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Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

FEMA basic Social Media for Disaster Response and Recovery #Arizona

Posted on May 8, 2019 by rusnivek

Good morning Arizonaaaaaaaaaa!

Welcome to the Pima County Emergency Management Agency as we kick off another basic Social Media for Disaster Response and Recovery class. Welcome intros from Training Manager Sandra Espinoza.

Glad to see so many agencies from across the state represented here in class today. Additionally, also good to be teaching with fellow Tier-1 Instructor Mary Jo Flynn.

As you know, MaryJo is a Region 9er too (Sacramento, CA).

Like a good Emergency Manager, I’m always looking at what other agencies have and how they do business. And yes, I esp look at what kind of creature comforts they have in their EOC. And without a doubt, I’d swipe right for this amenity in my EOC.

The folks at Pima County EMA are most definitely proud to have this amenity. #TotesJelly.

As a basic class, we are constantly talking about new apps and features. Here’s MaryJo talking about the FEMA App and their Disaster Reporter feature.

And you know that privacy is a huge concern so we spend a bit on making sure your settings as a government agency as well as personal settings are up to date.

Yes, make sure all your social media stuff is in order before a disaster…or else.

Most seasoned pros know that real Emergency Managers can adapt to most any situations. Big or small, tough or easy, we are flexible and can adapt to anything.

For those are worried about MaryJo and little old me? No worries. We are assimilating in here just fine.

Giddup – reporting live from our stagecoach!

@rusnivek

Day-2 of the new FEMA Region V COOP Course

Posted on April 26, 2019 by rusnivek

Starting off day–2 of the new FEMA COOP class.

Solid discussion lead by Northwestern Medicine’s Continuity Manager Sam with our all-hazards pros on alternate locations including cold, warm, and hot EOCs.

Not only locations, but also triggers on when to move emergency operations centers. These kinds of discussions also spark debate on levels of activation as well as essential personnel. We openly discuss triggers and standards that help make it easy for COOP Managers and leadership to roll out their continuity plan.

As we identify specific incidents and actions needed, we can also assess viability of personnel and staff….ESSENTIAL staff to these secure national COOP locations like

Additionally, we focus in on the importance of not only writing a plan, but also exercising a plan. Good dialog w/ Joe on the city of Aurora’s exercise plans.

While not as sexy as response or even preparedness, these kinds of continuity exercises test recovery. Can’t begin to tell you how important that is to your constituents esp when things are going to 💩. Catastrophic planning is only as good as your last exercise – trust me, when faced with crisis, people will not always do the most common sense thing.

Why is our agency leaning in on the COOP stuff? Well, if all goes according to my plan, we should have at five (5) Master Continuity Practitioners on our staff. Awwwww yeah!

As we close up, Sam leads the post test wrap up to evaluate that level II retention that FEMA EMI loves.

In the end, when you see the participants smiling and hearing their responses in how they are going to directly implement these new rollouts and changes to the plans….is so gratifying.

I am proud of the work we do in Emergency Management. As an instructor I expect a lot out of you. And your students most definitely do too.

As an instructor, your influence to your participants can generate enthusiasm beyond expectation. Dedication is critical to the success of your mission. I am thankful for all the smiles in our FEMA Region 5 COOP class on this #AlohaFriday.

@rusnivek

Brand new FEMA Region V COOP class Day-1

Posted on April 25, 2019 by rusnivek

Kicking off the new FEMA Region 5 Continuity of Operations class here at the DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Proud to have Northwestern Medicine’s Continuity Manager Sam Boyle and DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Operations Supervisor Joe Joseph with us to share some of the changes with FCD-1, FCD-2, CC-1, HSPD5, PPD-8, NSPD-51, HSPD-20, and of course the NIMS update.

Mid-day discussion with Joe on the Continuity planning process with the new FEMA course materials for COOP focused around essential functions.

Look at those smiles!

All made to enhance the skills of our public safety partners.

Shout out to all the leadership and participants who took the time away from their desks to enhance their program’s ability to function beyond catastrophic incidents.

Also, for those that were paying attention on the day? Is it really the perfect date?

