Seriously…a blizzard in mid-April.

That’s not cool Mother Nature.

@rusnivek

Wait a second….are you THE famous Garden Grove Fire Department Public Information Officer (PIO)?!?!

Glad to meet the California celebrity PIO Thanh Nguyen. We’ve been friends on social media for a while now but this would be the first time IRL (In Real Life) that we got a chance to meet. Great to make that connection.

Follow his journey on Twitter: @PIOThanhn

@rusnivek

And now for something a bit more techy.

No suit so I’m OK.

Thanks for the time Berkz!

@rusnivek

Day-2 of ICS400 with lots of group work for Central City

Not only Central City is going down, but Liberty County’s EOC are strained for resources in the response phase.

But for realz – these in-class scenarios allow us to play the roles we would be filling in an actual disaster. So really, we are training our partners for disaster response/recovery! Yep, train like you fight. Bonus points for being in the county EOC too!

Now for those that know of the fictions Central City, which is in the fictitious State of Columbia, all know that it’s a real bad place to live as there are constant disasters there. But in Emergency Management, we use this grandiose scenario to train our all-hazard partners in public safety to respond to and coordinate with others.

You’d be surprised, not only do we have the typical big three functions playing (Fire, EMS, and Police) – but we also have transportation, communications, public works, logistics, long term recovery, public utilities, health department, etc….the list goes on and on and on….

We hold true to our inclusive training because in a real disaster, all partners will be in play during a disaster. That’s right, you’ll have to work with everyone. It takes a community to survive a disaster.

For those that are bleh about ICS training and “it was boring” naysayers types – I leave you with this one participant commentary.

If an instructor is passionate about the topic and truly believes in the mission, the goal, the SMART objective – it’ll show in the delivery.

@rusnivek

Day-1 of the ICS-400 course!

Lots to share with everyone here.

And yes, we have a very diverse class.

Without a doubt, we will be happy to share past disaster experiences to help improve our participants. Believe you me when I say, a rising tide raises all ships.

Looking forward to a solid day of dialog and some great exchange of ideas to better serve so many communities across the state.

Bringing my A-game!

@rusnivek

Dear News media – here’s a direct link to @DHSgov

https://www.dhs.gov/news-releases/press-releases

Here is the DHS’ Twitter handle: @DHSgov

You can also call DHS HQ: 202-282-8000

Hope this helps.

@rusnivek

Rise and shine peeps!

Gotta get to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC)!

And don’t blink your eyes, you aren’t seeing things. Yes, I’m wearing a tie on a Sunday.

No, I’m not in Washington DC or in Japan…but it’s still primetime Cherry Blossom outside…

…but we got stuff to do in the EOC 🌸!

Also, special thanks to the solid PSAP comms pros that shared their knowledge w/ our teams.

She’s telling him “Don’t press the red button…unless it’s real bad!”

SundayFunday! Reporting live from the EOC…

@rusnivek

Let’s hit it hard on a Saturday! But first, this sunrise.

Ahhhh, I love the smell of fresh EOC in the morning.

Pro tip for EOC staffers – -HYDRATE!

But don’t forget to have lids for your beverage receptacles. Spilling stuff in the EOC is frowned upon.

Don’t freak out, I confirm that you are not seeing things. It’s a tie. I’m wearing a tie on Saturday.

Look, crews are out. Like anywhere else, EOCs help support and coordinate resources for in field personnel.

Resource allocation and cost appropriations are some of the biggest challenges in any disaster or planned event.

Some days, you gotta work the magic.

Well….

Yeah baby 🤣 Get your EOC on peeps!

Reporting live from the EOC…

@rusnivek

After a packed G0290 course yesterday, today we move into the G0291: Joint Information Center/Joint Information System course. This is the course that we now take you as single role PIOs into joining up with other PIOs, form Voltron, and work to provide coordinated messaging and support for countless agencies in a disaster.

But first, local celebrity Summit County Courts PIO James Pollack stopped by for a quick visit.

For those that have been around for a while know that James came from the news business…which is where I first met him at WEWS5.

As a PIO, your relationships are everything. It is worth your time to get to know your local reports maintain good working relationships with them.

Since this week’s class is directly benefitting PIOs and increasing their skills, the partnership with Summit County EMA is incredibly important. So I was stoked and proud to have Summit County EMA Tim Gemind share his sage disaster knowledge for a coordinated PIO response with our entire class stressing the importance of the JIC/JIS effort.

During our 2005 Hurricane Katrina / Hurricane Rita Type-1 response to Louisiana’s Lower 9th Ward-St Bernard Parish, I served as a #TaskForce Leader under Chief Tim Gemind. I have mad respect for this guy who has dedicate his life to #publicsafety & fire service.

Glad to see you Chief!

We highlighted the need for a strong network of PIOs throughout the region. We shared stories of successes and challenges while working planned events that turn into incidents and eventually turn into big disasters.

Steve shared his experiences with his two week deployment to South Carolina under an EMAC agreement.

I shared a bunch from the Type-1 disasters including Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria from the FEMA PIO perspective.

Great to collaborate with others as we are inspiring the new batch of PIOs to represent their agencies.

Glad hang with you this week.

Looking forward to working the next big disaster with all of you!

@rusnivek