Social Media and Emergency Response

A videotaped interview of four government employees responsible for handling public information functions after the August 24, 2014 Napa, California earthquake reveals real challenges and inherent conflicts between quickly informing the public, fulfilling incident command responsibilities and ensuring the safety ...

Preaching about the use of social media tools during crisis is much easier than actually doing it. Especially for smaller agencies with limited staff. But, does that mean it can’t be done? Absolutely not. Because of the recent Ferguson, Missouri ...

Ebola, the nasty hemorrhagic fever virus described in detail in Tom Clancy’s 1996 book Executive Orders, caused a fair amount of public consternation in the U.S., and for good reason.  The latest outbreak in the African countries of Guinea, Liberia and ...

Last weekend was awesome. My better half and I spent it with all of our kids at the Desert Canyon Resort in eastern Washington. The golf course is really nice, with epic views and an ungodly long 650 yard par ...

Cops vs. firefighters strikes again. Dave Statter (@Statter911) recently posted a citizen video of a police officer “assisting” a citizen out of his overturned vehicle. The video, shown here, APPEARS to show a vehicle on its side underneath a presumably compromised overhang struck by said vehicle.

“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” – Mike Tyson. I saw this quote while scanning an excellent article in the Harvard Business Journal about the changing dynamics of business command and control, often referred to ...

Government agencies don’t hold a candle to big companies selling products. Case in point, this article. Today, large corporations are spending millions on social media advertising strategies. But, with this expenditure comes a price…time. As the article notes, it can ...

Imagine, you are a firefighter/EMT arriving at the scene of a serious car crash. You begin your sizeup, and approach the vehicle smooshed up against a tree. Radiator fluid and steam are boiling out from the destroyed front end. You ...

Spending all day on the road robbed me of an opportunity yesterday to compete with half the planet in coming up with the wittiest one liners about @USAirways epic NSFW picture posted on their Twitter feed. Mashable posted some of ...

Southern California received another wakeup call last week, albeit a minor one, when the La Hambra earthquake rattled the LA basin. Immediately thereafter, the LAFD implemented their earthquake protocol, and began touring their first in areas via pre-designated routes to ...