Roundtable Talk - Fire Prevention Week: Reduce Lithium-Ion Battery Fires

Maria Bostian is a part of the Fire Education team for Charlotte Fire Department (NC) and is a certified Montessori teacher with over 30 years of experience working with children. She is the author of five injury prevention books with more on the way. She is a certified NC Fire Instructor, Fire Inspector, and Fire & Life Safety Educator. She serves as Past-Chair of the Western Region Fire & Life Safety Education Association and is a member of the NC Fire & Life Safety Education Council. Bostian is an adjunct instructor for UNC-Charlotte and several North Carolina community colleges. She is a contract instructor for the National Fire Academy and enjoys teaching the Youth Firesetting Prevention & Intervention program. Bostian a member of Vision 20/20’s Champions and Emerging Leaders cohort and the Symposium Planning Committee and was named NFPA’s  2020 Educator of the Year.

Bruce D. Bouch currently serves as a Fire Program Specialist in the Prevention and Special Operations Branch at the United States Fire Administration.  He retired after nearly 13 years from the Office of the Maryland State Fire Marshal as a Senior Deputy State Fire Marshal certified in fire and post-blast investigation and served as the Director of Public Education and Media Affairs for nearly six years.  In addition, he served as a certified instructor at the Maryland Police and Correctional Training Commissions in Sykesville, MD. More recently, he completed the Emergency Management Institute’s Master Public Information Officer program and has earned his MPIO certificate. Mr. Bouch is also a U.S. Navy Veteran with four years active and four years active reserve time served from 1985 – 1993.

Mr. Bouch has currently 30 active years in the fire service as a volunteer at the Gamber & Community Fire Company in Finksburg, MD, where he continues to serve as an active member, served as a Board of Director for sixteen years.

Lt. Michael McLeieer has been in the fire service for over 25 years, is certified Firefighter II, Fire Officer III, Fire Instructor III, public fire and life safety educator, youth firesetter intervention specialist, and has served on fire departments in both Michigan and Massachusetts. He has served as the training and scheduling training coordinator for the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy and was in charge of the statewide youth fire intervention program.  He is a National Fire Academy contract instructor and also serves as a past president of the Massachusetts Institute of Fire Department Instructors, the Michigan State Firemen’s Association, founder of the nonprofit organization E.S.C.A.P.E. Inc (Education Showing Children and Adults Procedures for Evacuations), and launched the statewide public education and alarm installation campaign Keeping Michigan S.A.F.E.™ (Smoke Alarms for Everyone).

Sylvia Peace serves as the Community Risk Reduction Specialist for Greenville Fire-Rescue, where she has worked since 2013. She coordinates the department’s fire and life safety programs and runs the department’s social media page. She focuses on Greenville’s older adult population, as this is one of the highest-risk groups in her community. She is the creator and primary admin for the Facebook Fire & Life Safety Educators & Coordinators group, with about 4,500 members from around the globe. She also serves on the Vision 20/20 planning committee and is a member of their Champions and Emerging Leaders cohort. She served on the IFSTA Validation Committee for the Fire and Life Safety Educator 4th edition and serves on the NFPA’s 2025 Educational Messaging Advisory Committee. She received the NFPA Fire & Life Safety Educator of the Year award in 2024. Additionally, she is a contract instructor for the National Fire Academy, teaching Youth Firesetting Prevention & Intervention and Essentials of Fire Life Safety Education. She was recently appointed as the chair of the Texas Fire Marshal’s Association FLSE section.

Kelly Ransdell works for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as the Director of Public Education.  Prior to this promotion, she was the Regional Director for the South Central US covering NC, TX, AR, LA, OK, MS, AL and TN.  Formerly she was the Regional Education Specialist for the National Fire Protection Association covering the 17 states in the Southern and New England regions for 5 years.  She works to expand fire and burn education, expand code and standards adoption and works with national organizations, state agencies, and local fire departments to enhance their overall educational programs.  Before joining NFPA staff in 2015, she worked as the Deputy Director of the North Carolina Department of Insurance- Office of State Fire Marshal overseeing the Prevention, Programs and Grants Division for nearly 15 years.  In addition, she worked as the State Director of Safe Kids North Carolina which included 42 coalitions covering 72 counties for 11 years. Kelly and her husband live just south of Raleigh, NC and have two daughters- 21 years old and 14 years old.