Biography
Michael Karl McNeil, M.S., REP, RIH, EPP, QSD — San Gabriel, California.
Forestry
I hold a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. That is where the fire career started.
Twenty-five years in the fire service
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, based in Vallejo, California.
Fire assignments moved me all over the country, mostly through the Western states, working under other states’ regulations with their agencies. That is the basis for the work I take outside California today.
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 NIMS and National Response Plan training. On the San Jacinto Ranger 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 Forest Service Certificate of Merit, signed by the Forest Supervisor in January 2006, covered fire prevention program coordination in Cabazon, Snow Creek and Palm Springs and an update of the Forest’s hazardous materials training program. In June 2008 the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps, Camp Pendleton, presented a Certificate of Appreciation addressed to “Fire Prevention Battalion Chief Mike McNeil.”
The full qualification and training record is on the fire service page.
Law enforcement and federal training
Federal fire prevention carries law enforcement authority. I was a sworn peace officer for the State of Utah, hold California POST peace officer training, attended the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, and held the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s Forest Protection Officer qualification as a federal law enforcement officer.
The coursework that came with it included post-blast investigation, accelerant detection canine handling, 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 and tactical medic certification. BLS and ACLS provider certification was issued in August 2026 and runs to August 2028. Continuing education stays current in tactical medicine, airway management, and fentanyl safety and naloxone response.
I also ran medic coverage for youth football in Los Angeles. One of the two written references I publish comes from that work.
Graduate work and industrial hygiene
I hold a Master of Science in Environmental Health. Fire prevention taught me how a building fails and how an agency writes it up; the graduate work covered the exposure science underneath it — sampling, toxicology, ventilation, the standards and the methods.
I also 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. A good part of my practice is defending employers against citations, and I was trained the way the inspectors were trained.
McNeil Safety Consulting, 2005 to now
I 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: Largo Concrete, United Dwelling, Safety Dynamics, Axiom Medical and Remote Medical among them.
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, construction and commissioning side — in California, Washington, Colorado and New Mexico. The employer and project names are withheld. Programs written as an employee belong to that employer, and I do not publish a client list built out of other people’s work product.
Writing, review 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, the local section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, and the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association.
San Gabriel
I am married to Zennin Sedacey-McNeil — Ellie.
My office and my home are the same address in San Gabriel, in unincorporated Los Angeles County. In January 2024 the U.S. House of Representatives issued a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for work with the Temple City 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 volunteer recognition ceremony in the City of Moreno Valley.
Michael Karl McNeil 