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Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

Debut ICS-300: Intermediate ICS course here at Argonne

Posted on September 23, 2025 by rusnivek

First times the charm!

Welcome to the first ICS-300 class here at Argonne!

Introductions by our Division Director Mike P.

Proud to have participants from across the state attending. And for the first time at Argonne, we are super excited to see participants from local, county, state, and Federal agencies here.

That truly speaks to the collaborative nature of safety efforts for everyone.

Also happy to see IEMA-OHS Region-3 Regional Coordinator Lisa with us this morning too.

IEMA-OHS Region-3 covers all the greater Chicagoland suburbs and towns, but they do border Argonne so we mainly work closely with Region-4 and Region-3.

Proud to have Maria P. on my staff with me as we are fully capable and vetted to teach ICS classes.

And yes, if you were wondering, I’ve known Lisa and Maria well before I worked for the state.

Day-1 and we’re already putting everyone to work as we try to get everyone on the same page and same S.M.A.R.T. objectives.

Sometimes, these classes get drab esp if we only lecture so we almost immediately get everyone doing group work to foster more ideas.

This all-hazards approach to planning and solutions make it easier to digest the materials esp the tedious ones.

Proud to bring these courses to Argonne and proud of the partnerships many have already build here. I see fit to continue to empower all of our bestest partners in safety.

Look, I’ve only been here for 5 months, but the plans are starting to come together. #ArgonneEM

Reporting live from the Argonne Analytic Cell/EOC2…

@rusnivek

Region-3 meeting today in McHenry County

Posted on August 22, 2025 by rusnivek

IEMA-OHS Region-3 meeting today so I get a chance to hang with the teams from across the greater Chicagoland and the top tier Emergency Managers.

I’ve been and have lead training here at the McHenry County Regional Training Center. Solid facility and the hospitality from the McHenry County EMA is outstanding.

Even more fun is seeing friends that I don’t get to see all that often.

Proud graduates of our FEMA Emergency Management Advanced Academy, it was great to see IEMA-OHS Operations Section Chief Chris D. and Aurora EMA Coordinator Natalie W. today.

Legit smiles as we all got a chance to catch up for a bit.

Reporting live from McHenry County….

@rusnivek

Last day with my DuPage peeps!

Posted on January 7, 2022 by rusnivek

Last day with all my DuPage friends!~

Because I love to talk, they decided to put a presentation together for me….awwww!

If I only knew what was going to be discussed. HA!

Special thanks to the DuPage County crew. Many years of outstanding work with our partners through a tough time.

I am forever grateful for the work and the friendships.

Reporting live from DuPage County OHSEM…

@rusnivek

Baby shark doo doo doo

Posted on January 5, 2022 by rusnivek

I think Jeff or John have too much free time…

Hahhahahahahahaha.

I only wish this was my door decoration.

My crew is hilarious.

@rusnivek

How I find out the latest deets on stuff #NatlPrep

Posted on September 2, 2020 by rusnivek

Since this is only the second day of 2020 National Preparedness month, we needed to focus in on your plans before, during, and after an emergency.

On the regular, I get TONS of calls/inquiries from people trying to figure out what’s going on. Many of our friends/families can glean this same info I get from the mass notification systems already in place.

The City of Chicago (IL) Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) has an easy system called NotifyChicago.

By inputting your information and particular way to be contacted, you can get the most up-to-date information about any part of the city. This includes warnings, hazards, and of course major street closures due to riots, protests, or other weird things that happen in Chicago. Choosing to be notified via text message ensures that no matter where you are, you can be alerted to dangers in your area 24/7. Subscribe for free here: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/oem/provdrs/alertchicago/svcs/notifychicago.html

At the county level, DuPage County (IL) Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (OHSEM) uses the Smart911 system which is a mass notification system to alert anyone on issues at the county level.

This could include severe weather, road closures, as well as critical information for anyone living/working in the area. You can sign up here: https://www.smart911.com/

From the region:

I rely heavily on our partners from the National Weather Service. While not the primary way, I think their social media work on Twitter is excellent and pull lots of info from them using the alert feature (notifications on) function on Twitter.

Consider following Mike Bardou and the crew from the NWS Chicago or follow your own local NWS office for immediate weather info. There are 122 Weather Forecasting Offices across our great nation.

