About The Briefing Room

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
– Goethe

“There aren’t any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.”
 – Admiral William Frederick Halsey,Jr.
United States Navy

FSTI_MSW_Headshot_BWWelcome to The Briefing Room. This is one of four websites sponsored by the Fire Services Training Institute designed for the collection of articles, research documents and interviews with subject matter experts within the public safety community. You can also access Mike’s Library.

The site also contains a “body of knowledge” that supports our research that you are welcome to utilize in your own studies and research. This library is continuously growing as we continue to expand our database.

We hope that our efforts will be helpful to everyone interested in public safety. Our other sites that you may find helpful: Table Talk with Ronny J. Coleman, The Drawing Board with Dave Hubert and The Bomberos with Marco Olmos.

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” – Goethe “There aren’t any great men. There are just great challenges that ordinary men like you and me are forced by circumstances to meet.”  – Admiral William Frederick Halsey,Jr. United States Navy Welcome to The Briefing Room. This is one […]

About the Author

Michael S. Williams

Michael S. Williams

Founder the Fire Services Training Institute

Williams founded the Fire Services Training Institute in 1995 to find solutions to the challenges confronting the volunteer fire service. He has been an active member of California State Firefighters Association (CSFA) since 1994, having served on the volunteer and public relations committees, and as a southern division deputy director. He sits on several local organizations including the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council, the Tri-Counties Training Officers Association, Santa Barbara Chapter of CAER and is a founding member of the Santa Barbara PIO group Emergency Public Information Communicators (EPIC). He has been the author of many articles and a columnist for a local newspaper on public safety matters. He is also the co-host of Community Alert on KZSB AM-1290 in Santa Barbara. Williams has been a member of the California State Board of Fire Services since 2008. Prior to becoming involved in the volunteer fire service, Williams was a California police officer for 12 ½ years and a POST certified Field Training Officer. He is a licensed private investigator and security consultant specializing in self-insured, government and insurance defense assignments.

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About Table Talk

The column title is Latin. It means Order out of Chaos. The word Chaos is a term we give to any order of things that produces confusion in our minds. We can feel it at many levels; personal, organizational or even professionally. Usually it is used as an epithet: This...

Miscellaneous

CSFA Volunteer Committee DMV “Deemed to Comply” video with retired State Fire Marshal Ronny Coleman and Chief Tim Marrisone Fire Department News Network video about the Community Alert show with Barbara Brooks.  Wildfire: Past, Present and Future with retired...

Contact Us

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How to Reach Us

PO Box 550, Santa Barbara, CA 93116

(888) 977-1635

Who We Are

FSTI has provided training to the volunteer public safety community since 2006. It has been our mission to provide high quality training to firefighters while at the same time promoting community safety.

Fire Services Training Institute (FSTI) is a non-profit public benefit corporation with both state and federal tax exempt status.