Emergency Managers can learn from what happened at No-Man's Land during World War 1 between Dec. 23rd to Christmas day Dec. 25th, 1914. A moment of peace in a world of chaos as two armies could not cross 60 meters.

We need to find both internal truces and external ones in order to overcome the battle of disasters.

Emergency managers, healthcare workers, first responders, humanitarians... we are tired and it's okay to note that. Take a moment to breathe because we need to keep fighting. If you're having a difficult time right now during the Holiday Season- reach out we have resources to assist- don't let this one moment define your life, we will get through this!

Santa is coming to town! We are experiencing Space Weather via the Northern Lights as we record this episode. Emergency managers must include space weather in their emergency planning process. It impacts communications, critical infrastructure, commercial travel, and of course Santa with Rudolph's GPS tracker in his nose. Or is it a lightbulb?? Who knows- join us this week as we talk about the complexities of how the Sun and man-made electromagnetic pulses (EMP) impact disaster toughness.

Tim Britt, Ops Chief on the National Strike Team, housed within FEMA's National Incident Management Assistance Team Red, talks about response in 2020, lessons learned throughout his own career, and provides advice on leadership in emergency management.

Tim's experiences include service in the US. Marines, police officer, CalOES emergency manager, and now the federal government. Tim has worked at every level of emergency response and can provide great insight because of his background.

Between the Supreme Court ruling siding with religious groups and economic pain, we have a lot to be reminded of from our 'Pilgrim Fathers.' The faced disease, death, food scarcity, and religious persecutions... but they made it through. The Mayflower Compact and collaboration had a major part to do with that. John Scardena, our host, talks lessons learned and how they can be applied in today's world. Here's a hint: More gratitude.

The 2020 Wildfires provided unique challenges to response organizations due the the pandemic conditions. Patrick McGinn overall the feeding program to survivors in behalf of The Salvation Army, a critical VOAD member that works with the State during large-scale disasters. Working with several partners, Patrick coordinated food delivery to 160 hotels. This provided him with great insight into the complexity of disatser response in the future. He and our host, John Scardena, talk about individual and career growth, becoming better emergency management organizations, coordination between all response groups in this after action report style episode.

We can’t say enough about Joe Hernandez. His 30 year career as a USAR operations expert includes deployments to the Okalahoma City Bombing, 9/11 Twin Towers, the Haiti Earthquake, and more. He has been instructing FEMA personnel for the past 10 years and talks about the mental and emotional tole as well as tools to dealing with extreme event.

We can’t say enough about Joe Hernandez. His 30 year career as a USAR operations expert includes deployments to the Okalahoma City Bombing, 9/11 Twin Towers, the Haiti Earthquake, and more. He has been instructing FEMA personnel for the past 10 years and talks about the mental and emotional weight, as well as tools to dealing with extreme events. Make sure you check out Part 2 of Joe's show next week.!

Cynthia McCoy is a former member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and now works for the City of Seattle. She has deployed to numerous disasters including Super Storm Sandy and Hurricane Harvey, two events that have created innovation within emergency management.

This is Part 2 of her episode. We dive into the details of hazard mitigation from a theory and practice perspective. She talks about risk analysis and putting those plans into practice. We move from the socio-economic impact of disasters to the financial burden of recovery. We explain why hazard mitigation is so important what it can do in the lives of those who would be impacted by pending crisis.

Cynthia McCoy talks about her background in Urban Planning and Emergency Management. On part of on this episode, we talk about how historical data needs to better integrate with future trends to better define the scope of threat as well as address mitigation with data informed decisions. We heavily focus on the socio-economic impacts of disaster and the increase in events.