I'm now certified to instruct in Ohio

FEMA prohibits its employees from instructing FEMA courses.

The specific regulation states: "If you are a FEMA Disaster Assistance Employee you may not contract with FEMA to instruct." 

And individual states, including Ohio where I live, don't allow FEMA employees to be paid for instructing. 

In Ohio, the rule is: "Federal Employees - Not eligible for additional instructor compensation whether full or part time."

Since I retired from FEMA last November these rules doesn’t apply to me anymore. 

So, I am now a certified Ohio Emergency Management Agency instructor!

According to Ohio EMA, "The Certified Instructor Program is designed to encourage qualified individuals to become vetted instructors. In addition to receiving the title of an Ohio EMA Certified Instructor, it is an excellent testament to being a knowledgeable professional in the field of Emergency Management. Obtaining this status is an exceptional addition to a resume and you will have an opportunity to work with professionals from around the State of Ohio."

Since the inception of the current certification for instructors in October 2013 Ohio EMA now has 174 instructors certified in 46 courses. 

I'm certified to instruct three FEMA courses: Public Information Officer Awareness, Basic Public Information Officer, and Joint Information Center.

Speaking for the Red Cross

That's me in the red shirt waiting my turn to brief.

There was a full disaster drill today for the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station and I drove a Red Cross van to the Joint Information Center in Buckeye, Arizona where I was spokesman for the Red Cross.

We've got a designated desk in the JIC with a computer and landline phone. I also had a PIO trainee along with me to see how it's done.

I was asked to brief the media with an update on the simulated opening of a Reception and Care Center and a shelter. Students from Arizona University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Communication pretended to be reporters and asked us questions from their seats in the auditorium.

Other briefers were from state and county agencies as well as from PVNGS and a subject matter expert. Federal evaluators watched everything and took copious notes.







Even media pros need an occasional reminder of good tips.

Training in the Nuclear Power Plant's Joint Information Center

The largest nuclear power plant in the United States, the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Wintersburg, is located about an hour's drive west of where I live in Arizona. The State of Arizona and Maricopa County run training drills every year in the event there is an accident at the station that would impact the public.

An exercise was held yesterday, and I served as Red Cross spokesperson in the Joint Information Center inside a 32,000-square-foot Emergency Operations Facility 25 miles east of the nuclear facility in Buckeye, Arizona.

A 222-seat auditorium built for media to gather is near the main entrance through the lobby area. There are also interview rooms with sound-enhancing walls designed for television crews.
Behind the north doors of the interview rooms and exit stage left in the auditorium is where all the national, state and Palo Verde executives, emergency preparedness personnel and spokespeople would gather in the JIC or the adjacent Emergency Operations Center.Both rooms are equipped with numerous television screens, computers, phones and meeting rooms to handle and monitor any situation. The EOF and JIC are separated only by a few doors and a hallway as both share a large break room/kitche

U.S. nuclear plants use four levels when measuring nuclear events: blue for an unusual event, green for an alert, yellow for a site emergency and red for a general emergency.Representatives from national agencies such as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, would head to the site, as well as state employees, such as representatives from the State Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. If there was an actual emergency, the Phoenix Chapter of the Red Cross would place staff and volunteers on standby alert awaiting further instructions to open what is called a Reception and Care Center if an evacuation was ordered.Arizona has no law requiring mandatory evacuation, but it's assumed that a nuclear accident would trigger mass public evacuation.

I served alongside colleagues from state and county agencies as well as many fine Arizona Public Service employees. 

Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery

Yesterday I was one of about 35 who received instruction for Social Media for Natural Disaster Response and Recovery, taught at the Arizona State Joint Information Center at Papago Military Reservation in Phoenix. There was a pre-test (I scored an 80) and a post-test (I scored 100).


We learned that some of the attributes and objectives of social media include:

- Get message out faster

- Reach more people through other communication channel

- Relatively low operating costs

- Reach people via mobile devices

- Instant, high scalable form of communication

- Direct from the source


This is a link to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate's thoughts about the importance of social media: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqkRx0vpDeI&feature=youtu.be