Communicating during a natural disaster is essential to emergency response, but is often intensely difficult due to inconsistent or nonexistent cell, internet and landline service. Amateur (or “ham”) radio enthusiasts can be an invaluable resource for your community during a disaster. Below are several tips for creating or improving your plan for calling on these… Read more
Amateur radio operators and organizations can play a key role in natural disaster communications. Even if cell, landline and internet service are knocked out, radio messages can still get through. IBTS spoke with Janelle Haible, public information officer for the St. Louis Metro Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) about her experiences assisting her community… Read more
IBTS spoke with Public Information Officer for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management Buddy Rogers about his experiences navigating communications with the public and stakeholders before, during and after natural disasters. Kentucky has been increasingly subject to natural disasters in recent years, with 18 major disaster declarations made in the past 10 years. Below… Read more
After “Snowzilla” dumped more than 26 inches of snow on Arlington County, Virginia in January 2016, the county had to supplement their 40-pieces of snow removal equipment with 200 pieces of contracted equipment to keep up with storm. Mike Moon, deputy director of operations for Arlington County, Virginia, Environmental Services, was tasked with coordinating… Read more
Wildfires are long, drawn-out events that often require localities to ask for state assistance to get key messages out to the public, manage and monitor social media and keep up with the demands of local media. Use these tips from subject matter experts in Washington and California, who frequently deal with wildfires, to think through… Read more
Wildfires are long, drawn-out events that often require localities to ask for state assistance to get key messages out to the public, manage and monitor social media and keep up with the demands of local media. Use these tips to coordinate communication efforts with localities before a wildfire starts burning. Focus on messaging before… Read more
During widespread wildfire events, communicating the status of the fire, impacted areas and damage becomes a full-time, round-the-clock job for public information officers (PIOs). Use these tips to integrate communications assistance from the state into your efforts and maximize the effectiveness of your internal communications and public outreach. Ask the state for social media… Read more
During widespread wildfire events, keeping up with the status of the fire, impacted areas and damage becomes a full-time, round-the-clock job. Use these tips to assist and work with local PIOs and emergency management agencies to improve operations and promote more effective public outreach. Have a plan for how you will stay up-to-date. The… Read more
Unlike other perils, wildfires can last for weeks on end, requiring a constant stream of communications that often exhausts local resources. Effective public outreach requires sound planning and coordination with surrounding localities, state agencies and local media outlets. Use these tips from subject matter experts to prepare for and improve public outreach on wildfires before,… Read more
Focus on messaging before the wildfire season. Explore the U.S. Fire Administration’s public outreach materials to develop your own public safety announcements and awareness campaigns. Encourage residents to get their homes and property ready, and to take ownership of being prepared and having a plan. Develop pre-scripted messages and store them in the cloud… Read more
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