and went to work for the National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR). In this capacity, he administered programs for OFDA, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS), the Veterans Administration (VA), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), among other agencies. Based on the OFDA international USAR program, Chuck’s work with FEMA led to the development of the National Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) program, one of the preeminent emergency response programs in the world.
Chuck was one of the original founders of EMSI. Over his first decade with EMSI, he contributed substantially to the U.S. Coast Guard’s ICS training and implementation program, assisting in the design, development, and delivery of several ICS courses for the Coast Guard. Chuck was a critical member of the U.S. Coast Guard response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. From May 2010 through January 2011, Chuck served at the Deepwater Horizon Unified Area Command in New Orleans, LA, as an Incident Management Advisor, working closely with Area Commanders from the Coast Guard, British Petroleum, and other response entities.
Chuck held ICS qualifications as a Type 1 Incident Commander and Area Commander. He co-authored the ICS textbook Beyond Initial Response, one of the most comprehensive ICS textbooks available, as well as the ICS All-Hazard Field Guide. Chuck has lectured extensively on ICS, incident management, and emergency management issues throughout the world and is recognized as a worldwide subject matter expert on preparedness and emergency management.