Kim Ross Houser, Esq.

Mr. Houser is an experienced Trial Lawyer. He is a member
of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association & the
Westmoreland County Academy of Trial lawyers. Mr. Houser has
also been the Deputy Fire Chief at the Greensburg Fire Department
since 1999 and has represented firefighters in Western
Pennsylvania for more than 20 years.

Houser, Kim R.

Mears, Smith, Houser & Boyle, P.C.
127 North Main Street
Greensburg, PA 15601-2403

(Work) 724-832-8700
(Fax)    724-832-2245

E-Mail:     attyfire@earthlink.net
Web Site:  www.attyfire.com

U.S.A.F Academy 74 [60+ credit hours]
W & J College – B.A. Business & Economics 78
Duquesne University – Juris Doctorate 1982
W & J College – 32 Credits Psych. Masters 77-81

EXPERIENCE EXPERTISE:

Deputy Chief – Greensburg Fire Department (6 stations, 5 engines, 1 aerial, 3 heavy rescues, 4 special operations teams – 2300 calls per year) (1997 – present); Federal: Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue Pa. Task Force #1 – Rescue Specialist/Safety Officer; Pa. Region 13 Response Member. Dept. Captain (1994 – 1997); EMS Service 1969 – Present; Air Rescue and Search; Basic Engineering; Cave Search & Rescue; Washington & Jefferson College Grad Level – Psych; U.S.A.F. Survival Tracking Search and Rescue; Incident Command; Tactical Command; Public Relations and Government Administration; Air Rescue East – Rescue Technician; Westmoreland County Disaster Response Team; Municipal Risk Management; Solicitor: 150+ fire, ambulance, and EMS groups.

INSTRUCTOR: FEMA Safety Officer Instructor; U.S. Fire Academy Instructor; FEMA Incident Command Instructor; Structural Collapse; Arson Investigation; NFA Advanced Interrogation and Interviewing Techniques; Also Instructor for – PA Fire Academy, Bucks County Community College, Butler County Community College, Westmoreland County Community College.

CERTIFICATION:

• National Fire Academy Arson Investigation, Advanced Interrogation, and Interviewing Techniques, Incident Command, Safety Officer, Incident Command at Building Collapse, Executive Fire Officer – Legal
• Pa. Certified and National Registered Firefighter I, II & III; State Certified Instructor I & II, Fire Officer I, II, III, IV; Pa. E.M.T. – B

ACTION SEEN:

• Pennsylvania Urban Search and Rescue, Pennsylvania Task Force #1 [Major Field Deployments]
• Westmoreland Disaster Response Team [Major Field Deployments]

• Deployment Exercise (96 Hours), August 1995;
• October, 1992 (24 Hours); May, 1992 (24 hours); October, 1990 (1 week); March, 2002 (3 days)
• Aircraft Loading USAF (6 hours) November, 1995;
• Structural Collapse (2 days) August, 1996;
• Structural Collapse [Oklahoma Simulation] (2 days), October, 1996;
• Disaster Deployment Team Response, Hurricane Fran – September of 1996;
• Demonstration – High Angle Rope Operations, Columbus Fire Expo, October 1996;
• Structure Collapse [PennDOT Bldg.] (3 days) 1998;
• FEMA Deployment: Dunham NCL Water & Structural Collapse Rescue, Sept ’99;
• Disaster Deployment Team Response: W.T.C. New York, NY, Sept 11, 2001;
• Disaster Deployment Team Response: Flight 93, Somerset, PA September 2001;
• West Mifflin Wind-Shear Disaster, Allegheny County, June 2002
• Pa. Strike Team Training (120 hours – Allegheny Fire Academy, 2003);
• Katrina – Mississippi (9 days – 2005).
• PA (HART) Helicopter Team Training (2012 - 7 days) PA Air National Guard.

