Happy Halloween all!
Yeah yeah yeah, no masks at the press conference. I know.
Happy Halloween! #PIO
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Tag Archives: PIO
Quick chat with FEMA Deputy Administrator Dan Kaniewski
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!
COOP kinda day with a unicorn, ARC, and the big DHS IG Pro
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….
Monday morning with FEMA HQ staff
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….
Yep, deployed.
Assigned: 4420DR – NE
Tasked: FEMA PIO Incident Management, External Affairs Kevin Sur
Reporting to the JFO. (USNG: 14T PL 91778 25366)
See you in a few hours.
Another FEMA PIO Awareness course in Lake County Illinois
Another fine start to the FEMA PIO Awareness course here at Mundelein Fire Station 1!
Special thanks to DC Brents and the whole crew!
Lots to talk about as we intro the magic of public information to a new class. Of course we had a few words of wisdom from PIO John Nebl.
Great perspective and stories from Schaumburg Police.
If you were wondering, we are in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC)…so that’s a good thing.
Making your peeps train in the location that they would likely be activated to…is a solid practice.
With a diverse class, we are able to cover lots of topics and various situations. The all-hazards nature of this FEMA class allows us to better prepare our PIOs for any emergency.
Additionally, I love to share my experiences from large events and disasters with fellow colleagues from across the State of Illinois.
Training together better prepares us to coordinate and work together before, during, and after an emergency. That’s right, come on in and form Voltron.
Special thanks to all the staff from Mundelein Fire for the warm hospitality to our staff from the DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Train like you fight!
Day-2 of the FEMA Basic PIO Course here in KY
Day-2 of the FEMA Basic Public Information Officer Course here.
Glad to finally meet Lexington Fire Capt Jessica Bowman who is also one of the FEMA Master PIOs.
Great day to share some of the tools we use as PIOs. Here’s Sherelle and John talking about the importance and fashionable safety vests are for officials onscene.
Additionally, we discussed media being well visible as their safety is incredibly important. We can’t have our friends in the news business get hurt or become part of the incident.
And trust me, the more people who get injured in an incident, the more paperwork we all have to fill out….so be safe!
As usual, we had a very seasoned media panel from WLEX18 Bill Wilcox and Herald Leader Peter Baniak. Many thanks to both news organizations to spend time out of their busy schedule to spend with PIOs from across the state.
With all Basic PIO classes, we talk about the ability and flexibility for PIOs to do field reporting. Often times, reporters can’t get to a scene because of traffic or lack of staffing. Either way, we as government PIOs can help them out by packaging information they need from the scene. The tools needed to produce this kind of info is fairly easy to get, however the challenge is to put them into play.
By sharing the tactics and tools in class, I am able to improve the skills of any PIO by enhancing their ability to share solid timely and TRUSTED information with any of the targeted audiences.
As PIOs, we are beholden to so many audiences.
- Public
- Media
- Leadership
- Our internal teams.
At times, our job seems easy however once you dive into it, you can see the complexities of our efforts.
Don’t worry, we reviewed all mock on camera interviews. Tackled key concepts like redirects as well as some tips on how to give more positive non-verbals while being interviewed during crisis.
Super fun day with everyone. Lots of contributions from our partners from Fire, EMS, Police, Emergency Management, Energy, Coroner’s Office, Higher Education, Search and Rescue.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s FEMA JIC/JIS course!
Reporting live from the EOC….
@rusnviek
FEMA Basic PIO course at the PSOC
Morning start to the FEMA Basic Public Information Officer course at the Public Safety Operations Center (PSOC)
Welcome and good morning by Mr. JB himself!
Packed house with multiple disciplines represented from Fire, EMS, Police, Emergency Management, ESF-12, higher education, Search and Rescue, Coroners Office, etc…
Like a good Emergency Manager, I found the EOC.
They have soooo many tools and toys to play with!
As all FEMA Basic PIO courses, we are staunch advocates of putting all participants in front of the camera. No matter what kind of experience level or years in the position, you can always learn by practicing your skills in front of others.
We typically hear complaints.
- I didn’t get enough time to prepare.
- I didn’t get the information in time.
- I don’t know anything about plane crashes!
Blah blah blah. But the reality of the situation is….IT HAPPENS LIKE THAT IN REAL LIFE!!!!!!!!
So yeah, we want to train like you fight.
For those that were wondering “Has this ever happened before?” Yes.
Looking forward to tomorrow day-2 with our news media panel, interview reviews, and focus on social media.
#MediaMinutes interview w/ RTV6 Paris Lewbel
As part of our ongoing efforts to help enhance the skills of the PIO across the country, here’s another #MediaMinutes interview w/ RTV6 Paris Lewbel!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GK8n-_OR-c
For more information on Paris-
@Twitter: https://twitter.com/PLewbel
@Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plewbel/
@Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paris.lewbel
Happy Monday everyone!
City of Chicago OEMC, JIC, PSAP, and other stuff while hanging in the Bat cave
Good morning from the City of Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications!
Located in the heart of the west loop, this multi functional location serves as a focal point for City EOC, JIC, Snow Command, PW EOC, Ops Center, 911 PSAP, etc….basically, I’m glad it’s a hardened facility.
Today’s Emergency Management topics have to deal with Disaster Assistance and Public Assistance. Hiya Wendellllllllllllllllllllllllll.
Of course, as a good Emergency Manager, we want to take a look at the host city’s EOP.
Lots to discern and digest from our partners.
Now, for those who refuse to share information and hold information tight to their chest….that’s dumb. You realize when the big one hits, your isolationist actions will prove to be detrimental to the success of the response/recovery of any emergency. Again, work closely with your partners BEFORE a disaster.
Looking down into the PSAP center floor, lots of call takers working the good for the community.
PSAPs and EOCs are kept relatively dark to help with eye strain. Telecommunications have a tough job. If you haven’t already done so, I’d recommend that you sit in their chair one day and observe. Quite honestly, I’d take working the squad any day.
Quick look into the City of Chicago’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) too.
And calm yourself PIOs….I found it.
Get your City of Chicago Joint Information Center (JIC) on baby! I sense I will be spending activation time here soon.
And yes, I’m wearing a tie.
As we close out response/recovery discussions for the day, we must spend more time thinking about cross training and enhancing our multi-jurisdictional skills. Working together is critical to any event or incident. We must overcome the stigma and the predisposed notion of kingdoms and fiefdoms. We must work together before a disaster. This will result in better response collaboration and recovery efforts.
Where am I? They threw up the bat signal so….
Reporting live from the Bat Cave:
I’m Batman….I mean @rusnivek
Where is @rusnivek? 