Tag Archives: DHS

Don’t gatekeep these tips

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Don’t gatekeep our best safety tips – share them with your whole family! All month long, we hope you share these preparedness tips with everyone! #NatlPrep #Ready Americans Stand Ready!

We hope you are widely sharing all these preparedness/safety tips. In fact, not only sharing, but also ASKING your communities to share within their communities too.

Our collective information is bee-hiving it a collaborating with way that is beneficial for all. Abd sharing information is good for any audience that we regularly engage with and perhaps reach a few that we don’t engage regularly with.

Additionally, weird that people think that a big city will thwart a tornado.

Truth be told, Mother Nature doesn’t care about size as she will send a tornado anywhere.

So keep this in mind as you educate others on the possible hazards.

Although they hear it from me all the time, my family gets regular weather updates from me all the time that I share from the NWS-Chicago and NWS-Honolulu teams. This way, they know they are getting the info from the foremost authority, not some self-proclaimed “expert/guru”.

So be consistent in sharing sourced information and regularly address concerns when there is severe weather inbound to your area.

Keep them informed and be one of the trusted sources of information for your family and friends.

@rusnivek

Being informed on the sich #NatlPrep

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Day-2 of National preparedness month!

Being informed of the dangers and knowing what to do in an emergency is critical to the safety for you and your family. #NatlPrep #Ready Americans Stand Ready!

The hardest part of any emergency or disaster…is actually knowing what to do.

The theme of knowing the dangers and being informed is always an easy sell because the nature of our business is always changing. Compounding the problem even more is that every disaster/emergency is NOT the same.

One more time for the people in the back – no two disasters are alike.

This makes it challenging for Emergency Managers to urgently inform and educate their communities because the variability of preparedness will always be changing.

So take a few minutes more to appropriately educate your audiences on how to find the right info. I would suggest you start with severe weather in your locality…this way, you have a wide dearth of topics to cover.

Then, as they get more comfortable with the weather preparedness, then move them on to bigger sandwiches (like cyber threats, HAZMAT, or even active shooters etc…)

I see bright things for your preparedness efforts this year.

Go forth and do good stuff.

@rusnivek

Day-2 of ICS-300

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Starting off the second day with lots of convos on IAPs and critical forms that are needed for those onscene.

BTW-if you are looking for a link with all the FEMA ICS forms, you can find the most up-to-date ones here: https://training.fema.gov/icsresource/icsforms.asp.

IEMA-OHS Region-2 SDS Steve B. background from the wildfire community is outstanding and is a great example of how flexible the ICS system is all about.

We talked about specialized resources and the importance of putting supervisors in positions with background to handle the resources correctly.

We also briefed out on several scenarios that we could be put into with our public safety partners.

Sometimes, it’s awkward to pretend and use fictitious scenarios, but all the ESSD scenarios from FEMA are from real world incidents.

Yes, it’s Central City, but the State of Columbiana is always in trouble.

At the end of the day, just gotta make sure the markers are up for a fun Thursday surprise for everyone.

Always seems easy, but teaching days make for long days.

I am thankful for my staff to support these initiatives I’ve laid out to better position us for success.

Reporting live from the AHJ…

@rusnivek

The USSS has been pretty busy…

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I see my friends at the USSS have been pretty busy in NYC thwarting a cyber threat.

Folks-just remember, if you see something, say something.

With all the activities of the UN in NYC, this kind of disruptions would have easily caused some serious issues. Not only politics, but the safety of millions could have been affected.

My neighbor Robin always says that it takes a village. And in this case, if it looks odd, I would encourage you to err on the side of caution.

Reporting live from my faraday cage…

@rusnivek

Sat phone partay!

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Our 4th satellite phone came in today. Like gremlins, they are multiplying!

This Continuity of OPerations (COOP) effort is a phased plan that is imperative to everyone here.

It’s just another part of our COOP plan as Emergency Management leads the way for planning and coordination.

Think of it this way, it’s part of business continuity.

At any time, we have staff/SMEs around the world doing critical work. And we need instant communications with them and our global Exfil team that can deploy out immediately in an emergency.

In the near future, look to Argonne EM to lead the COOP effort for the area by providing high level training with our partners at FEMA.

Funny part, we are calling that part “Operation Kevins”

Reporting live from Sat phone stable…

@rusnivek

2025 Big City Emergency Manager program with our IEMA-OHS Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau

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Starting out the morning with all the Big City Emergency Managers at Chicago OEMC’s Emergency Operations Center.

First up, IEMA-OHS Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau.

Sharing the challenges of Emergency Management and focusing in on statewide issues. Overcoming challenges and strengthening Federal relationships is key especially in the first few hours of a disaster.

Initial response will dictate the disaster tempo. If your tempo is off and your battle rhythm is askew, you will likely become another disaster. So please make sure your efforts are coordinated.

Diving deep into overcoming resources challenges early on so that we can serve our diverse communities.

Special thanks to all the rising stars in the 2025 Big City Emergency Managers Program.

@rusnivek

DHS Secretary Mayorkas Swears in Deanna Criswell as FEMA Administrator

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WASHINGTON – Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas delivered the oath of office to Deanne Criswell today, her first full day as the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

“Deanne’s career is one of commitment and service to our nation,” said Secretary Mayorkas. “That commitment now rises to the next level of leading the dedicated people of FEMA as they continue working to meet unprecedented challenges. I have full confidence in her ability to lead FEMA with compassion, fairness, integrity, and respect as she works to fulfill the agency’s ever-important mission: helping people before, during, and after disasters. It is my honor to welcome Administrator Criswell to the Department of Homeland Security.”

