Thank you to FEMA Deputy Administrator for Resilience Dan Kaniewski.
Your national efforts to push long-term planning for resilient communities will have long lasting effects for Emergency Managers as we all strive to better prepare our communities for any emergency or disaster.
Best of luck on your new adventure in the private sector.
I was fortunate this week to sit down this week with FEMA Deputy Administrator for Resilience Dan Kaniewski at FEMA HQ.
Dan’s efforts across the country has helped pushed the importance of preparedness and strength for any community. With regular talks on flood insurance and hazard mitigation, his ability to bring pre-disaster planning to the forefront has been solid as we continue to help many communities better prepare for any disaster or emergency.
Dan’s hard fought efforts is not only with government agencies, but various partners in the public and private sector too. The importance of their efforts will only help better their community when disaster strikes.
Glad to see our top brass pushing for more preparedness every single day too.
Reporting live from FEMA HQ…Happy Aloha Friday peeps!
Tuesday morning and we’re talking about national continuity!
To some, it may not be exciting. BUT Continuity of Operations (COOP) is so critical to any organization esp to the resilience of any community post-disaster. So I was STOKED to see that I was invited by the National Continuity Division to be a part of the new FEMA COOP class.
And I was even more stoked to be sitting next to the class unicorn.
You see, if we as educators look outside our normal circles and lean on others from various agencies, there is much to learn. We had fine representation from numerous agencies from across the country.
For my lunch meeting I opted for a mini SMEM meetup with the American Red Cross Keith Robertory (@krobertory). We have been following for YEARS but have never met in real life.
Amazing these social media relationships because in our discussion, we have lots and lots in common. Friends, disasters, the list goes on and on…
Speaking of disasters, look who I found….
Streeeeeeeeeeeeeter! Yeah, we kinda twinsies today.
OK, I better get back to class. COOP/COG time!
Reporting live from C Street….
Solid Monday morning here at FEMA HQ.
Catching up to a few friends in External Affairs because preparedness doesn’t stop! I knew Jana starting back in the day as we were (and still are) huge advocates for the Ready.Gov Program.
For more details behind the FEMA Ready.Gov program, check out www.ready.gov
And since we are talking about External Affairs, I got a chance to take a deep dive with FEMA External Affairs Director Jessica Nalepa.
Lots of discussion on the complexities of External Affairs and how our actions are so critical in a disaster and of course the public perception. Also lots of discussion on dedication to career and service.
Looking forward to having more discussion with her on how to improve our response and elevate External Affairs for FEMA and the nation.
Suit up because I’m reporting live from Washington DC….
Final day of the 2019 National Preparedness Symposium here at CDP! Lots to share as we open up the day with a long talk on cyber.
Hint to Emergency Managers, Cyber is the sexy incident now…so I suggest you plan and design with your training manager now. Yep, you heard me right, cyber = sexy.
Noooooooow switching from cyber to FIT – because we will all get a FIT!
Here to listen in on the deets for the FEMA Integration Teams (FIT) from my FEMA LNO in Hurricane Irma, ladies and gents, put your hands together for…….. John Allen!!!!!
John Allen, better known as FEMA’s Director of Preparedness Integration and Coordination out of HQ has been point person for this effort started when previous FEMA Administrator Brock Long started.
This program imbeds FEMA Planners at specified locations to support all state, local, tribal, and territory (SLTT) partners. Rollout has been ongoing as this is a phased effort. Many of the 56 FITs are not staffed yet.
Also fortunate to have one of the FIT Leads with us from Idaho – hiya Justin!
Great to see that kind of partnerships on all levels including building confidence in the SLTT’s efforts. The most beneficial aspect of the program would be that the FIT can provide RRCCs and NRCC accurate SA/COP for real-time operational assessment and needs. So more than just an FEMA LNO, these FITs are able to integrate and provide immediate support.
But truth be told, the FITs are really integrated into their community as they live there. They work there. They are part of the response, recovery side of any event or incident that state may have. Great idea!
Me? I’m totes interested.
Riding on the wave of productivity, we popped back into our regional groups again and talked about our lessons learned from this symposium.
We discussed at length how we can help each other under blue/grey skies time…and really support each other during event/disasters.
Here’s a little behind the scenes of the group. Everyone participated including solid contributions from our tribal partners.
After all, isn’t that the mantra of Emergency Management? Building relationships before a disaster?!?!? See, even the pros practice what we preach!
In breaking for lunch, I know many of you remember taking IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, IS-800 and remember this slide.
I wanted to dispel the rumor, that is NOT me.