More details can be found here: https://www.weather.gov/srh/nwsoffices

And finally, with the amount of info and the onslaught of information being pushed to our mobile devices, it’s good to know that IF it’s too much, you can always unsubscribe to any these services.

IF you have family in other parts of the country, consider subscribing to their area notifications. Doesn’t hurt to help a loved one out as they maybe be too busy, sleeping, or incapable of understanding the severity of their situation. More on that tomorrow.

Keep it safe during this first week of National Preparedness Month by making your plan!

@rusnivek

Sunday full press conference with leadership

Posted on March 15, 2020 by rusnivek

Sunday funday right? #PIO

Looks like we got a prime spot for our presser today. Flag is up so let’s do this.

Assigned: Sunday Press Conference with senior leadership from County Health Department and County Chairman.

Me? I definitely burned the midnight oil but talking points all done. All reviewed and approved.

Let’s get this started because it looks like all my media friends are here. Welcome media partners!

Getting that angle just right….

But don’t forget, pic or it didn’t happen right?

And it’s Sunday so I didn’t a tie was necessary.

So let’s not delay.

Thanks to the friends at NBC5 Chicago for the live streaming of the presser.

Successful press conference with a few issues to review.

Shared learning points:

Trust your more seasoned PIOs to make solid strategic decisions.
Don’t be star-struck with national news media.
Lack of hard copy printing caused some hiccups.
Lack of skills will be very apparent within a few minutes of operation.
Lots to work through as this response will be a long response and even longer recovery.

Moving into the role of External Affairs Officer starting tomorrow. Likely turning on the lights for the Joint Information Center (JIC) too.

Hope your Sunday was good.

Reporting live from the presser….

@rusnivek

This looks a bit different…

Posted on March 14, 2020 by rusnivek

14Well that escalated quickly.

Quick turn as we shift our focus to COVID-19 response.

Name: Kevin Sur

Assigned: #PIO

Here we gooooooooo…..

@rusnivek

L0105: Public Information and Warning

Posted on March 13, 2020 by rusnivek

About to start the final day of the FEMA Basic Academy…aka L01015.

As always, a fine welcome from our Emergency Management Director Murray Snow.

Glad to have our staff support this event.

Also even more happy to have so many of our most trusted partners in the audience today as we continue to chat about Public Information and Warning.

Here’s Pete starting up the day.

Lots more as we continue on.

Sabit’s got some big plan for graduation.

Not going to lie….I kinda love it.

More deets on the graduation shortly.

@rusnivek

Chayne in the ATL! #SMEM

Posted on February 22, 2020 by rusnivek

Trust me when I say the world of Social Media Emergency Management is small…because today, I got a chance to chat w/ Shayne Sparagowski in Atlanta.

Look who I found. Great to meet @chayne_s & have breakfast this morning. #EmergencyManagement is truly a small world. #smem #hsem

Shayne is an Emergency Manager out of the Atlanta-Fulton EMA in Georgia and like me, loves to talk about social media.

Hilariously, we talked more about Emergency Management specifically mass care/sheltering and a whole bunch about weather decision for large planned events. You know, typical Emergency Management talk huh?

Sounds like the spirit of Emergency Management is alive and well in Georgia as it was great to chat w/ Chayne!

Reporting live from the ATL…..

@rusnivek

FEMA OEMA Basic PIO Day-2 in Lake County’s EOC

Posted on January 22, 2020 by rusnivek

Day-2 of the FEMA OEMA Basic Public Information Officer courses. Back at it for the morning sunshine in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) here in Lake County.

Loving how they still have the nod to the older Civil Defense logos here.

Steve opted for a faster pace today so he blew through Palumbo Plastics scenario.

After walking through a few tabletop exercises, we shifted into the classroom review of all PIO on-camera interviews. Legit on camera interviews.

The realistic scenario has been shared hundreds if not thousands of times. All of which point to crisis comms, PIOs sharing (or not sharing) information and how they can improve their on camera presence to their audiences through spoken word and non-verbal cues. Pretty much the hallmark of any PIO on camera.

In the mix, Steve shared his EMAC deployment w/ to South Carolina for Hurricane Florence.

Another outstanding day in Lake County as our participants are fully engaged in another class. Looking forward tomorrow with great engagement for the JIC/JIS class.

@rusnivek