In this conversation, Maribel and Cody discuss various topics, including their faith and how it keeps them grounded and helps with their work-life balance in the field of emergency management and how respecting each other's faith and family is crucial in maintaining a strong relationship. They continue the conversation with discussing how their faith helps them avoid burnout and deal with the stress of the job. Support the show

In this episode, Cody and Maribel discuss the recent AT&T outage and its impact on voting sites during an election. They introduce their guest, Daniel Blount, who has extensive experience in radio communications. Daniel shares his background in civil air patrol and ham radio and discusses the recent wildfires in the Texas Panhandle. The importance of redundancies in communications and the need for radio caches are also highlighted. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the balan...

Summary In this episode, Cody and Maribel discuss their absence from the podcast and express gratitude for the continued support from listeners. They reflect on the passage of time since the COVID-19 pandemic, recent changes in emergency management in Texas, including realignment and the introduction of new positions. They highlight the importance of productive busyness, discuss using ChatGPT for writing letters, the potential of AI, the Enhanced Incident and Unified Management course,...

On this episodes we talk about why we took a summer break which has a lot to do with summer conferences. We discuss the ones we went to, the benefits and some unconventional conferences that EMs may not go to often. We also spend time discussing the summer heat wave and wildfires that have created so many problems here in Texas this summer. Support the show

This is the second of two episodes with recently retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Justin Aiken who served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years. Our initial plan was for this interview to be mostly focused around what lessons we could learn from someone who served at the highest level about leadership and training. However, to prepare for the interview, Master Guns Aiken spent weeks listening to all our podcast and doing independent research about the EM profession as a whole. ...

This is the first of two episodes with recently retired Master Gunnery Sergeant Justin Aiken who served in the United States Marine Corps for 31 years. Our initial plan was for this interview to be mostly focused around what lessons we could learn from someone who served at the highest level about leadership and training. However, to prepare for the interview, Master Guns Aiken spent weeks listening to all our podcast and doing independent research about the EM profession as a whole. W...

There were some audio quality issues on the recording for this episode... The quality improves at around the 15 minute mark. In this episode, we interview Julie Elliot about her research and recently published article in the Journal of Emergency Management; Moved to partner: A case study of faith-based congregations in disaster response. Julie was first a field practitioner as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the University of North Texas before becoming a PhD Candidate at the Unive...

On this episode, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jennifer Dunn, Warning Coordination Meteorologist from the Fort Worth Office of the National Weather Service (NWS-FW). We discuss her role within the NWS and the role of NWS as a whole. Of course, we dive into the coordination between NWS and local Emergency Management. We also discuss topics such as being colorblind and being able to interpret weather data, NWS products useful for more than just predicting weather, and the futur...

On this episode, we talk about defining what an Emergency Manager is and discuss the reasons why defining out job and scope of practice is becoming a topic of conversation more and more often. Additionally, we discuss the challenges of coming up with a common definition, discuss the scope of EM, and talk about why we think being interviewed by Joe Rogan would help us come up with a definition. App discussed on the episode: https://www.jesip.org.uk/# Support the show

Our first Episode of Season 2 covers the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster on the 20 year anniversary. We had the opportunity to interview Irish Hancock, EM Administrator for the Arlington Fire Department, Office of Emergency Management. Irish was in his final semester at the University of North Texas when the disaster happened and was given the opportunity to intern with the Texas Division of Emergency Management in response to the disaster. Irish shares his experience being and intern on a na...

This is our final episode of 2022 and the end of the first season of the Podcast. We spend time reflecting on topics we have previously discussed to see if we still feel the same way and remember the lessons learned. We also spend time discuss what is coming up in 2023. Support the show

In this episode, we talk about EOC design and operations. We both share our experiences serving as EOC Managers in EOCs of very different sizes. We also go through the new FEMA document released this month, "Emergency Operations Center How-To Quick Reference Guide." https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/documents/fema_eoc-quick-reference_guide.pdf Support the show

On this episode, we discuss outdoor/ tornado/ severe weather/ air raid warning sirens. We begin with looking back in history with the development of the modern tornado warning system, the introduction of air raid sirens, and their transition to Outdoor Warning Sirens. Finally, we finish by reviewing an article and answering questions sent to us by a listener. News Paper Article... https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2022/05/14/sioux-falls-storm-weather-sirens-wind-derecho-paul-ten...

In this episode we had the opportunity to sit down with FEMA Region 6 Administrator, Tony Robinson. We talk about what it means to take an All-Hazard approach to emergency management, hurricane preparedness, public assistance, lifelines, and mitigation. Tony shares what he knows are pain points for local EMs and how FEMA is working to fix some of those. We speak about the importance of not only having private insurance but ensuring that insurance coverage is adequate. The episode is also pack...

In this episode we talk about taking on interns in the office. We discuss what they do, what they may benefit from, paying them, expectations, and why internships are valuable. We also go through the PowerPoint of a recent intern he was required to to complete on the last day of his internship. We discuss what he learned during his time and how applicable his new found knowledge of EM is in the real world. We were surprised by what an intern was able to learn in such a short period of time.&n...

On this episode, we spend a few minutes recapping previous episodes before talking about planning for exercises. Specifically, we spend time talking about how to train OEM Staff and those who respond to the EOC often, and how the EMC is able to train without being part of developing the exercise. We also talk about our thoughts on being able to train to find the breaking point without setting your team up for failure. Video referenced in this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK...

Nim Kidd, Chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Vice Chancellor of Texas A&M, sat down with us at TheConferenceTx to discuss recently announced programs in the State of Texas. The programs we discuss are the County Liaison Officers, EM Academy, and Constellation. Chief Kidd answered questions about the details of these programs including areas of concern for local EMs. Support the show

In this episode, we discuss cognitive bias and how it could potentially affect your job as an Emergency Manager. Specifically, we spend the majority of the episode discussing 'deformation professionnelle,' translated to mean, professional deformation. We also touch on other cognitive biases and their potential impact on Emergency Managers. Support the show

This episode is the first in what will be a several episode series where we discuss Burnout in the Emergency Management Profession and the factors that lead to it. Our discussions include why we think burnout exist and why it's an issue. Support the show

In this episode we discuss EM education, licensing/ credentialing and answer questions from a listener who asked what we look for when hiring new EMs. Support the show