Saw a few of the FIWA folks in the hall and thanked them for their help during our MRTs as well as our pre-disaster deployment support prior to Irma. While there, I had them check my FEMA phone and tuned up. They reminded me that I still needed to do my yearly compliance training on “Security Awareness”
#whoops
As the symposium closed out, we had the color guard from the Anniston Police stop by to retire the colors.
Everyone who attended work tirelessly in protecting our nation from emergencies and disasters. We all believe in helping out and supporting all our communities because a prepared nation is a more resilient nation.
On the door step of the Memorial Day weekend, we all pause to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice to protect everyone in this great nation.
Be safe out there folks!
Reporting live from the 2019 National Preparedness Symposium…
Early morning start to this Tuesday waiting for clearance from tower.
But before you know it, we are off heading 150 to the 2019 National Preparedness Symposium!
Awwwww yeah, training & exercises and all the FEMA peeps in one place here at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Alabama!
Started off with a talk from the National Integration Center on the new National Response Framework and Community Lifelines.
Chad walked us through soooooo many programs that Doc talked about previously. Glad to see his work has carried through to inspire a new generation of Emergency Managers.
Continued with spirited discussion from my friends at FEMA EMI on the ongoing efforts for the Emergency Management Professional Program.
Lots of recs on what to take and complete as they could (hint hint) require this for EMPG grant funding employees. Yes that’s right, they can mandate these courses to qualify for grant funds.
So yeah, I’d suggest you get on those courses right away.
Then we hopped deep into a FEMA Region 5 meeting w/ our partners from Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and of course Illinois. Overview of exercises “Basically, June is going to be insane.”
Grrrrreat.
Then, it happened. One of the Training & Exercise Managers called me out as “The Legend! We have a picture of you on our wall!”
Me: Blush
Joliet Fire Deputy Fire Chief gave us the biggest shoutout as they said to the entire region “Did you know DuPage trained all the Aurora Police PIOs? Their first day of the job was the day they had that shooting.”
Either way, it was good to report out for DuPage County OHSEM and their significant efforts in training for all provides from across Illinois.
And of course got a chance to see a few familiar faces in the crowd from Rhode Island, Vermont, Texas, California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Tennessee, New York, Kentucky, Louisiana, and of course Illinois.
Great to catch up to FEMA Region 8 James Taylor who served as my Disaster Recovery Center Manager during Hurricane Irma for the Florida Keys.
Glad to hear he is doing well.
Proud to see soooooooo many old disaster friends too.
Looking forward to hearing from Acting Administrator Pete Gaynor tomorrow morning as he will surely touch on our strategic mission objectives as well as building out a culture of preparedness.
Follow the hashtag used: #NPS19
Reporting live from the CDP….
Morning meetings today with all the Chicago Police Department Communications Team at HQ!
Sharing some tips and news in workshop format about ongoing public safety operations as well as coordinated efforts will help all of us as PIOs. #PIAT
All the coordination enhances our ability to be a more prepared deployable asset to support other agencies of the like.
And for those wondering, the world of PIOs, PAOs, and ESF15 is very small. No matter the size of the disaster or hurricane, every good PIO knows other good PIOs.
Great to meet the team from CPD and looking forward to working with each other to support the mission of public safety for municipalities across this great country.
Special shout out to the CPD team Anthony, Tom, Michael, and Luis.
Me? Yep-proud to continue to serve so many great communities.
Day-3 of the Joint Information Center/Joint Information System course here at the Indianapolis Fire Headquarters.
This place is super nice…
…and a bonus welcome by the Chief of the department – Fire Chief Malone!
Outstanding to see that kind of engagement of a large metro fire department stop by to say hi. And of course the IFD PIO BC Rita Reith working the PIO magic too!
Great discussion on when situations get worse…ie disaster declarations and how as situations start to grow, how we as a nation respond to help assist others.
You know we had lots of discussion on JIC/JIS operations and needs.
Also discussed how the executive policy room could affect actions of the field PIOs as well as the JIC – which stresses the need for solid, one voice communications from the Emergency Operations Center.
I know, I know, coordination again huh? But it’s the truth! If we don’t work together, we will likely fail our constituents. We must work together to support our ongoing efforts of safety with all our partners.
Great dialog on mutual aid partnerships. Regardless of the situation, we can all work closely with each other and share ideas.
Me? I am very proud of the work from everyone in the class this week.
Looking forward to working with all of you during the next big one.
Until then, go forth and tweet good stuff!
FEMA Region V Administrator James Joseph was in Washington DC today for the Youth Preparedness Council at Red Cross HQ.
Great to see Ready.Gov partnering with everyone on today’s events.
Additionally, download the free Prepare with Pedro workbook for kids here.
HQ, I copy the demob orders from Texas and Puerto Rico.
I also copy the new deployment orders for Florida.
Less than 24-hours.
Where is @rusnivek? 