ICS

OK, I have to admit it.  My blog yesterday about the just released paper called “Transforming the Response Enterprise” ended up a little short on analysis and related opinion.  Earlier in the evening Kim Stephens asked me how I was ...

Last weekend I tapped the #SMEM community, asking for their “Commandments” related to use of social media in emergencies.  It generated a dozen or so replies, many with a common theme.  I’ve incorporated them into my own list below.  What ...

One of the most frequently expressed mantras in the social media for emergency response world is; “Engage before the big one, or you will be irrelevant.”  So what does that mean?  It is fairly easy – but time consuming – ...

This week I flew to Washington D.C. along with three fellow thought leaders in the use of social media for emergency management/response.  Brian Humphrey, Lead PIO for LAFD, Mark Basnight, PIO for Charlotte, North Carolina FD, and Denis Gusty, DHS ...

The tones hit just as the battalion chief is pulling into the station from a morning of station inspections.  “Battalion 1, Engines 1, 5, 7, 14, Ladder 4, Medic 16, Safety 1, Training 1….. Unknown type fire in a building, ...

I woke up in the middle of the night last week after a wickedly bad dream.  I don’t remember much. But, one thing I do remember is one of my sons said; “Dad, you are now irrelevant.” Perhaps my sub-conscious ...

Seems like some are grumbling about state and federal responses to big disaster events here at home. Specifically, that Federal Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Teams are not being used when a big crisis hits within our borders. It was ...