Hope you are celebrating this big birthday with friends and family.
From sea to shining sea…
Happy birthday USA!
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July 2026 for USA birthday!
July 2026 is a big celebration.
1st week, we are all celebrating the big USA birthday!
2nd week, I’ll be in Springfield teaching social media to my fellow PIOs from across Illinois.
3rd week, it’s ICS-300 time at Naperville Fire.
4th week is all planning.
Hope to see many of you on the road this month.
Tornado warning ends, threat ends?
On June 11, 2026 – Social media influencer on Jen Hamilton on TikTok was in Naperville and sheltered-in-place from severe weather.
Here’s a short snippet from Jen and her friends who were discussing the safety actions and hazards associated with the tornado danger.
Obv, just because the warning is done being transmitted, the danger is NOT over.
This is concerning because her audience, many for sure, are taking her words as truth. But as a safety professional, that thought of end of hazard is incorrect/wrong. Jen could be mis-informing her audience.
Please, PLEASE learn/more about severe weather safety esp because Illinois is squarely leading the nation in Tornadoes.
Reporting live from Naperville…
Weather is going to get ugly #gif #ILWx
Welp, it’s going to get a bit ugly with this severe weather that’s about to hit.
My friends, please heed the warnings of the NWS-Chicago.
You know I’m pushing info to my peeps…
New hardware, new friend
With all the talk about tech, I seemed to have found a new friend.
Always assessing new options when it comes to workload reduction. And I’m not sure if this model uses AI or not. HA.
Reporting live at the FDEM conference…
June includes Florida, TTX, new course, and the FEMA Advanced PIO class
June will be a busy month as we get better acclimated with the new schedules and partners.
First week, I’ll be in FEMA Region-4 with the Florida Division of Emergency Management ‘s (FDEM) yearly Emergency Management Conference in Orlando.
Back in 5 for the second week because I need some dedicated time for course development hammering out the anomalies of these social media classes.
Third week, we have a large tabletop exercise with all of our local partners in public safety.
Fourth week, we are doing another FEMA pilot course for Social Media and maybe MAYBE a special visit to the NDEMU’s FEMA Advanced PIO class in Will County.
Hoping for a little adventure during the last week of June into the July 4th weekend.
Just hoping for some positivity with the outlook…
A beautiful fresh start…
Final Report from the President’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Just making sure all my Emergency Management friends (and foes) read the published Final Report from the President’s Council to Assess the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Click here to download
You can also watch the action from the Executive EEOB yesterday here.
Hope this provides some insight with the role of Emergency Management plays with any disasters or emergencies.
All levels of EMs should have a solid grasp of all these issues (and FYI–If your EM doesn’t know about this, then they prob are not a real EM).
Be informed about the disaster process and understand the laws that could affect all aspects of preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, and protection.
A new friend
Sometimes, I get to meet a new friend…Cooper!
Hello there.
Just trying to make friends out here.
Friday helmet safety checks!
It’s Friday, so who knows what’s in store for the weekend. So it’s prob a good time to check our equipment and see if everything is working.
Early on, one of the issues my staff brought up to me was that our helmets were expired. So I did some checking around and found that yes, indeed, they were all past expiration.
Did some research on about 15 different helmets for our work with DOE and other partner agencies.
I sought concurrence with safety standards, fit, weight, comfort, and of course coolness. Our team settled on this one.
Glad to make sure everyone is back within regulation.
Reporting live from the office…
Where is @rusnivek? 