As of 2022 our instructor cadre tallied a combined:

450+ years of Firefighting Experience * 350+ years of Instruction * Over 300years in Technical Rescue * and Over 100 years of experience with FEMA Indiana Task Force One

Our Instructors have lead and managed actual incidents, effecting the rescue or recovery of individuals. Our input and instruction isn’t theoretical, its actual. Our instructors have participated in 14 trench rescues or recoveries, 10 confined space rescue or recoveries, 3 grain bin entrapments, 6 swiftwater rescues events, 4 major flooding events, and well over 100 heavy truck extrications. Many of our instructors actively serve in the FEMA USAR system in roles from rescuer to Task Force Leader and a member of the FEMA Incident Support Team. Collectively ARS instructors have responded to 17 hurricanes, 3 tornadoes, 2 floods, and New York City on 9/11. In short, our cadre didn’t just learn these skills in a class and then start teaching. We require our instructors to come to us with experience, experience that they will share in every class.

Todd Taylor, Captain - Todd has been in the fire service for over 36 years. He is currently assigned as the Ladder 82 Captain on B-Shift with the Wayne Township Fire Department.  Todd is also a Rescue Team Manager with FEMA INTF-1, the lead instructor of the FDIC Heavy Truck Extrication cadre, and the Director of Advanced Rescue Solutions LLC.  Todd was instrumental in the founding and startup of the Fishers Fire Department Technical Rescue Team in 1995 and has been involved in all types of technical rescue for over 32 years. In addition to being the FDIC HOT lead for over 10 years, Todd is also a seasoned FDIC classroom instructor.

Clinton Crafton, Deputy Chief - Clinton is a retired firefighter with over 30 years of service. Clinton retired in 2024 as the Deputy Chief of Operations with the Town of Whitestown Fire Department, having previously served with the Fishers Fire Department for 22 years. While at Fishers, Clinton served in every position up to Battalion Chief, where he led the dive rescue team and filled the role of Special Operations Coordinator for the department.  Clinton has been heavily involved in all types of technical rescue since 1995.  In addition to teaching technical rescue, Clinton served the INTF-1 for 14 years as a rescue squad leader and a rescue team manager. He is also a former Public Safety Dive Instructor for Dive Rescue International and a 10+ year FDIC HOT instructor. Clinton is also a contributor to Fire Engineering magazine and is the author of the ARS Technical Rescue Crib Notes.

Todd Muth, Battalion Chief - Todd Muth is a 26 year member of the Fishers Fire Department where he serves as the A shift Battalion Chief.  Todd served for 7 years as the Dive Team Leader and Special Operations Coordinator.  Todd has been a member of the Hamilton County Rescue Task Force since 2001 and is a former member of INTF1.  Todd also serves as a shift training officer for Fishers Fire Department. Todd is also a member of the FDIC HOT team.

Greg Smith, Lieutenant - Greg is a 36-year veteran of the fire service. He has spent the past 30 years with the Fishers, Indiana Fire Department. Greg is currently a Lieutenant assigned to a Ladder Company on the A shift.   Greg is a former rescue diver and current member of the department’s technical rescue team.  He has been an active instructor for recruit academies and area fire departments for over 20 years. Greg also works on a large Central Indiana Grain farm and is a seasoned heavy vehicle extrication specialist and FDIC HOT instructor.

Steve White, Battalion Chief - Steve is a 31 year veteran of with the City of Fishers Fire Department, serving as the B shift Battalion Chief. He is a member of the FDIC Heavy Truck Extrication HOT class instructor cadre, classroom presenter, and contributor to Fire Engineering’s “Training Minutes” training videos. Steve was instrumental in the development of the Fishers Fire Technical Rescue Team and has been instructing technical rescue since the teams inception.

Gerald George, Assistant Chief (retired)- Gerald is a long standing icon in the technical rescue community in the Midwest, beginning his fire service career in 1977.  Gerald retired as the Assistant Chief with Washington Township / Avon Fire Department in Hendricks County, Indiana in 2021, where he served seven years as the Assistant Chief of Operations. Prior to this Gerald served on the Pike Township, Indianapolis fire department until he retired in 2013, including his last six years as the Fire Chief. In 1990 he was tasked with starting the Pike Township technical rescue team and bringing all of the agency’s members up to the technician level in technical rescue.  Gerald is currently a Task Force Leader with FEMA INTF-1 and has been with the team since it was founded in 1988.  He also serves as a FEMA IST member and has been deployed to more than 15 federal disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and the World Trade Center collapse.  While he was the Technical Rescue Chair for the Indiana Fire Chiefs Association he oversaw the development of technical rescue training and typing for the State of Indiana.

