What separates good emergency alerts from life-saving emergency alerts?

In this episode of The Alerting Authority, hosts Dr. Jeannette Sutton and Eddie Bertola sit down with Thomas Walmsley, Director of Emergency Management for Bernalillo County, New Mexico, and the 2024 IAEM USA Emergency Manager of the Year.

With more than two decades of experience spanning military service, law enforcement, local government, federal programs, and academic research, Tom shares how modern emergency managers can leverage data, AI, and evidence-based messaging to improve warning systems and community resilience.

The conversation explores practical lessons learned from real-world incidents, the future of alerting standards, multilingual communication challenges, and how emergency managers can use tools like ChatGPT and AI to develop stronger message templates and better preparedness programs.

In This Episode:

- How Tom Walmsley became IAEM's Emergency Manager of the Year

- Building stronger emergency alerts using research and templates

- Using AI and ChatGPT in emergency management

- IPAWS and Wireless Emergency Alerts best practices

- Cross-jurisdictional support and mutual aid agreements

- Pace planning and alert system redundancy

- GIS, Esri, and demographic intelligence

- Bilingual emergency alerts and Spanish-language messaging

- Evacuation planning and transportation considerations

- National standards for emergency management

- EMAP accreditation and professionalization of emergency management

- Lessons learned from alerting mistakes

- How data-driven decision-making improves public safety

Whether you're an emergency manager, public safety professional, PIO, researcher, first responder, or simply interested in disaster preparedness, this episode offers practical insights you can apply immediately.