Hello Wednesday!!!! Who’s ready for some Full Scale Exercise?!?!
Don’t they know you are NOT supposed to wear white after Labor Day?
Don’t they know we wear pink on Wednesdays?
Oh well. Heading into the JIC now to rally up with all those PIOs/PAOs!
Looking forward to working with all of our partners from local, county, state, region, Federal, USCG, and DoD assets today.
Every year, I share one picture from September 11.
I took this particular picture because it is the home of Engine-10 and Ladder-10 who’s station sits in the shadow of the former World Trade Center. Yes, that’s right – directly next to the World Trade Center.
I remember digging at the pile with my fellow FDNY Brother Firefighters in the pile searching for something. I really wish we had found something significant to give to any family member. When I look back, I struggle with that particular memory.
So take some time out of your day to think about Firefighters and others who lost their lives on that day. No doubt, America continues to heal 17 years later.
Also, 2018, take some time to think about those public safety pros headed into harms way to ensure safety for those in the path of so many deadly hurricanes.
Yes, we will never forget the sacrifices.
We will always continue to fight the good fight.
America the beautiful, my home of the brave.
Does this count as critical infrastructure?!?
I’m going to need a huge steamer connection…
Reviewing a few past PIO clips this Sunday morning, I really have to improve my camera image aka I gotta work on my RBF.
I definitely needed some sleep but yikes, I look like I am constipated.
4Q resolution: While on camera, I’ll try to smile more.
Hey South Carolina friends!
Florence is bearing down to you now. Here’s the current forecast from our friends at the NHC.
What to do? How to prep?
Check out the South Carolina Emergency Management website for great tips on hurricane prep.
Easy to find preparedness stuff and, if you want, download their mobile app too!
Always be prepared peeps!
Hey North Carolina friends!
Florence is bearing down to you now. Here’s the current forecast from our friends at the NHC.
What to do? How to prep? Check out the North Carolina Emergency Management website for great tips on hurricane prep.
Easy to find preparedness stuff and, if you want, download their mobile app too!
Always be prepared peeps!
How can we take our PIOs and make them better?
That’s right – get them to collaborate and work to coordinated messaging.
Today’s course revolves around the efforts to bring all PIOs together and get them to coordinate and work together.
That’s that Voltron magic you hear me talking about all the time.
PIOs need to work together regardless of backgrounds. Our messaging needs to be concise and coordinated so that we are seen as a unifying voice that our community can rally behind during an emergency or disaster!
Additionally, we must be creative with our work. Every emergency is not the same. Every disaster is not the same.
Most importantly, every community across this great nation is different and demands a different response tailored to meet the needs of our community.
Disasters aren’t easy. Waaaaay not easy!
But this is what we train for, this is what we do.
Glad to teach with Amber and Mike this week.
Looking forward to more training with all of our partners in the region.
Day-2 started out with some time spent with a back to the basics review of writing skills. Seemingly easy, we all need to refocus our baseline efforts on writing.
A great teaching moment as Amber uses a combination of projector and dry erase board to make press release enhancements with class collaboration.
Dat red pen tho!
But seriously, by revisiting our efforts on writing, we can strengthen our efforts on social media, craft stronger messages that are clear and concise, and most importantly, get the right message, to the right people, at the right time, so they can make the right decisions. Boom!
Thanks to Mike’s persuasive donut techniques, we were able to assemble a fine media panel for our class.
(From left to right)
Indianapolis Fire Battalion Chief Rita Reith
Indiana State Police Trooper John Perrine
Fox 59 Anchor/Reporter Aishah Hasnie
Indy Star Breaking News Team Vic Ryckaert
Outstanding discussion on “no comment” as well as “off the record” – all designed to enhance our Public Information Officers’ skills.
I am thankful to have everyone here to discuss ongoing events with government officials and news media.
Just like the other classes, we reviewed all mock plane crash field interview with all PIOs.
No doubt, a helpful tool as people do things on TV that sometimes could be detrimental to their mission and agency.
Fruitful discussion with everyone attending. I can tell this class really wants to enhance their skills as PIOs.
Even role playing was quite fun as we considered all aspects of Emergency Management as well as the viewpoints of our PIOs from all the ESFs including ESF-13: Law Enforcement!
Bahahaha hahahaha!
Looking forward to the JIC/JIS course tomorrow!
Starting out another FEMA Basic Public Information Officer Course with a bunch of PIOs from various agencies including Fire, EMS, Emergency Management, Public Health, higher education, and state government.
These diverse backgrounds allow us to dive deeper into coordinated messaging for our targeted audiences.
And I know you were wondering…
…and yes…
…don’t worry….
….we did on-camera interviews.
Lots of them!
Solid first day as we covered a bunch of topics including staging for media, location of JIC with egress routes and other planning considerations.
Proper JIC planning can only benefit the PIO as we need to be ready for rapid field deployment during any emergency or disaster.
And I know what you are going say….it’s Wednesday so what about…..
Yep, I gotcha covered.
Looking forward to day-2!
Thank you to all those drivers out there who took extra time to allow all the kids to cross streets and get back to school safely.
So many new kids going to new schools for the first time! It is imperative that we slow down and give everyone a few more chances as they acclimate to a new location, school, and classroom.
Thanks to all!
Where is @rusnivek? 