CONTINUING EDUCATION:

• Disaster management, heavy rigging, logistics, collapse stabilization, urban search, collapse medical problems, concrete breaching and confined space operations, technical & international communication systems, dogs and technical devices, and deployment exercises. (20 hrs.) Florida, 1991.
• New York Fire Operations Tactics and Strategies Symposium, September, 1996.
• International Disaster Management (25 hours), 1992; Tactical Search and Rescue Response, 1992: Trauma care in field, short helicopter rescue, infrared search techniques utilizing urban search and rescue marketing systems, confined space rescue tactical developing local/multi-district urban search and rescue operations.
• Critical Incidents Stress Seminar, September, 1992
• Bombs and Terrorists Techniques, November, 1992 – October, 1997.
• Advanced Workers’ Compensation Litigation, 1994.
• International Disaster Management Conference, 1994, 1995, 1996.
• Legal Aspects of Managing Fires Service, April, 1994.
• Litigation and Defending Federal Section 1982 cases, Municipal and Emergency Services Civil Rights’ Violations cases, October, 1996.
• Incident Management Systems – Phoenix Fire, 1994 & 1998
• Biological Disaster Response – Greensburg, July 1999.
• Advanced Issues for Tax Exempt Organizations, 2001.
• Multi-Discipline Approaches to Workplace Safety Incidents – 2008.
• Arson and Fraud Insurance Claims – 2008.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:

• Trial Lawyer experience in Special Fire Investigations, Insurance Issues, & Litigation, 1998 – present;
• Trial Lawyer defending, representing, consulting for EMS (fire/ambulance organizations, including operational, employment practice, and malpractice issues;
• Testified before the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Joint Committee on Volunteer Firefighter Retention in the Emergency Services, February, 1990;
• Testified to the U. S. Fire Administration U. S. Regional Workshop on Volunteer Retention and Recruitment, October, 1993;
• Developed curricula for the Pennsylvania Fire Academy “Legal Aspects of Fire Service” (1994);
• Retained as Expert on Special Fire Services issues.

Speaker: State Fire Commissioners’ Conference, March, 1994: “Legal Issues of Emergency”; Trauma and Emergency Medicine Multi-Disciplinary Emergency Care – University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, presentation Quality Documentation Review; The Medical Record Use at Trial; April, 1996& May, 2001: HAZMAT Team Management Seminar: The Law’s Effect on HAZMAT Operations; Florida Disaster Conference February, 1996; The Technical Problems of Emergency Service Billing, March, 1996; Bar Association: Improving Fire Service Relations, April, 1996; - Township Supervisors’ Association: Improving Relationships with Emergency Services, May, 1996; - Department of Community Affairs: Municipal and Fire Service Relations (3) Fall, 1996 – 2000; Mutual Aid Ambulance Seminar: Q&A Risk Management Issues, April 2001; WBA: Avoiding Federal Civil Rights and Harassment Litigation (WCCC 2002); EMSI: Your Q & A on Trial (March 2003); WBA Avoiding Municipal/Labor Employment Litigation (Univ. of Pittsburgh 2003). WCDPS-EPCRA/SARA Title III- Facility Emergency Coordinator Summit September 23, 2008 “NIMS/ICS Performance Improvement Guaranteed.” 2010 IAAI Conference - use of "NFPA 921" offensively and defensively.

Contributing Writer: “Command Malpractice” Chief Magazine, August, 2007; “Firefighters Must Respect Constitutional Limits: Chief Magazine, May, 2008; U.S. Fire Administration, “Specialized Rescue Organizations: Operational and Legal Issues”; Pennsylvania Fireman and I.F.S.T.A.’s The Voice-article: “Use of Radios to Control on the Fire Ground: Command Made Simple” July, 1996; The Voice article: “Command SOPs: Myth v. Reality”, Spring, 1995; Pennsylvania Fireman “Municipalities at Risk”,  Nov. 2000; Pa. Fireman, May 2002: “Volunteer Fire Service Under Assault”; “Corporate Practices for the Fire Services,” November 2003.

Author: Manual “Legal Aspects of Pennsylvania Emergency Services – 1994” Copyrighted 1994

Protocol Development of FEMA – Pa. Task Force #1:
            “Safety Officer Job Description”
            “Planning Officer Job Description”