This Disaster Zone podcast is an interview with Brian Hastings, Director, Alabama Emergency Management Agency As such he is a member of the Governor’s Cabinet and the senior official responsible for all phases of emergency management. In the podcast we learn about the hazards that Alabama faces, e.g. more tornadoes than any other state, the composition of his agency and the jurisdictional make-up of the state. Technology, the pandemic, and disaster resilience are only a few of the other topics touched on in this interview.

This episode is sponsored by Bent Ear Solutions which offers comprehensive capabilities and deep industry knowledge necessary to help you solve the most complex issues of your organization. We advise public and private organizations on an all-inclusive approach to disaster preparedness that addresses governance, planning, operational procedures, technology implementation, training, and exercises in order to achieve a successful and sustainable program.Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

In today’s podcast I have a conversation with Gordon Graham a nationally and internationally known speaker on the topic of risk and risk management. I have heard Gordon speak several times and he is very knowledgeable and engaging. Our discussion covers a multitude of topics from Black Swan events, disaster planning and how to write procedures among many others. You can review Gordon’s Reading List at the link provided. During the podcast he mentions two books in particular, Amanda Ripley’s The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes - and Why and then also Michele Wucker’s book, The Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore If you want to listen to another Disaster Zone Podcast on risk, here’s a link to the one I did earlier this year with Michele Wucker, Personal and Organizational Risk Management.

This episode is sponsored by The Blue Cell, a by design crisis and consequence management consulting firm with a primary focus on education and training for government at all levels, non governmental agencies and private sector entities engaged in incident and emergency management activities.Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

Eight counties in Western Washington State have banded together to do regional planning. The effort has been funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grant (RCPG)  A 2019 grant is being administered for the region by Snohomish County’s Department of Emergency Management  Jason Biermann, Director for the county is interviewed in this podcast about how the RCPG grant process works for the eight counties and then he provides details on the CPODs project itself. They are employing GIS extensively to map population islands that will need supporting. Equity is one of the criteria they are using to determine where needs will be greater. 

Dynamis, a leading provider of information management software and security solutions, is a sponsor of this podcast.Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

New York City is a complex place in which to work within public safety. In the middle of it all is the 911 system that receives calls from citizens and dispatches first responder resources. In this podcast I interview Chris Carver, a former Chief Dispatcher and Director of Fire Dispatch Operations for the New York City Fire Department where he helped to coordinate the response to some of New York City’s largest disasters. We discuss the status of 911 systems in general and dominance of technology that increasingly is being used within 911 systems. Additionally, we talk about how New York City and other communities can work to become more disaster resilient. Today Chris is Hexagon’s Director of Sales for the Eastern United States.

This podcast is sponsored by T-Mobile for Government, providing innovative connectivity solutions that help government better serve citizens by enabling agencies to work more intelligently, efficiently, and securely. Their mobile device management solutions help safeguard sensitive data and their network is ideal for unlocking game-changing loT technology.  T-Mobile provides 24x7x365 support, so they are ready to help you when communications are critical.  It all starts with America’s largest, fastest, and now according to a third-party rating service umlaut, it is the most reliable 5G network, as well as the tools that help you take advantage of 5G.  T-Mobile offers an amazing customer experience and outstanding value—with no tradeoffs.  They have the most reliable 5G according to umlaut based on crowdsourced user experience data (Sept 2020 to Feb 2021). They also have the fastest 5G according to Opensignal Awards based on average speeds (USA: 5G User Experience Report April 2021). See 5G device, coverage, & access details at T-Mobile.com. 

Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

Monica Sanders is a Georgetown University professor. Previously, she was a Senior Committee Counsel for both the House of Representatives and Senate Committees on Homeland Security. In this podcast we do deep dive into the legislative process of the Congress of the United States. The role of committee chairpersons and their staff is explored, along with the way in which bills are introduced in Congress and move through the legislative process. The role of committee staff is discussed. The importance of the Budget and Rules Committees is also highlighted. What can you do to influence the making of laws at the national level is also addressed.

