DISASTER RECOVERY EXPERTS

Sean P. Smith

President

Sean holds more than 25 years of professional field experience performing damage assessment, emergency management and disaster recovery functions of the largest scale and scope. His range of expertise in California disaster recovery during his time at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) includes earthquakes, wildfires, mudslides, storms, hurricanes, and mass casualty events, with a focus on debris management, damage assessment and disaster recovery project management.

Sean has served as the Incident Commander of seven Incident (Debris) Management Teams, and served as the Statewide Debris Coordinator from 2014-2018 overseeing debris operations for 2015 statewide fires, 2017 statewide fires including the Thomas Fire, and led the debris mission for the Montecito-Santa Barbara Mud Slides of 2018.

Sean served as Operations Section Chief for the 2014 Statewide Drought and the 2017 Storms, including the Oroville Dam failure. He coordinated the state agency response under the State Operations Center and the Joint Field Office.

Sean worked directly with Cal OES Legal to create and develop the first-of-its-kind Consolidated Debris Removal Program (CDRP), including policy requirements and guidelines for the program. In 2020, Sean deployed to Puerto Rico where he advised the Puerto Rican government on how California carries out its CDRP. He provided guidance, training and documentation on how California requests FEMA reimbursement for debris removal, and on how California handles the debris, issues contracts, and keeps operations eligible for FEMA Public Assistance Grant funding.

As the Incident Commander of multiple Debris Management Teams, Sean was the public face of the debris removal operations. He led the team that would present and explain the debris removal program to the public and local officials at public meetings. Through his duties as the Statewide Debris Coordinator, Sean would present the state debris removal program to City Councils and County Boards of Supervisors representing the affected communities during public meetings.