Yo #Chicago – is this like advanced level Dibs?
Not sure, but if you have some crutches, you should probably use them.
Just to be sure, I’m not parking there…
Advanced level dibs?
Reply
Tag Archives: Preparedness
Region-3 meeting today in McHenry County
IEMA-OHS Region-3 meeting today so I get a chance to hang with the teams from across the greater Chicagoland and the top tier Emergency Managers.
I’ve been and have lead training here at the McHenry County Regional Training Center. Solid facility and the hospitality from the McHenry County EMA is outstanding.
Even more fun is seeing friends that I don’t get to see all that often.
Proud graduates of our FEMA Emergency Management Advanced Academy, it was great to see IEMA-OHS Operations Section Chief Chris D. and Aurora EMA Coordinator Natalie W. today.
Legit smiles as we all got a chance to catch up for a bit.
Reporting live from McHenry County….
Annual interface training today
To better acclimate our public safety partners to our operations, we hosted our annual off-site agency interface training today.
Fire, EMS, Emergency Management, Law Enforcement, and key players from state and Federal were also on hand to make sure we are a well oiled machine when it comes to inbound resources.
Glad to see so many familiar faces on site today.
Just another way Emergency Management leads the way to collaborate with our most trusted partners in response and recovery.
Reporting live from today’s sesh…
Severe weather awareness week in Illinois #PIO
Another interview as we talk about preparedness. This week is severe weather awareness week in Illinois.
PIO here….working with the Springfield news to feature IEMA-OHS Deputy Director Clayton Kuetemeyer.
Making sure everyone is prepared is key to safety.
Illinois has had some severe weather lately so I am glad that our media partners are in it to win it too.
Just glad to hang with the crew from WICS today in Springfield.
Reporting live from the SEOC…
2025 Big City Emergency Manager program with our IEMA-OHS Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau
Starting out the morning with all the Big City Emergency Managers at Chicago OEMC’s Emergency Operations Center.
First up, IEMA-OHS Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau.
Sharing the challenges of Emergency Management and focusing in on statewide issues. Overcoming challenges and strengthening Federal relationships is key especially in the first few hours of a disaster.
Initial response will dictate the disaster tempo. If your tempo is off and your battle rhythm is askew, you will likely become another disaster. So please make sure your efforts are coordinated.
Diving deep into overcoming resources challenges early on so that we can serve our diverse communities.
Special thanks to all the rising stars in the 2025 Big City Emergency Managers Program.
Your 2024 Democratic National Convention Joint Information Center team!
I am honored to lead this Joint Information Center (JIC) with the US Secret Service.
I am incredibly thankful for everyone who participated with us from local, county, state, and Federal partners. Welcome to Illinois and the City of Chicago!
Lots of dangers with these types of National Special Security Events (NSSEs), but through a well coordinated system with highly trained individuals,
Trust me, it took many months of introductions, planning, networking, scheduling, coordinating, and of course collaborating with our most trusted partners from across the country.
I’ve said it before, but it takes a certain skillset to be the agency’s PIO. No day is ever alike.
And no incident or event will ever be the same. Nothing is ever the same.
Proud of the work that was done this week to keep everyone safe.
Reporting live from the 2024 DNC’s Joint Information Center…
Setting up the PIO desk
I even got an L-shaped desk!
Seems kinda empty now…and I gotta get more monitors too.
Either way, happy to be part of the team.
Reporting in from my 1960s desk…
Detailed warning information on upcoming weather threats and other hazards
Welcome to the third week of 2020 National Preparedness Month! This week, we will be addressing how to prepare for specific disasters.
Compared to other weeks where we talk about general topics, plans, and maybe some things in your kit, we will be talking about how you can get stuff ready for each type of emergency or disaster.
So to start out, let’s talk about information about upcoming disasters.
A solid tool that is almost indispensable is…..your cell phone!
That’s right, that little computer/smart phone in your pocket is a GREAT way that you can discern information and better respond to the emergency.