During the ceremony, Secretary Mayorkas highlighted Ms. Criswell’s extensive career in emergency management and the multiple challenges FEMA faces, including the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

Ms. Criswell was joined by her partner, Patrick Murphy. Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Secretary, David Pekoske, former FEMA Acting Administrator Bob Fenton, and FEMA Acting Deputy Administrator MaryAnn Tierney also attended the ceremony. Secretary Mayorkas thanked former FEMA Acting Administrator Bob Fenton for his service and leadership.

Deanne Criswell was nominated by President Biden on January 15, 2021 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 22, 2021. She is the first woman to lead FEMA since its creation in 1979.

Detailed warning information on upcoming weather threats and other hazards

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Welcome to the third week of 2020 National Preparedness Month! This week, we will be addressing how to prepare for specific disasters.

Compared to other weeks where we talk about general topics, plans, and maybe some things in your kit, we will be talking about how you can get stuff ready for each type of emergency or disaster.

So to start out, let’s talk about information about upcoming disasters.

A solid tool that is almost indispensable is…..your cell phone!

That’s right, that little computer/smart phone in your pocket is a GREAT way that you can discern information and better respond to the emergency.

One easy way is to download the FEMA app.

See the source image

https://www.fema.gov/about/news-multimedia/app

The FEMA app has a ton of features that could be beneficial to your specific area. Specifically in the notification for five of your identified cities/county.

This feature provides the ability to see what’s going on in a certain area of the country. And since I travel, I always have the first slot in my list for home. This allows me to get any notification on stuff that could be happening at home.

The second, third, and fourth slot are for my family in Los Angles, Honolulu, and San Francisco. Gotta keep an eye on the family no matter where they are. Plus an extra set of eyes from another part of the country is beneficial esp if they are sleeping at 0300 and it’s 0800 here.

Since I travel a fair amount, I usually reserve slot #5 (the last slot) for my work travel. Even though I may not be from Central City, I will always know the latest in dangers in my travel city.

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From critical tornado warnings or immediate evacuation tsunami warnings – I know I’ll be prepared for my location(s) specific disaster or emergency.

All of the information provided to you….FREE. That’s right-all the details are available to you for free. App is free. No charge from FEMA to download the app. No monthly fee. No recurring administrative charges.

See the source image

Ahhhh, safety for free.

I got your back.

More free tips tomorrow addressing specific hazards.

Reporting live from the third week!

@rusnivek

My well labeled mugs for coffee and hydration

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Last and final day of 2020 National Preparedness Month. All the best time to talk about your kits and stuff you gotta have in case of an emergency/disaster.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I am a staunch supporter of good travel mugs. My oldest mug is a Nissan Stainless mug from Japan that is about 25 years old and yes, it still keeps the coffee hot. However, I needed something that is spill proof as I usually keep things in my bellows pockets.

And the last thing I needed was to spill coffee in/on my pants.

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Stanley mugs that have been traveling and deploying out with me for the past 5 years. I usually carry two – one for my black coffee and the other for my water (also backup for coffee).

Best part? They have a lifetime warranty. LIFETIME BABY!  I can attest that if something breaks, Stanley has committed to replacing things for free. I’ve had several tops of the travel mugs mechanically fail from normal use. Stanley has replaced each of them immediately and for free. No question from me that they definitely stand behind their product.

It is worth noting that you should consider labeling all of your stuff. ALL of your stuff. Something that is easy to spot in a large area and unique.

Stuff gets lost or acquired or stolen….so make sure your stuff is labeled and easily identified.

I can spot my things from across a large room…even in the dark.

Hope this week’s tips helped you plan out a better kit and equipment.

Reporting live with my favorite preparedness kit…

@rusnivek

Enhance your kit with these individually wrapped things

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Almost done with the 2nd week of 2020 National Preparedness week – so let’s enhance your preparedness kit a little more.

As you know, this week has been dedicated to your prep kits and diving into several avenues of that works and of course ways you can enhance your kit to make you more agile/nimble…give you a better chance.

Want an easy one for today?

Utensils.

In this day of trying to find better ways to be a bit more clean (thanks COVID), we need to be more aware of our hands and the things we touch. Therefore we should act like an advanced society and really use our utensils to max capacity.

Why You Should Let Your Baby Get Messy While Eating

Since all of us are doing our part and eating out a bit more (hopefully more local), take a moment and utilize those plastic utensil sets for your kits. Don’t decline or throw them away, USE THEM!

Most of them come individually wrapped and often are filled with a knife, fork, spoon, napkin, salt, and pepper. In fact, the fancier ones come with a wet-nap of some sort to help clean you up a bit.

(hint wing joints usually send their to-go orders with wet naps.

Now, let’s step up to the big leagues. Check this out from my friends at Mount Prospect Emergency Management (Illinois).

Handy dandy AND reusable. Legit sturdy utensil set that all packs up nicely in a ready to go pouch.

Look closely, you can see Mount Prospect EM subscribes to the Built a Kit – Make a Plan mantra.

Look, however you want to do it, having an extra set(s) of utensils could be a lifesaver for your preparedness kit. (FYI-the Mount Prospect EM utensil set legit lives in my preparedness kit)

Heck, if you use chopsticks, that’s totes fine with me too.

IntereSTING...: Goodbye, Mr. Miyagi

So get those extra utensils in play and enhance your kit!

Reporting live from the Village of Spork…HA!

@rusnivek