CTEX 2023 Onsite Program

Instructor Biographies

Linda Brown Linda Joanne Brown received her B.A. from Duke University and her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Immediately after law school, she had the privilege of clerking for the California Court of Appeal, First District, Division One, with Justices Molinari, Elkington and Sims. At the court she worked first as a Writ Clerk and then as an Appellate Clerk. Dur ing the two years with the court, she also taught legal research and writing at Hastings. She began representing injured work ers in Northern California in 1976. She received her workers' compensation Certificate of Specialization on April 12, 1983, and thereafter served for the State Bar on the Board of Legal Spe cialization as Chair and member of the Worker ’ s Compensation Law Advisory Commission from October 1, 1989 to October 10, 1993. In 2013, Linda was honored to receive the California Ap plicants ’ Attorneys Association, San Francisco Chapter, Attorney of the Year Award. In 2018, she received the Applicant Attorney of the Year Award from the California Lawyers Association. Linda currently enjoys working with her partner, Karina Delzell, an attorney who shares her passion for representing the First Re sponders of our state, at Brown & Delzell, LLP in San Rafael. Our firm feels blessed to be able to represent the California State Firefighter Association and their brave members. We look for ward to the coming years and will continue to vigorously defend your rights. Patrick Butler Patrick Butler is the interim Fire Chief and Harbor Master for the Redondo Beach Fire Department. He retired after 31 years as an Assistant Chief with the Los Angeles Fire Department before joining Redondo Beach. During his distinguished career on the LAFD he held several key positions in the department and pro moted through the ranks. His LAFD experience included Chief of Special Operations, where he directed the day - to - day manage ment of the department ’ s specialized resources, including the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team ~ California Task Force 1. He served as the Chief of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, Chief of Training, Commander of the Arson Counter Terrorism Unit, Commander of Fireboat No.2 in the Port of Los Angeles, Commander of Air Operations, and a Section Commander in the LAFD Homeland Security Division. During his distinguished ca reer, he responded to thousands of emergencies, including the 1992 Civil Disturbance, 1993 Malibu Wildfires, 1994 Northridge Earthquake and some of California ’ s largest wildfires. He served as the incident commander on several large complex wildfires and holds several qualifications. His experience and research in human factors and decision science has been integral in con ducting accident root cause analysis. Chief Butler has led dozens of accident investigations, and near misses, as well as serving on the LAFD significant incident investigation team. In 2018 Chief Butler served as an agency representative and human factors expert on the Interagency CAL FIRE/USFS Mendocino Entrap ment Investigation. His work in homeland security and public safety extends beyond the traditional boundaries. He served for over 22 years as a Deputy Sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’ s Department reserves and retired as a detective. Chief

Butler holds a doctorate degree in Policy, Planning and Develop ment from the University of Southern California, a master ’ s de gree in Security Studies and Homeland Defense from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, a bachelor ’ s degree in Management and graduate of the Army West Point Leadership Program. He is a Harvard Fellow and studied as a Senior Executive Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Chief Butler is a gen eral aviation pilot holding several ratings and a graduate of the USC School of Aviation Safety & Security with an emphasis on safety management systems. Born the son of a Mexican immi grant, Patrick speaks fluent Spanish and spent much of his youth growing up in his mother ’ s hometown of Veracruz, Mexico. Nick Cadena Nick Cadena was a Fire Captain with the California Department of Forestry for 24 years. In December 2006, Nick retired after 5 ½ years as a Fire Service Training Specialist from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He holds Califor nia State Fire Training Certifications for Fire Officer, Fire Preven tion Officer I, II, and Fire Instructor I, II, III. Nick is a CSTI Certified Hazardous Materials Instructor. In addition to his career in the California fire service, Nick is an American Red Cross instructor and was a Co - Coordinator at the College of the Desert, Public Safety Fire Academy. Chief Christensen Chief Christensen has 25 years of experience in the fire service. He began his career with Los Angeles County Fire Department in 2002, rising through the ranks to his current position as Battal ion Chief. Before that, he worked as a Firefighter for the City of Clovis (CA) and City of Hanford (CA) Fire Departments. Chief Christensen is a field Battalion Chief assigned to Battalion 12 in the East Region of the Los Angeles County Fire Dept. He is a founding member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department Fire Behavior Cadre and is the department's lead Fire Dynamics instructor. He has been a CA - SFT Fire Control 3 instructor for over 15 years. Chief Christensen helped to implement Fire ground tactical changes in Los Angeles County starting in 2013 based on UL Fire Safety Research Institute ’ s research and con tinues to update the tactics based on new research. Chief Chris tensen was a technical panel member for the Fire Attack Study and the Coordinated Fire Attack study. He is a UL - FSRI Fire Dy namics Boot Camp Instructor Cadre member, teaches at FDIC, Firehouse Expo, and MAFFC, and has assisted other agencies across the country in developing a live fire training program. Chief Christensen assisted in the rollout of NFPA 1700 with UL FSRI ’ s online training program and ISFSI ’ s regional training.

John Commander John Commander has served as the EMS Training Officer and Special Operations at the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

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