David Owens, Deputy Chief - David is currently the Deputy Chief of Operations at the Whitestown Fire Department. Dave joined WFD after retiring from the Indianapolis Fire Department with 33 years of service in 2018. Dave has been involved in technical rescue teams for most of his career and holds technician level certifications in rope, structural collapse, trench, confined space, swift water, vehicle & machinery and hazmat. He currently sits on the Fire Engineering Magazine/FDIC Advisory Board. David is also a Dive Rescue International instructor and a director for the International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists.

Russ Shoaf, Training Chief -  Starting his career in the United States Air Force in 1975, Chief Shoaf served 7 years in the Air Force and was then hired by Pike Township Fire Department in Indianapolis in 1982.  Chief Shoaf served in all ranks of the department, concluding with Deputy Chief of Emergency Operations from 2007 to 2013. Chief Shoaf retired from Pike Township as Deputy Chief in 2013, and began serving as the Operations Chief for Westfield Fire Department, Westfield IN. In 2023, Chief Shoaf became the Training Chief for the Wayne Township Fire Department in Indianapolis. Chief Shoaf has been an active member of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue/Indiana Task Force One since its inception serving in various positions including Rescue Manager and Safety Officer. He served as Squad Leader in the task force’s deployment to the World Trade Center and also served as Safety Officer during Hurricane Katrina. Chief Shoaf is a Certified FEMA Instructor; Indiana State Certified Instructor and has been an Adjunct Instructor for the National Fire Academy. 

Patrick Moore, Special Operations Chief- Patrick Moore is a 43-year student of the fire service and third-generation public safety professional. He is currently the Special Operations Command, Assistant to the Chief of Training for Rural Metro/Knox County, Tennessee, and Acting-Task Force Leader for TN-TF3. Patrick recently located to Tennessee after 25 years with the Pennsylvania State Fire Academy as a Fire and Rescue Instructor, the last 4 years on loan to the Pennsylvania All-Hazards Incident Management Team, along with 42 years term as a Firefighter/Medic/Officer and Instructor with several Fire Departments, centered around the combination department in his home city of Beaver Falls, PA.

He has been an FDIC International HOT instructor & presenter continuously since 1991. (chosen Young Instructor of the year in 1991) He has been a frequent presenter at a variety of State & National conferences on Technical Rescue & MotorSports Safety. Chief Moore is the chairperson of NFPA-610 (Safety Operations in Motorsports) along with 25 years at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Track Safety Dept. as an On-Track Extrication Specialist, Patrick also served for over a decade as the SME on NFPA-1936 (Rescue Tools).

Patrick has served as an equipment consultant to some of the biggest names in the extrication and technical rescue industry. Patrick also has published works in Fire Engineering, Firehouse, RESCUE, JEMS. & the Society of Automotive Engineers.

Pedro Caceres, Captain - with the Wayne Township (IN) Fire Department, having begun his career there just over 26 years ago. He has been a lead instructor for the Wayne Township Fire Department and the Central Indiana Fire Academy (CIFA). He was the CIFA director in 2008. Beginning in 2009, he served as the Division Chief of Support Services for one year and then as served as Division Chief of Training and Safety for two years. After three years of service with the administrative staff, he returned to the companies and his merit rank of Captain. He is currently assigned a Battalion Chief on the A shift. Chief Cáceres is a member of the Indiana Task Force One (INTF-1) team as a rescue officer. He has recently completed the Executive Fire Officer Program (EFOP) at the National Fire Academy (2013). He has an Associates of Fire Science degree from Ivy Tech State College. Previous to that he earned a bachelor of architecture degree and a bachelor of environmental design degree, both from Ball State University (1992)

Josh Thompson, Firefighter - Josh is a 20+ year veteran of the fire service with 3 departments. He currently serves the City of Jeffersonville, Indiana. Throughout his career he has served as a Firefighter, Driver, Company Officer, Instructor, Battalion Chief, and Deputy Chief of Training and Operations. Josh is also a member of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security District 9 Task Force and Incident Management Team