Tag Archives: ICS

Busy September 2016 = National Preparedness Month #NatlPrep #PrepareAthon

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August was solid, but September is going to be huge because it’s NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH!!!!!

First and second week, it’ll all be planning for a gigantic upcoming all-hazards PIO/PAO Conference.

Third week will be spent teaching ICS-300 for Ohio EMA to my friends in the SW part of Ohio. And then on Friday, attending the Ohio PIO Symposium.

Fourth week, I’ll be teaching at Washington DC’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management EOC. Upon return, then presenting at the Wayne County (Ohio) Fire Chief’s Conference on PIO/Social Media.

Fifth week, I’ll be presenting on PIO and cyber at the infrastructure at the statewide infrastructure protection conference in Region-7. Who knows, if I can do it, maybe some tactical training in Alliance too. #pewpew

And ALL month long, I’ll be participating in National Preparedness month activities that you can share with your constituents. If we can better prepare our peeps, we can increase our national level of community resilience.

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Thanks to the www.ready.gov program, it is easier than ever to get involved and prepared.

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Hope to see you engaging during this important month.

“Don’t Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today.”

@rusnivek

Using ICS for wildfires and NIMS common terminology #NatlPrep

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CalFire is working a coordinated ICS system to support ground operations #NatlPrep

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As you guessed, CalFire has followed NIMS ICS for decades. Based out of McClellan Airfield, they can coordinate tanker/tender operations.

If you’ve ever been in command of an emergency or disaster, it’s hard to coordinate everyone together. This is why it is imperative to collaborate before an emergency. With wildfire operations, you have so many intricate parts over such a vast area – it really is a well orchestrated response.

Providing safety for all professionals is a must. To all the responders out in the field, keep up the good work!

Continue being vigilant in safety peeps.

For those that need some help w/ resource identification and why it’s so important, here’s a quick example of common terminology is SO important these days.

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These are TANKERS

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These are TENDERS

Get it? Got it? Good.

**If you still don’t get it, please review IS-100, IS-200, IS-700, IS-800, ICS-300, and ICS-400.

Don’t wait. Communicate. Make your emergency plan today.

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@rusnivek

Spent my day with my hometown CERT

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Spent my day volunteering with my hometown Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).

On arrival, I thought I was going to get assigned a different task, but logistics and parking was the identified main concern and safety was an issue.

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After I got briefed on the event, I discussed our situation with all the participants. As CERT, we coordinated our efforts so that our actions/tactics could best match the safety of our personnel as well as others who were there attending the event.

I briefed the Mayor on our ongoing operations and even looked at a few alternate plans.

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Of course we continued to assess our event and think about other safety measures.

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And of course we had a few moments to share a smile.

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Fun fact, our Council President and Safety Chair is also a proud founding member of my awesome CERT Team. Booya!

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Seriously, I love it when elected members of local government give back to their community.

We identified a few issues that will need to be made for the 2016 event (like a formal all-hazards traffic plan with maps, uniformed vests, pre-event plan dissemination/distribution, more participation, etc…). Maybe a formal Incident Action Plan (IAP). Fairly easy stuff that we would be happy to share w/ our constituents.

Wait….What? You have never heard of FEMA’s CERT program before? Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community.

More info can be found on FEMA’s website here.

Want to volunteer within your own community? Want to make a difference in your community? Click here to locate the closest CERT Team to you!

As always, I believe I can make a difference in my community. Fun fact: I’ve been volunteering with my CERT since 2007.

I hope you will do the same.

@rusnivek

July 2015 has crazy-town written all over it

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June 2015 turned out to be pretty crazy…and July 2015 has crazy-town written all over it.

First week: I’ll be working on a few things for NW Ohio and their recent flooding. Most likely Public Information Officer response stuff. At the end of the week/weekend, I got a special project with Cleveland Police K-9 Teams, SWAT, Bomb Team, Air Unit, and Mounted Units. Finally back in Region-5!

Second week: I’ll be teaching the Ohio Emergency Management Agency’s Basic Public Information Officer’s Course and Joint Information Center/System in Medina County. Working the PIO magic for the state!

Third week: I’ll be teaching a weekend ICS-300 and a weekend ICS-400 in Ohio. If possible, I might sneak away during the week to Frankfort, Kentucky to pilot a new FEMA PIO Course in Region-4.

Fourth week: I’ll be finishing up the ICS-400 course and then coordinating a site visit and functional exercise for our NE Ohio PIO Task Force (NEO-PIO-TF) to one of the local news stations in the Cleveland area.

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It’s still a bit hectic, but I am hoping to see some peace to my schedules soon.

@rusnivek

Many in government did NOT yield to standard NIMS ICS principles today

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Lots of discussion around the speech from Benjamin Netanyahu today.

I mean, lots of ICS violations from the speech today.

My POVs:

1. Only the Incident Commander should brief his G&GSF.

2. LOFRs need to pay better attention to on site VIP visits and make sure it doesn’t disrupt Ops.

3. Other agency reps or SMEs should submit comms approval on messages through the LOFR. IC approval is a must.

4. IC and PSC should be primary on the SMART Objectives. TFs or STs or Single resources should not be weighing in on strategic direction.

5. Play here in your own sandbox. We got bigger national issues to worry about.

In case you needed a NIMS ICS-207 review

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@rusnivek

OMG – Hello January 2015!

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Hello 2015! After a nice 2014 holiday season, 2015 seems to be filling up fast.

First few weeks include special projects in with FEMA Region-9 and Region-5. In fact, next week I have to update a few friends at the White House (I better turn my spell Check on). Third and fourth week will be NIMS/ICS training in southern Ohio.

Sometime in January, I should complete my special commerce project for my Ohio peeps. All-hazards right?

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Happy New Year everyone – wishing you a prosperous 2015!

@rusnivek