Hmmmm…

Boom.

COOP? Operations? Social Media? Public Information? Pop culture? Everything is a calculated because even in a FEMA class, we don’t miss a beat!

Welcome to my program. This is how we do things at our house.

@rusnivek

#MediaMinutes interview w/ RTV6 Paris Lewbel

Posted on April 18, 2019 by rusnivek

As part of our ongoing efforts to help enhance the skills of the PIO, here’s another #MediaMinutes interview w/ RTV6 Paris Lewbel.

For more information on Paris:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/plewbel

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plewbel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plewbel/

Almost Friday folks….you can do it!

@rusnivek

Meetings with FEMA Region V office peeps

Posted on April 17, 2019 by rusnivek

Quick stop on a fire Wednesday morning with the teams from FEMA Region V Chicago office.

Great to catch up – lotsa good things coming up!

@rusnivek

Darkness as we find the EOC

Posted on April 5, 2019 by rusnivek

In the dark, we see the light…

More like the light of the EOC…So let’s get started, reporting into the Emergency Operations Center (EOC)!

Aside from the EOC and the central coordination center, it’s always nice to see this kind of message. Phew.

Happy Aloha Friday cause we’re in the EOC!

@rusnivek

FEMA Basic PIO Day-1 at Summit County (OH) Public Health

Posted on April 2, 2019 by rusnivek

Another fine start to the FEMA Basic Public Information Officer class here in Summit County, Ohio!

Many thanks to the pros at the Summit County Health Department who are hosting this week’s class.

Outstanding hospitality as always!

And of course special thanks to Jena Beckett and the team from Summit County EMA for enhancing their team’s knowledge on the fun of being a Public Information Officer!

We are in the command room this week so you know it’s serious!

As always, we lay the groundwork for successful operations for any PIO.

But we also share real-world experiences that could help in their daily routines to better their visibility. And yes, of course we still do all the media mock interviews.

Public health is a great partner when it comes to outbreaks and opioid intervention tactics so many of our participants opted to test their media skills on an outbreak and response.

Also great to have former Columbus newsies Rachel Feeley on our PIO side (now with Ohio Department of Health) as we continue our mock interviews for everyone.

See, deep down inside, some reporters want to be public safety PIOs. 🤣

For those newly assigned PIOs, we get them on camera as soon as possible!

The whole idea is that we expose new PIOs to this kind of media interview(s) so they aren’t shocked the first time they do it in real life. It’s always a bit more nerve racking when you are n00b PIO and have a bunch of mics and high intensity lights shoved in your face during the start of a major disaster or crisis.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand finally, a big shout out to my team across this great nation as FEMA turns 40 this week!

Here’s a quick video that External Affairs put together.

Proud to work along side all of you through countless disasters.
@rusnivek

Day-1 of the FEMA G775 EOC Management & Operations Course at DuPage County OHSEM

Posted on March 21, 2019 by rusnivek

Starting out the official FEMA G775 EOC Management and Operations course today.

And if you didn’t know what EOC was…..

And now you know.

In this class, we are fortunate to talk about our fine partners in public safety represented in 15 different ESFs. As an example, the biggest nerd….I mean guru on radios is everyone’s favorite Comms guy, ladies and gents, put your hands together for John Neeeeeeeeeeeebl!!!!!!

Happy to give the floor to him to share the efforts of the ITECS trailers and the COML function with everyone.

We also discussed a ton on positions and what is done to serve the EOC. We talked a bit on plans and how they drive the train along using the planning P as a guide to the formulation of the IAP.

Now, your EOC is waaaay more than just getting a few computers.

Yikes. That’s right, you can’t have everything on computer, you need ACTUAL human beings running the show.

Not only a warm body, but also highly trained individual and pros that possess knowledge and experience to make critical decisions to support operations as well as support the ongoing operational periods. So basically we need peeps that know how to work a disaster.

So to help put things into perspective, we showcased our own EOC too.

Honestly, we hope that you know our EOC because if we spin up, we want you to know our setup so that we can all function well TOGETHER. Again, the EOC should be used as a coordination center for our all-hazards partners.