It's Not My Emergency Retired Crisis Manager's Brain Dump

The Seattle Fire Department, and firefighters everywhere, got a big black eye this weekend when two drunk off duty Seattle firefighters allegedly attacked a couple of homeless people at a downtown memorial statue. One of the victims resorted to pulling ...

By now most folks have heard of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, commonly called “drones”, and their military use in hunting down Middle East terrorists and tracking cross-border drug smugglers.  More recently, Amazon, Netflix and other mail order companies began ...

How many times have you read a feel good story or viewed epic videos and pictures on Facebook or Twitter that put a lump in your throat, brought a tear to your eye, twanged your revenge gene, or made you ...

By now, most everyone has heard of the Chula Vista, California firefighter handcuffed and detained by a California Highway Patrol officer while working at a freeway vehicle collision.  Unfortunately for the officer, a news camera crew filmed the arrest, resulting ...

It never ceases to amaze me how governments and politicians continue to be brought to their knees by Mother Nature.  Over the past 48 hours, the Deep South has been struck by a blizzard of epic proportions, eloquently described by ...

I recently sat in on a business webinar on crisis communications. The word “control” was used a lot. The presenters, experienced and well spoken media professionals, accurately described the light speed evolution of how news is being reported, driven by ...

You are the captain of Engine 3, assigned as a RIT crew standing by a rip snortin’ house fire.  You and your team were initially disappointed to hear the IC’s assignment, knowing full well you would have been first- in ...

Social Media Assisted Career Suicide, a term coined by my friend Dave Statter, struck again yesterday.  A PR executive getting ready for a long flight to Africa tweeted; “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” ...

I’m sitting in a Houston airport waiting for my flight and my Twitter and Facebook feeds blow up with news the Los Angeles Fire Department social media sites had been shut down due to patient privacy concerns.  “Nah, that can’t ...

Two fascinating social media and technology news stories broke over the Thanksgiving holiday making for a target rich blogging environment. Amazon drones Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, is a pretty shrewd showman by taking the opportunity on 60 Minutes to introduce ...