This podcast is sponsored by T-Mobile for Government, providing innovative connectivity solutions that help government better serve citizens by enabling agencies to work more intelligently, efficiently, and securely. Their mobile device management solutions help safeguard sensitive data and their network is ideal for unlocking game-changing loT technology.  T-Mobile provides 24x7x365 support, so they are ready to help you when communications are critical.  It all starts with America’s largest, fastest, and now according to a third-party rating service umlaut, it is the most reliable 5G network, as well as the tools that help you take advantage of 5G.  T-Mobile offers an amazing customer experience and outstanding value—with no tradeoffs.  They have the most reliable 5G according to umlaut based on crowdsourced user experience data (Sept 2020 to Feb 2021). They also have the fastest 5G according to Opensignal Awards based on average speeds (USA: 5G User Experience Report April 2021). See 5G device, coverage, & access details at T-Mobile.com. Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

Alert and warning is one of the primary functions for emergency management agencies and first responders. You first need to detect the hazard, but then you need different ways to issue a warning. This then is the topic of this podcast with Matthew Straeb with Alert FM In the podcast we discuss the pros and cons of different technology tools being used today to issue warnings. I strongly believe that you need more than one method and if you are looking to warn people of an earthquake, I think the only reasonable tool to use today in tandem with ShakeAlert is Alert FM because of the speed with which warnings can be sent. I particularly believe in getting the alert signal sent to equipment that can automatically take actions to protect facilities, equipment and people. Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) are just not fast enough.

Dynamis, a leading provider of information management software and security solutions, is a sponsor of this podcast.Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

The Disaster Zone podcast guest is John Scardena who hosts the Disaster Tough Podcast and also heads up Doberman EMG a consulting firm specializing in supporting government emergency management programs. In this podcast we have a wide-ranging discussion on a variety of emergency management topics from ranging from GIS  to other technologies and how to address the integration of new technologies into an organization. He talks about “failing fast” with tech.

This episode is sponsored by Bent Ear Solutions which offers comprehensive capabilities and deep industry knowledge necessary to help you solve the most complex issues of your organization. We advise public and private organizations on an all-inclusive approach to disaster preparedness that addresses governance, planning, operational procedures, technology implementation, training, and exercises in order to achieve a successful and sustainable program.Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

All forms of science can be beneficial to people working in the emergency management and disaster related fields of endeavor. However, when it comes to working with people and their relationship and thoughts about all phases of disasters, it is the social sciences that can help us most understand and communicate with the people and populations we serve. Lori Peek, a professor in the Department of Sociology and director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado Boulder is the guest for this podcast. We run through a gamut of question about not only the center, but also why people behave like they do during disasters. She points to some of the excellent resources that the Natural Hazards Center has to offer. It is about time we start taking advantage of the research that has already been done!

This podcast is sponsored by T-Mobile for Government, providing innovative connectivity solutions that help government better serve citizens by enabling agencies to work more intelligently, efficiently, and securely. Their mobile device management solutions help safeguard sensitive data and their network is ideal for unlocking game-changing loT technology.  T-Mobile provides 24x7x365 support, so they are ready to help you when communications are critical.  It all starts with America’s largest, fastest, and now according to a third-party rating service umlaut, it is the most reliable 5G network, as well as the tools that help you take advantage of 5G.  T-Mobile offers an amazing customer experience and outstanding value—with no tradeoffs.  They have the most reliable 5G according to umlaut based on crowdsourced user experience data (Sept 2020 to Feb 2021). They also have the fastest 5G according to Opensignal Awards based on average speeds (USA: 5G User Experience Report April 2021). See 5G device, coverage, & access details at T-Mobile.com. 



Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

Training has moved beyond the classroom and is predominantly being done on line in the COVID Pandemic environment we are in. Todd Manns, the founder of  The Blue Cell is this week’s guest. In the podcast we hear about their lessons learned from moving to a virtual environment for Incident Command System (ICS) training. Additionally, they are starting up a totally new training series of classes that provide individual position training for ICS Command Positions. What is unique is that they are providing individual mentorship beyond the actual instruction and doing it on an “on call” basis.  This can be particularly helpful for people new to ICS or moving into these command positions.This episode is sponsored by The Blue Cell, a by design crisis and consequence management consulting firm with a primary focus on education and training for government at all levels, non governmental agencies and private sector entities engaged in incident and emergency management activities.

Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.

This Disaster Zone Podcast is a very interesting interview with Tom Moran who was instrumental in managing the early stages of the All Hazards Consortium One of the key messages Tom shared was to let the private sector lead public-private efforts. Government endeavors just don’t seem to survive changes in leadership and funding. Then, in the guts of the podcast we discuss his experiences in electrical power restoration from a coordination perspective. He developed some creative solution in coordination with others to assist power companies suffering power outages leveraging the help from other power companies next door and even many states away.

This episode is sponsored by The Blue Cell, a by design crisis and consequence management consulting firm with a primary focus on education and training for government at all levels, non governmental agencies and private sector entities engaged in incident and emergency management activities.Eric Holdeman is a professional emergency manager who is passionate about providing information that can help families, businesses & governments become better prepared for disasters of all types. Hear first hand expert insights from Eric on his Podcast, Blog & EricHoldeman.com.