Where is @rusnivek?

Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

Sunday streamlining our JIC Ops

Posted on March 22, 2020 by rusnivek

Sunday is off to a bang as we need some formality to the process. Revamp what? What does that mean?

1. We are going to take a look at the press releases and move them to media alerts…because no one reads press releases anymore. Let’s not waste time and align it to be more factual and numbers. From a PIO perspective, this “trending” is what news outlets are looking for. Big upticks/spikes in numbers.

And in this situation, I doubt they are concentrating at the minutia of individual numbers esp since they are projected to dramatically increase over the next few weeks.

2. Accountability must be improved as we got the formal FEMA Disaster Declaration under the Stafford Act. So everyone gets a T-card and everyone must fill out an ICS-214. That includes me too.

3. Don’t forget to sign in on the ICS-211 form and your T-card is good to go.

4. Get a hard copy of the IAP and read through it. Don’t get caught not knowing the current plan. Maybe…MAYBE use those fancy tactical cargo pockets to hold your IAP (I’m judging).

5. Daily morning briefs with your PIOs….we call them our PIO roll call. Not longer than 10 minutes, allows us to get a handle on our daily activities and allows us to coordinate with each other. SA/COP baby!

I hate to break the news to you but the PIO’s job isn’t easy. So much more work goes behind the scenes and talking on camera is really about 5% of the job. Your main bread and butter work comes from the preparation and planning that goes into that.

Additionally, most reporters aren’t going to catch you live and want to do interviews. This new fangled invention called the cell phone makes it easy to communicate with all your reporters.

I honestly can’t tell you how many phone calls and interviews I did standing in my garage at 11p at night.

Yep, it never ends.

Get some sleep peeps, it’s going to be a long week ahead.

@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.

Solid first day as we talk about the benefits of the EOC. Glad to have so many partners here in class with us.

Reporting live from the DuPage County OHSEM FEMA EOC Ops class…

@rusnivek

FEMA EOC Management and Operations Course tomorrow

Posted on March 20, 2019 by rusnivek

Teaching FEMA’s Emergency Operations Center Management & Operations course tomorrow.

Looking forward to sharing some EOC tips w/ Emergency Management pros from across the state of #Illinois.

@rusnivek

JIC/JIS Course at IFD HQ – Day-3!

Posted on November 21, 2018 by rusnivek

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!

@rusnivek

Day-2 of the DHS/FEMA G0290 Basic PIO Course!

Posted on November 20, 2018 by rusnivek

Day-2 of the DHS/FEMA G0290 Basic PIO Course!

We had time to discuss a myriad of topics including the importance of press releases.

While antiquated, there is some value. I think.

Lots of group work as we continue to move to support our agencies’ goals and mission.

As usual, we were fortunate to have excellent coordination with local and national media for this class.

Good Morning America Elyna Niles-Carnes (@encproducer)

WISHTV-8 Emily Kinzer (@EmilyKinzer8)

RTV6 Paris Lewbel (@PLewbel)

and Indiana State Police PIO Sgt John Perrine (@ISPIndianapolis).

So glad to have this candid media panel to discuss ongoing PIO operations with everyone.

Got a chance to facilitate this panel discussion as we had spirited discussion on “no comment”, realistic expectations, favoritism, “off the record” vs truth. Outstanding discussion from everyone from Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Florida, and of course Indiana.

And if you were wondering, no doubt, we did review all in-class interviews.

Solid discussion on tips/tricks to use during oncamera interviews as well as some great techniques to use during a crisis.

Looking forward to tomorrow – final day as we form Voltron and move into JIC/JIS!!

@rusnivek

Day-1 of the FEMA Basic PIO Course in Indianapolis

Posted on November 19, 2018 by rusnivek

Day-1 of the FEMA Basic PIO course here in Indianapolis!

Glad to be teaching with FEMA Master PIO Erica Creech…

…and WTFD Capt Mike Pruitt…

…and oh a quick surprise….FEMA Master PIO Rita Reith!

That’s right, for those of you keeping score, this is the first time 3 FEMA Master PIOs have taught the Basic PIO Course. Whoop whooop!

Don’t worry, we did some on camera interviews as well as some fun dialog with out class that hail from Indiana and Kentucky!

We talked about press conferences and the importance and the need for onscene communications not only with the news media, but also the general public. Like the breaking news coming out of Mercy Hospital in Chicago.