Preparing for City Emergencies
As a former 911 and 311 director, I clearly remember the challenges of planning for an emergency. Both planned and unexpected emergencies demand an enormous amount of coordination.
Posts Tagged: fire
#WaldoCanyonFire – 5 Lessons for Social Media in a Crisis Situation
[cross posted from blog.recovers.org] Waldo Canyon Fire photo by @kittlent “If you are available to do so, can you come into the joint info center for a bit to help me with few SM (social media) issues.” Those words called me in for a five-day stint as the official Twitter voice for the Waldo CanyonRead… Read more »
One Police Department Still Practices Asset Management With Index Cards
In the business world, poor efficiency equals lost profits and less chance at survival. As dire as that sounds, inefficiency among first responders can have even more serious consequences, especially with state and local police departments. Yet many local government agencies all over the country still grapple with the issue of asset management and inventoryRead… Read more »
Fixed Asset Management Takes Center Stage For Fire Departments
Take a spin through the headlines and it’s easy to see fire departments struggling with fixed asset management. In a rural Mississippi town recently, thieves made off with much of the equipment that allowed a volunteer fire department to do its critical job. They stole the “jaws of life,” saws, fans, tools and other equipment.Read… Read more »
Federal or DOD Emergency Management – Public Safety Cloud Concepts
What are the most important aspects of Federal and/or DOD Emergency Management solutions that you would be willing to move to a Cloud? What would motivate you to using a Cloud versus a premise based solution? I would like to make this a running topic and build input from many sources as this is aRead… Read more »
Have You Hugged Your 9-1-1 Dispatcher This Week?
Okay, well that’s good. Wait until next week to do it! April 10 -16, 2011 is National Public Safety Telecommunications week here in the United States. This is a federally designated week set aside to recognize the efforts of the more than 500,000 men and women who serve as 9-1-1 operators or dispatchers or CommunicationsRead… Read more »
Open Foreste Italiane is Gathering Momentum
Wow – there is a great new article on Ushahidi’s blog about an application I told you all about recently, which encourages crowdsourcing to stop Italian forest fires before they start. This has huge potential to increase community resilience and assist current firespotting efforts in a nonintrusive way. A lovely video by Elena Rapisardi, theRead… Read more »
Crowdsourcing: gathering information to support forest fire fighting
Elena Rapisardi, a new friend who contracts with, and does innovative volunteer work for, various parts of the Italian government, has reported out on an interesting meeting here. I bring this up because we don’t always notice when new ground is being broken and new fuel is being provided for our own further development andRead… Read more »
How Public Safety Agencies Can Use Social Media to Engage Their Employees
The Los Angeles Fire Department is a pioneer among public safety agencies and emergency responders in the usage of social media. The Department’s initial social media efforts began in 2005 and have since garnered recognition nationwide. LAFD’s presence is spread across multiple social media channels including Twitter, Facebook (look up the group “Los Angeles FD),Read… Read more »
Multifunctional employees
In the current economic climate, there is increasing pressure upon government to find ways to tighten their belt. A favorite target is public safety, which has been portrayed in the media as having a lot of free time. Since convincing elected officials that much of that so-called free time is often taken up in ongoingRead… Read more »