James Woodward

Battalion Chief James Woodward, (ret.) is passionate and dedicated to helping the public sector in disaster preparation and planning. Emergency management is a dynamic and challenging environment for public leadership because of the lack of frequency of events. James has worked with public officials at local, county, state, and federal levels to help them prepare their communities to meet this challenge.

Battalion Chief Woodward has held numerous command positions during his thirty-five years with the fire service. He has served as a department wide safety officer, hazardous materials, emergency operations and response. He then worked as a consultant for nine years with the California Office of Homeland Security and Office of Emergency Services. He helped in writing emergency plans, testing them and then evaluating them. James was the team leader for four of State of California Golden Guardian Statewide Exercises. He then worked for Allied Universal, a multi-national security firm, writing and teaching emergency response plans for private companies located in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento Valley.

James worked for Salt Lake County Emergency Management. He worked with two cities and four metro townships in Salt Lake County, updating all of their hazard mitigation, emergency operations, communication, and continuity of operations plans.
James taught a full range of fire technology classes for over twenty-five years as an adjunct professor for Los Rios Community College in the Sacramento area.