Improving Emergency Operations for Dam and Levee Failures and Incidents

John France, P.E.
Managing Member
JWF Consulting, LLC

John is a nationally recognized expert in dam and levee risk assessment with over 44 years of experience. He has been one of the key instructors for the ASDSO course on Integrated Emergency Planning Dams and Levees since 2006. John was the leader of a six-member, independent panel charged with investigating the February 2017 Oroville Dam spillway incident, which ultimately resulted in the temporary evacuation of almost 190,000 downstream residents. The independent panel for Oroville Dam was charged with developing opinions on causes of the incident, considering both physical factors and human factors.

Steve Jamieson, P.E.
President
W.W. Wheeler & Associates, Inc.

Steve Jamieson is nationally recognized for his expertise in emergency action planning for dams.  He has 37 years of dam engineering experience and has also been one of the key instructors for ASDSO’s course on Integrated Emergency Planning Dams and Levees since 2006. Steve has prepared hundreds of dam EAPs and was instrumental in helping the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service develop a simplified 5-step EAP format several years ago.  Key elements of this simplified format have been adopted by many state and federal agencies.  Steve has also facilitated numerous tabletop and functional exercises for dams nationwide.

Darren Price, MA, MEP
Emergency Management Instructor
Insight Global Consulting Group

Darren has more than 34 years of government service, including nearly 20 years in emergency management.  He recently retired as a regional supervisor with the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, where he was responsible for emergency planning and incident response for a 17-county region in southeast Ohio. He was very involved in the preparedness exercise efforts associated with the rehabilitation of Buckeye Lake Dam in Ohio, as well as strengthening local emergency management agency participation in dam safety emergency action planning.  Darren is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and is an adjunct professor at Idaho State University and Ohio Christian University, as well as a member of the adjunct faculty at FEMA's Emergency Management Institute.

Joyce Purley, MEP
Emergency Management Planner
Insight Global Consulting Group

Joyce has 14 years of emergency management experience and is currently an emergency planner and a planning section chief for Emergency Operations Center activations at Sandia National Laboratories. Her previous experience includes the City of Santa Fe, New Mexico Emergency Management Coordinator where she worked on several dam emergency action plans. She was also the state training officer and state exercise officer for the State of New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, where her office worked with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer, US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bureau of Reclamation to validate numerous EAPs for dams in the State of New Mexico.

Danielle Hannes, P.E. 
Project Engineer
W. W. Wheeler & Associates, Inc.

Danielle has 15 years of dam engineering consulting experience and has prepared dam-failure inundation mapping and EAPs for more than 50 dams nationwide.  She has performed hundreds of dam inspections nationwide and was involved in several potential failure modes analysis workshops for FERC-licensed hydroelectric dams. Danielle has facilitated tabletop or functional exercises for dams in four different states.

John Treacy, P.E.
Associate Engineer
W. W. Wheeler & Associates, Inc.

John has 15 years of dam engineering consulting experience and has EAPs for numerous dams.  He has also performed hundreds of dam inspections nationwide and been involved in the construction of more than 20 dam modification projects nationwide to address key potential failure modes.  John has facilitated tabletop or functional exercises for dams in six different states.