Busy morning yesterday and today. Lots of preparation going on for Hurricane Harvey.
So many hard-working Emergency Management pros from FEMA are working the magic to support those in the path of Hurricane Harvey with coordination of resources for deployment.
Reporting from FEMA HQ…
Fun time this morning at FEMA HQ.
Quick meeting with my manager and a quick hello to our other External Affairs pros on the 8th floor.
Additionally, lots of planning ongoing for the preparedness/response for Hurricane Harvey. And lots of senior administration here today to update ongoing issues as well as brief leadership on various branches of government.
Photo Credit: FEMA/Bill Koplitz
Despite the ongoing flurry of activity, I was still able to grab a few smiles from my External Affairs peeps.
@rusnivek and @EmergencyPrepGal
We are going to need everyone to listen to trusted sources of local, state, national information on safety measures being implemented throughout affected areas.
Please heed the warnings of your local public safety professionals.
Be safe peeps.
Great start to our morning social media class in Dover, Delaware!
State of Delaware Mark Rieley Training Manager welcomes our social media class
With participants from 4 different states, a very special thanks to Clayton Fire Station-45 for hosting.
Clayton Fire
Great engagement as we talk about how fast information spreads esp with the newest platforms. What we thought of as “traditional” social media platforms – are really fast becoming outdated or even being identified as “legacy” platforms. That sounds terrible.
Hilariously, the big-3 will likely not be around in about 3 years…so it’ll be interesting to see what emerges to the top of the social media pile.
Andrew discussed info on blogs and how they are used to get information out there.
And of course we had to talk about current events including the most recent eclipse, TSwizzle’s new album release, and photobombing.
Photo cred: @tkn92008
Great time and fun participants – looking forward to more engagement from my new friends on the east coast!
Now use your social media powers for good!
I stopped by the State of Maryland’s Emergency Management Agency and EOC.
I had a chance to sit down with Executive Director Russell Strickland and talk about various Training & Exercise plans including a few ways to enhance their plans. Also caught up with the famous Doc Lumpkins!
Yep, that’s our classic pose. It’s the same pose as the EMI conference, White House Disaster Day, NEMA Conference, etc….
Obv we all had to have a quick meeting with City of St. Louis EMA Sarah Gambling-Luig.
#FlatSarah had to go to another meeting concerning #CityHallSelfie so the rest of us stayed to plan for upcoming classes.
Great discussion on various aspects of social media focusing on gathering information for tactical operation for SA/COP. Emily and Ed provided some great insight to upcoming plans for Maryland. Additionally, we also had a chance to chat about ready deployable PIOs to field tactical operations, Joint Information Centers (JICs), Incident Management Teams (IMTs), and increasing SA/COP for State of Maryland.
Looking forward to more PIO involvement with my Maryland peeps!
Outstanding day yesterday with my Prince George County Emergency Operations Center!
Great new facility to teach and learn. We kicked off our morning with telling our class that they could tweet, FB post, Gram, etc….all DURING class time. And within a few seconds, this happened.
Photo Credit: K-ray-a
It’s always a fun time when you are in class w/ me.
We also had a few celebrity PIOs in the audience like the famous Prince George County Fire PIO Mark Brady. #famous
@rusnivek and @PGFDPIO
As you know, he also teaches at EMI in the Advanced PIO Course.
Since everyone was hyped up for the solar eclipse, we built a break around the maximum viewing time…and yes, we all wore NASA approved safety glasses to view.
Photo Credit: Doug Walton
I might have been too excited and tried to teach with them on. Unless you are looking at the sun, you can’t see anything. NASA approved indeed!
Great class and outstanding new partnerships from everyone who attended our social media class. Mahalos to everyone!
Photo Credit: Prince George County (MD)
Now go forth and use your social media powers for good!
If you wanted to hear the orig NASA Solar Eclipse (Briefing from June 2017):
Here’s how to prepare for the 2017 Solar Eclipse:
And just in case you want to know where to go for a total solar eclipse:
And yes, please don’t forget to WEAR YOUR SPECIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE GLASSES!!!!
Reporting live
In case you didn’t know, tomorrow is the eclipse. Are you in the full path of the eclipse?
Now, it is not magic or some kind of weird UFO thing or even Chemtrails, it’s science!
Here’s how tomorrow’s eclipse will work.
Now that you know how it works, we will now touch on safety.
If you look at the sun without special protective safety glasses, you will likely see this.
Soooooooo PLEASE wear approved safety glasses designed for th August 21, 2017 Solar Eclipse.
No glasses? Forgot? Didn’t think you needed them? Don’t worry, you are not alone. Here’s a DIY solution using an old cereal box.
I truly hope we don’t see a bump in eye emergency calls to 9-1-1.
Be safe peeps!
Are you checking out the solar eclipse?
Here’s another great quick video with numerous tips on safety for viewing the upcoming solar eclipse with one of my favorite NWS-Sacramento Meteorologist Brooke Bingaman.
Keep it safe while viewing the solar eclipse!
Where is @rusnivek? 