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Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

Another presser with FL Gov in Key West #PIO Coordination

Posted on October 4, 2017 by rusnivek

Started out the morning with a press conference w/ the Governor of Florida again here in Key West. My view from the podium.

Topic today was the Key West economic push “open for business” – glad to see the partnerships of city, county, state, and Federal partnerships making that happen.

PIO pro tip: You’ll want to position your DIV/SUP (FCO Cadre) in the right place. Glad I did.

Money baby….money!

As usual, Gov Scott did some post presser interviews w/ the USAToday, local stations, Orlando etc….And as I said before, we are fortunate to have great working relationships with so many media outlets from Miami…

….Tallahassee…

…and even public radio showed up too!

It’s quite an amazing process to see everyone working together to recover from a major storm here in Florida.

Reporting live from the podium…

@rusnivek

Trust your staff to tell your agency’s story

Posted on October 3, 2017 by rusnivek

Trust your staff and let them tell your agency’s story. Through their eyes, voice, and heart – the world will truly see the mission and goal.

Juan is a perfect example: Soon to be Father, an excellent DRC Manager, and most importantly, his family is from Puerto Rico. A testament to professionalism, dedication, caring, and compassion to countless survivors of Hurricane Irma here in the Florida Keys.

Me? I’m just proud to be on his team.

@rusnivek

Hi October. Still deployed.

Posted on October 1, 2017 by rusnivek

Well, it appears to be October.

I can’t quite tell what day it is as I haven’t seen a day off in a while. So it seems like a Region-4 month.

Plan for the month? I’m still deployed as the FEMA Public Information Officer (PIO) in Monroe County, Florida – specifically the Florida Keys.

@rusnivek

New base camp – meet my new friend Iggy!

Posted on September 30, 2017 by rusnivek

Changing basecamp locations today. Whahooo!!!! Not.

I have received many questions on living conditions so let me share with you the new living quarters. We are now in Big Pine Key at a former road patrol prison.

Need to use the bathroom?

Definitely not a hotel. No real toilets in sight.

Male and female tents separate the people staying here.

Inside our sleeping quarters.

Good thing I stopped by early so I can claim top bunk.

But upon closer inspection, I found that something has already claimed my space.

So I figured it was a good time to take a picture with my new bunk mate.

I shall name him Iggy.

If there isn’t enough housing for disaster survivors, don’t think you are going to have a nice hotel to stay in or to lounge around. Plain and simple – disaster Survivors are the priority.

So to summarize, those that THINK they are going to be pampered with lush amenities, stay in a hotel, and gain points – this ain’t it. Don’t expect anyone to pamper you or get turn down service. And yes, it’s loud at night.

I’d also recommend that if you can’t stand camping, you are not cut out for disaster response.

I would best associate this disaster’s lodging to extreme camping.

@rusnivek

Disaster Recovery Center now open in Islamorada #KeysRecovery

Posted on September 29, 2017 by rusnivek

Hitting it hard to provide for the residents of the Florida Keys – our team readies the third Disaster Recovery Center (DRC) in Islamorada.

Proud to see this one up to serve the northern keys. The artwork definitely reflects the dangers of the job and previous disasters.

DRC is located in the second floor of the Fire Station so I feel right at home.

Also glad to see the new recruit class working hard too.

Reporting live from my third Disaster Recovery Center grand opening…

@rusnivek

Working with Univision to get our message out in Spanish

Posted on September 28, 2017 by rusnivek

Great day working with Univision from Miami.

Sharing the message from our FEMA on registering on disasterassistance.gov is a great way to start the process on various programs. But sharing it statewide is great too!

Reaching audiences in various languages allows our information to proliferate into various communities throughout different communities affected by the Cat-4 hurricane.

Additionally sharing the recovery message with our partners like Small Business Administration (SBA) – showcases the skills of government agencies working together.

“We are working closely with our partner in public safety to ensure that everyone gets disaster assistance.”
“It’ll be a long road ahead, but millions of dollars have been approved for disaster assistance to Floridians for Hurricane Irma recovery.”
“This is what we train for, this is what we do.”

Glad we prepped and hit questions that could be used across various communities. #syndication

@rusnivek

New FEMA lodging for Hurricane Irma Disaster Response Recovery

Posted on September 27, 2017 by rusnivek

I was instructed by senior leadership to move lodging again. Now sleeping at Florida Keys International Airport Basecamp.

Luxurious? Nope, just on the airport taxiway at Echo. Right next to an active runway and aircraft are using the airfield all the time at Florida Keys International Airport.

Like any other location, you MUST check in.

You mean I get to pick my own king sized bed? AWESOME!!!

Home sweet home.

Need to shower? Just go into the trailer.

Need to use the bathroom? Just across the way. Always wear your boots because it’s flooded.

Splash splash. Fun times.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: If you dislike using porta-pottys all the time, you are not cut out for disaster response/recovery.

Reporting live from the airport taxiway…

@rusnivek

First time working with Univision – interviews in Spanish!

Posted on September 26, 2017 by rusnivek

For the first time in my career, I got a chance to work with Univision for a FEMA interview on the disaster recovery process.

Great to have Patty down with our crews at the Big Pine Key Disaster Recovery Center.

Like any good PIO, before the news crews arrived, we briefly went over questions and talked about the important points of disaster response/recovery as well as possible questions that could be brought up.

The Univision crews also interviewed people who were there too.

And since we have several people who speak Spanish, I figured that it would be great to have them get some camera time too.

Well done Carmen!

And of course, since this was the first time I worked with Univision, I had to get a selfie.

Glad to be a small part in helping getting the word out to the Spanish speaking community.

@rusnivek

Another Governor and FCO visit with PIO media coordination

Posted on September 25, 2017 by rusnivek

Another Florida Governor visit with our senior administration and Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO).

Tight quarters so I had to set the cameras far back.

Little known fact, positioning and seats AT the table is important. A PIOs job is to get the right optic for media.

I even found a reporter shooting stills in between the arms of attendees.

Cramped space makes it tight and a little schwetty!

After the actual meeting was over, we had several post meeting interviews including 10News and Telemundo. Great to see so many news outlets covering the Governor’s message…

…and our message from FEMA.

Solid day on Hurricane Irma disaster response and recovery for Florida.

#PIO is OK!

@rusnivek

Sunday #PIO interviews for ABC Local 10 News in the Keys

Posted on September 24, 2017 by rusnivek

Sunday is a packed day of media interviews!!

Hosting news crews from all over Florida here in Branch V isn’t easy esp when you are the only PIO assigned to the Division A. But yo – you gotta make magic happen.

Great to have news agencies that want to report the right story.

Glad to have my friends from ABC News10 in town.

@rusnivek