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Ethan Blackmon;
Medical Program Coordinator

Ethan Blackmon started his career in emergency services as an EMT with Kershaw County EMS in 2010 and now is currently a full-time firefighter with Columbia Fire Department and holds the rank of Engineer.
Ethan is also a South Carolina Fire Academy instructor as well as a adjunct instructor for Columbia Fire Department teaching new recruits firefighting, emergency medical responder, and conducts portions of the promotional classes. Ethan is E-Med's resident state certified EMT In-service Training instructor.

J.Travis Carricato; Principal Owner

Travis is the principal owner and one of the main program developers for many of E-Med’s courses. Travis retired as an Operations Division Chief from the Columbia Fire Department with over 25 years of service and is now sharing his passion for teaching and training full-time.

Travis is an accomplished fire service conference speaker and has conducted multiple international train-the-trainer sessions in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

Tony Bedenbaugh;
Emergency Response Program Coordinator

Tony is a retired Battalion Chief with over 35 years of Fire and Emergency Services experience teaching Municipal and Industrial Fire, Technical Rescue, Hazardous Materials and Emergency Medical.

Tony has an Associates Degree and credentials with IFSAC FFI, II, Officer I, Driver/Operator, Instructor I, Former EMT, EMT-I (22 years). Tony has spoken and taught at several SC, NC, GA, Fla and AL Fire/Rescue conferences over his expansive career, with 30 plus years as an instructor.

Tony has been married for 38 years, has 3 children and 2 grandsons.

Robbie Warf; Instructor

Robbie is a Battalion Chief with the Columbia Fire Department with over 18 years of fire service experience, assigned to Battalion 2. Robbie has technical rescue experience as well as Hazardous Materials response and is one of E-Med's industrial fire brigade instructors.

Our Team

Creating confident responders since 2005.

Danny Shealy; Instructor

Danny joins the E-Med team with over 30 years of Nuclear and Industrial fire brigade expertise. He is a credentialed master-instructor through Texas A&M and has taught extensively in the US and Canada. Specialties include Fire Brigade Leadership, OSHA On-scene Incident Commander, NIMS All-Hazard Training / ICS, NFPA 1006/1670 Rescue Technician, OSHA 1910.120 Hazmat, and NFPA 600/1081 Industrial Fire Brigade Emergency Response.

Robert Hughes:
Operations Manager

Robert is a Battalion Chief in Columbia, SC with 25 years in the fire service. Rob has has been teaching municipal and industrial emergency response for nearly 20 years. In 2022, Rob completed his Bachelor of Science in Occupational Health and Safety from Columbia Southern University. Rob's current role with E-med is the Operations Manager over the day-to-day operations including compliance programs and instructor development training.

Rob is E-Med's senior instructor with specialties in Hazmat, fire brigade leadership, OSHA On-scene Incident Commander, along with all the other initial industrial response training programs, covering all of E-Med's training disciplines.

Rob shares that his greatest accomplishment is his family!

JP Watson;
Rest in Peace Brother

JP passed away unexpectedly in 2023 and will be missed by family, students, instructors and friends. He was a retired captain after 36 years of fire service experience; with 25 years as a volunteer at the Columbia Fire Department. He also retired as an Adjunct Instructor from SCFA after 26 years of service. JP worked in the industrial sector assisting with onsite emergency response teams and safety department when needed. He was OSHA 30 certified and a credentialled NFPA 1403 Live Fire Evolution Instructor. During JP's tenure as a volunteer Fire Captain, JP was the only volunteer at CFD to get Blue Card Incident Command national certification. Rest in Peace Brother.

Jonah Smith; Instructor

Jonah Smith grew up in Richmond, VA where his exposure to the fire service began in the Church Hill area of the RVA with some of the best firefighters in the city. Jonah attended the University of South Carolina for both a Bachelors and Masters and started with the Columbia Fire Department in 2003. After a few years, Jonah pursued a career with the Charlotte, NC Fire Department where he began in 2005. He served as a Captain from 2010 to 2021 serving on Engine Companies on the City’s South side.

He is currently assigned as a Battalion Chief on B Shift. Jonah is a North Carolina OEMS Level I instructor and NCOSFM Qualified Fire Instructor and regularly instructs both recruits and incumbents in both fire and EMS topics.

Jonah is a 8 time FDIC instructor and has presented at numerous conferences to include: Firehouse Expo, Fire Rescue International, South Carolina Fire Rescue, Metro Atlanta Firefighters Conference and the South Atlantic Fire Rescue Expo. He is married with 2 children.