National Incident Management Organization - Team 1
NIMO is composed of four Type 1 Incident Management Teams. Each team consists of seven members, who are assigned full-time to Command and General Staff positions including: Incident Commander; Safety Officer; Public Information Officer; Planning Section Chief; Operations Section Chief; Logistics Section Chief; and Finance Section Chief.
Nickie Johnny - Incident Commander
Nickie started her career as a seasonal on a wildland fire handcrew on the Eldorado National Forest, in 1994. Throughout Nickie's career, she has held wildland positions with the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service in California, Arizona and Utah. This included work on engines, helitack, hotshot crews, fire prevention, a fuels battalion position and a zone fire management officer.
Nickie graduated from Western Washington State University and later obtained a Wildland Fire Management Certification from Humboldt State University. (now Cal Poly, Humboldt).
Nickie began working on Incident Management Teams in 2011 in Operations. She later became an Incident Commander on a Type 2 team in 2016. In 2020, Nickie became a Type 1Incident Commander. Nickie returned to the Eldorado National Forest serving as Chief 2 in 2013 and later promoted to Chief 1 as the Forest Fire Management Officer.
Nickie is currently an Incident Commander with the US Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management, National Incident Management Organization as of January 2024. Email: nickie.johnny@usda.gov.
Dave Updike - Safety Officer
Judith Downing - Public Information Officer
Judith L. Downing is the Public Information Officer for the Atlanta National Incident Management Team (NIMO). Judith has served as a Type I information officer on Type I incident management teams since 1988 and developed and applied improved methods to engage communities-at-risk during wildfires using existing interpersonal and social networks. Judith developed community action teams to monitor changing community information needs and to provide information stakeholders need to cope with fire threats to their safety, property and other interests and to recover quickly after the fire. In fire prevention, Judith pioneered collaborative, interagency, community-based wildfire education, mitigation, and preparedness methods grounded in social sciences and integrated with fuels and natural resources management at the community landscape scale. Judith was awarded the GEICO Fire Prevention and Safety Award for her community-based work in fire prevention and fire education and continues to promote application of fire social science in fire management, working closely with scientists from the USDA Forest Service Research Stations.
Judith earned a BA in Parks and Natural Resource Management from California State University, Chico where she also completed graduate courses in Human Communication. Judith started her career with the Forest Service as a wildland firefighter and later she worked in recreation management on the Olympic National Forest. Her next assignment was as a Fire Prevention Technician on the Plumas National Forest and then on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. There she also worked as a Public Affairs Specialist and Forest Fire Prevention and Information Officer. In 2000, Judith moved to Colorado where she worked in State and Private Forestry as the Interagency Wildland Urban Interface Fire and Education Specialist for the Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region. The position was interagency with the Bureau of Land Management, Colorado State Office and Colorado State Forest Service. Judith returned to California in 2004 as Assistant Director, Cooperative Fire Liaison for the Pacific Southwest Region. She joined the Atlanta NIMO team in 2010. Email: judith.downing@usda.gov
Janan Hay Sharp - Planning Section Chief
Janan’s fire career began as a seasonal employee on the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Janan was hooked after her first slash disposal burn and a wildfire that consisted of one (yes, only one) lightning struck tree. Upon graduation from the University of Michigan in 1988, Janan began working for Forest Health Protection in West Virginia. After a year, she transferred and began her full time Forest Service career working on the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri as a Forester Trainee, eventually serving in the district NEPA Coordinator position. In 2000, Janan transferred to the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee as a Zone NEPA Coordinator.
Janan spent most of her career leading interdisciplinary teams, performing environmental analysis and publishing Environmental Assessments for forest management projects, but her heart for fire management was evident. Janan continued to support the forest as a militia wildland firefighter assigned to fire suppression activities as needed and assisted with the implementation of prescribed fire to meet natural resource goals. Janan continued in these roles until 2019 when she accepted the position of Planning Section Chief with the Atlanta NIMO team.
Janan became active on incident management teams in 1998 and has participated in a variety of incidents including wildfire, hurricane recovery, large national gatherings of the Rainbow Family, and recovery after the Columbia Shuttle Disaster. Janan has been a member of the Eastern Region T1 Team and both Southern Area T1 Incident Management Teams and is an instructor for several courses including Resources Unit Leader and E-Isuite. Janan took her skills abroad when she assisted with teaching the All Hazards IMT and Planning Process courses in Indonesia. Email: janan.hay@usda.gov
James (Jimmy) Grimes- Logistics Section Chief
James started his career in August 1997 as a firefighter EMT with the Northwest fire district in Tucson Arizona. He was heavily involved in their wildland division, working on a type 2 Initial Attack (IA) crew and engines. That crew eventually became the Ironwood hotshots in 2008.
James began his career in logistics working on a Southwest area Incident Management Team (SWIMT 2) from 2008 to 2020, building his qualifications in Supply and Facilities. James achieved his Logistics Section Chief Type 1 qualification in 2018 and became the Team's primary Logistics chief.
In the structure firefighting world, James progressed from a firefighter to a paramedic, and eventually an Engine Captain in 2012. James retired from the Northwest fire district in May 2021 and began his career with a USDA Forest Service. Email: james.grimes@usda.gov
