Disaster Mythology
Over the past few days, I’ve been asking my colleagues (on Twitter and in person) for common disaster myths they’ve encountered. I think I’ll start a series of disaster myth-busting blog posts in which...
View ArticleResponding to an Outdoor Active Shooter
Read about LAPD’s textbook response to an outdoor active shooter here Since the Columbine massacre in 1999, many police and sheriff’s departments have trained for rapid responses to indoor active...
View ArticleFEMA’s Brand New Bag: The “Whole Community” Strategy
As early as July 2010, Craig Fugate, the administrator of FEMA, has been talking about a “whole community” approach at FEMA. During testimony before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental...
View ArticleThe Need for Campus Emergency Planning Scenarios
In March 2006, the Federal interagency community released its updated fifteen all-hazards planning scenarios entitled the “National Planning Scenarios” or NPS. NPS are planning tools that are...
View ArticleThe Integrated Planning System (IPS): The Best Kept Secret in Planning
Never heard of IPS? In December 2003, Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 8 was signed by the President, and, among other things, included a requirement for the Secretary of the Department...
View ArticleActive Shooter Training Isn’t Just for Cops and Teachers…
The first active shooter exercise I witnessed (in 2002) ended with the shooter starting to open fire on his victims, the SWAT team appearing from nowhere then throwing a flash-bang device, and taking...
View ArticleRelocation After Evacuation: The Danger of Outdoor Evacuation
I frequently teach emergency management classes/trainings and the topic of evacuations comes up a lot. Even when I teach emergency managers, I’m often surprised by how few understand the concept. The...
View ArticleReview of Recently Released CERT Liability Guide
Recently, several local agencies partnered with the national CERT program to release the CERT Liability Guide: A Risk Management Overview for Local CERT Programs. I’ve been a volunteer with the...
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