Ernie Shirley
Consultant, Emergency Response
Ernie Shirley has experience in the environmental and emergency response industry, and he has vast knowledge from a government regulator perspective. He specializes in the areas of response, damage assessment/remediation, and sampling. Mr. Shirley’s response experience includes 150 inland oil spills, 75 chemical tanker roll overs, 15 class 1 train derailments, 60 fixed facility chemical accidents, 150 traffic accidents involving 18 wheelers (saddle tanks/ box trailers), 20 barge accidents on Mississippi River, 30 meth labs, and 5 major hurricanes. He has also participated in compliance inspections with multimedia teams conducted at mainly fixed facility locations throughout the state of Mississippi.
Mr. Shirley has a strong background in ICS structure and served as one of the Mississippi unified commanders in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (MC252) that lasted 2 years with 25,000 people working under unified command. Mr. Shirley has worked alongside many federal agencies including US EPA (Region 4 Atlanta, GA), Coast Guard (Mobile/New Orleans/Vicksburg), Core of Engineers (Vicksburg, MS), FBI (Jackson, MS) and US EPA CID (Atlanta, GA).
Education
- B.S., Environmental Sciences, Delta State University
- A.S., Applied Sciences, Community College of the Air Force
Registrations & Certifications
- TTCI- Tank Car Specialist
- UPRR- Tank Car Safety
- Science of Chemical Releases Training, NOAA
- National Incident Management System (NIMS) Incident Command System, ICS-300 Intermediate ICS
- Modular Emergency Response Radiological Transportation Training (MERRTT)
- 45-Hour Hazardous Materials Technician-I
- FEMA IS-00015.A, Special Events Contingency Planning for Public Safety Agencies
- FEMA IS-00800, National Response Plan (NRP), an Introduction
- FEMA IS-00700, National Incident Management (NIMS), an Introduction
- FEMA IS-00200, ICS for Single Resources and Initial Action Incidents
- FEMA IS-00100, Introduction Incident Command System (ICS 100)
- FEMA IS-00340, Hazardous Materials Prevention
- FEMA IS-00253. Coordinating Environmental & Historic Preservation Compliance
- FEMA IS-00546, Continuity of Operations (COOP) Awareness Course