One easy way is to download the FEMA app.
https://www.fema.gov/about/news-multimedia/app
The FEMA app has a ton of features that could be beneficial to your specific area. Specifically in the notification for five of your identified cities/county.
This feature provides the ability to see what’s going on in a certain area of the country. And since I travel, I always have the first slot in my list for home. This allows me to get any notification on stuff that could be happening at home.
The second, third, and fourth slot are for my family in Los Angles, Honolulu, and San Francisco. Gotta keep an eye on the family no matter where they are. Plus an extra set of eyes from another part of the country is beneficial esp if they are sleeping at 0300 and it’s 0800 here.
Since I travel a fair amount, I usually reserve slot #5 (the last slot) for my work travel. Even though I may not be from Central City, I will always know the latest in dangers in my travel city.
From critical tornado warnings or immediate evacuation tsunami warnings – I know I’ll be prepared for my location(s) specific disaster or emergency.
All of the information provided to you….FREE. That’s right-all the details are available to you for free. App is free. No charge from FEMA to download the app. No monthly fee. No recurring administrative charges.
Ahhhh, safety for free.
I got your back.
More free tips tomorrow addressing specific hazards.
Reporting live from the third week!
My well labeled mugs for coffee and hydration
Last and final day of 2020 National Preparedness Month. All the best time to talk about your kits and stuff you gotta have in case of an emergency/disaster.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I am a staunch supporter of good travel mugs. My oldest mug is a Nissan Stainless mug from Japan that is about 25 years old and yes, it still keeps the coffee hot. However, I needed something that is spill proof as I usually keep things in my bellows pockets.
And the last thing I needed was to spill coffee in/on my pants.
Stanley mugs that have been traveling and deploying out with me for the past 5 years. I usually carry two – one for my black coffee and the other for my water (also backup for coffee).
Best part? They have a lifetime warranty. LIFETIME BABY! I can attest that if something breaks, Stanley has committed to replacing things for free. I’ve had several tops of the travel mugs mechanically fail from normal use. Stanley has replaced each of them immediately and for free. No question from me that they definitely stand behind their product.
It is worth noting that you should consider labeling all of your stuff. ALL of your stuff. Something that is easy to spot in a large area and unique.
Stuff gets lost or acquired or stolen….so make sure your stuff is labeled and easily identified.
I can spot my things from across a large room…even in the dark.
Hope this week’s tips helped you plan out a better kit and equipment.
Reporting live with my favorite preparedness kit…
Enhance your kit with these individually wrapped things
Almost done with the 2nd week of 2020 National Preparedness week – so let’s enhance your preparedness kit a little more.
As you know, this week has been dedicated to your prep kits and diving into several avenues of that works and of course ways you can enhance your kit to make you more agile/nimble…give you a better chance.
Want an easy one for today?
Utensils.
In this day of trying to find better ways to be a bit more clean (thanks COVID), we need to be more aware of our hands and the things we touch. Therefore we should act like an advanced society and really use our utensils to max capacity.
Since all of us are doing our part and eating out a bit more (hopefully more local), take a moment and utilize those plastic utensil sets for your kits. Don’t decline or throw them away, USE THEM!
Most of them come individually wrapped and often are filled with a knife, fork, spoon, napkin, salt, and pepper. In fact, the fancier ones come with a wet-nap of some sort to help clean you up a bit.
(hint wing joints usually send their to-go orders with wet naps.
Now, let’s step up to the big leagues. Check this out from my friends at Mount Prospect Emergency Management (Illinois).
Handy dandy AND reusable. Legit sturdy utensil set that all packs up nicely in a ready to go pouch.
Look closely, you can see Mount Prospect EM subscribes to the Built a Kit – Make a Plan mantra.
Look, however you want to do it, having an extra set(s) of utensils could be a lifesaver for your preparedness kit. (FYI-the Mount Prospect EM utensil set legit lives in my preparedness kit)
Heck, if you use chopsticks, that’s totes fine with me too.
So get those extra utensils in play and enhance your kit!
Reporting live from the Village of Spork…HA!
Where is @rusnivek? 