The Biography of Michael Karl McNeil

Michael Karl McNeil — a firefighter for twenty-five years and a former Fire Battalion Chief, now an industrial hygienist and environmental health and safety professional. This is the whole history, written by me.

Early years

Some of it starts earlier than a résumé shows.

Michael Karl McNeil as a young boy wearing a red toy fire helmet — A red plastic helmet, years before the real one.

Michael Karl McNeil in a Little League uniform in the dugout — A red plastic helmet, years before the real one.

Forestry

I took a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. That is where the fire career started, and it set the shape of everything after it: the work is outdoors, the conditions are the conditions, and the paperwork has to hold up long after the fact.

Twenty-five years as a firefighter

I spent twenty-five years in the fire service, federal and state. I worked for the USDA Forest Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Utah Division of Forestry and CAL FIRE. I came up through fire prevention — Fire Prevention Captain, then Fire Battalion Chief for Prevention with the USDA Forest Service.

Assignments moved me across the country, concentrated in the Western states, working under other states’ regulations alongside their agencies. I hold National Wildfire Coordinating Group qualifications as Incident Commander Type 3, Division/Group Supervisor, Task Force Leader, Strike Team Leader, Crew Boss and Engine Boss, with FEMA incident management training behind them.

Prevention is where the second half of my career came from. On one district I ran a hazardous materials site cleanup, hazard communication signage, safety data sheet information boards, right-to-know stations and a review of the district’s training records — work outside my position description, recognized with a USDA Forest Service Certificate of Merit. A second Certificate of Merit, signed by the Forest Supervisor in January 2006, covered fire prevention program coordination and a rewrite of the Forest’s hazardous materials training program. In June 2008 the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps, presented a Certificate of Appreciation addressed to “Fire Prevention Battalion Chief Mike McNeil.”

The full qualification record is on the fire service page.

Federal training

Federal fire prevention carries law enforcement authority. I attended the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center and held the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Forest Protection Officer qualification. The coursework included clandestine laboratory investigation, multijurisdictional counterdrug task force training, and medical defense against biological and chemical agents. The clandestine laboratory training is the foundation under the drug-lab decontamination and health and safety plan work I do now, and I keep the recertification current. I remain a member of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association.

Emergency medicine

I certified as an EMT-Intermediate on the federal side and hold EMT-II certification in California along with tactical medic certification. BLS and ACLS provider certification was issued in August 2026 and runs to August 2028, and I keep continuing education current in tactical medicine, airway management, and fentanyl safety and naloxone response. I also ran medic coverage for youth football; one of the two written references I publish comes from that work rather than from a consulting engagement.

Graduate work and industrial hygiene

I took a Master of Science in Environmental Health. That is the hinge in this history. Fire prevention had taught me how a building fails and how an agency writes it up; the graduate work gave me the exposure science underneath it — sampling, toxicology, ventilation, the standards and the methods.

Along the way I completed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Basic Inspector Course at the National Enforcement Training Institute and the EPA Watershed Academy’s watershed management program. The inspector course matters for a specific reason: a good part of my work is defending employers against citations, and I was trained the way the inspectors were trained.

In October 2026 I added a registration that goes straight to the core of that training: Registered Specialist: Exposure Decision Analysis with AIHA Registry Programs. It is earned by examination and covers the judgment every sampling report turns on — whether a handful of air samples shows an exposure is acceptable, needs controls, or needs more data before anyone can say. The full list of my registrations is on the McNeil Safety Consulting credentials page.

Independent practice

I have worked in occupational health and safety since 1989 and have run McNeil Safety Consulting as an independent practice since roughly 2005 — environmental health and safety, industrial hygiene, and forensic and expert consulting. Clients have come from construction, manufacturing, healthcare, film and television, and energy. Several engagements ran long enough to be jobs in everything but name, embedded with the client’s own operations; client names are not published.

During the pandemic I worked as a COVID health consultant on network television production, running testing and infection control for cast and crew. The production finished with zero cases on set. More recently I have done corporate environmental and EHS work on utility-scale energy projects — battery energy storage and solar generation, on the construction and commissioning side — in California, Washington, Colorado and New Mexico. The employer and the projects are not named; programs written as an employee belong to that employer.

The current work is described on the professional background page.

Writing and professional bodies

I am a contributor to the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and a reviewer for the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. I have been a member of the National Fire Protection Association’s Research Section since February 2001. I belong to the National Association of Fire Investigators and its California section, to the American Industrial Hygiene Association including its Southern California local section, to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, and to the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association.

Family

I am married to Zennin Sedacey-McNeil — Ellie. Her daughter Isabella is my stepdaughter.

Michael Karl McNeil and Zennin Sedacey-McNeil — With my wife, Zennin (Ellie).

Michael Karl McNeil with his wife Zennin Sedacey-McNeil — Michael and Ellie.

Michael Karl McNeil and Zennin Sedacey-McNeil, an evening out — Michael and Ellie.

Zennin Sedacey-McNeil studying at the desk in Michael Karl McNeil's home office — Ellie at the desk in my office, under the plaque.

Isabella, Michael Karl McNeil's stepdaughter — Isabella.

Ellie and Isabella on a ferris wheel at night — Isabella.

Michael Karl McNeil with Ellie and Isabella at Thanksgiving, 2022 — Thanksgiving 2022 — Ellie, Isabella and me.

Zennin Sedacey-McNeil at work — Ellie at work.

Recognition

In January 2024 the U.S. House of Representatives issued a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for work with a local unified school district, citing “Heroic Diligence” and “Unwavering Dedication to the Safety of our Students and Community.” An earlier Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, in May 2001, came from a municipal volunteer recognition ceremony. Both, with the Forest Service and Marine Corps certificates and the written references, are on the recognition page.

Several other men share this name. If you arrived here from a search result and want to be sure which Michael Karl McNeil you are reading about, see Which Michael Karl McNeil is this? The record, in plain terms.

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