A 10 kiloton (10kt) nuclear detonation is one of the most complex scenarios emergency response personnel can face. During the week of May 2nd, EMSI helped Department of Energy (DOE) responders prepare for this very scenario during the Vibrant Response 2016 exercise. An annual exercise directed by U.S. Northern Command …
Howdy Folks! It’s a brand new day here in Crisis Commsville, and you’ve just been named Public Information Officer (PIO) of a large-scale incident. Congrats! Hopefully, your first job isn’t tearing the dust-covered shrink-wrap off that ol’ Joint Information Center (JIC) Model. Okay, now what? Let me guess … your …
Earlier this year, EMSI released a new Qualified Individual (QI) course and, in February, we successfully conducted our first delivery of the QI course to a railroad industry client. The course received positive reviews from participants and based on feedback was further improved for future deliveries. Specifically, participants noted that …
Five years ago, I traveled to Japan as part of the U.S. Government’s response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. With March marking the five year anniversary of Fukushima, this article attempts to highlight some incident management lessons learned and considerations for nuclear and radiological incident management. This month marks …
This past week, EMSI conducted a three day exercise for the National Capital Region (NCR) Incident Management Team (IMT). Held in Front Royal, VA March 14-16, the exercise included participants not only from the NCR IMT, but from the Central Virginia and Hampton Road IMTs, as well as participants from …
Now available through IMTGear: Command Boards and other quality products from Command Concepts. The Command Board is a portable incident management tool that sets up in less than a minute to organize on-the-spot command and incident management functions, facilitating quick situational awareness, resource status, and decision-making. A highly useful tool, …
A well-known and important tool, the Operational Planning Worksheet (ICS-215) is used by the Operations Section Chief in preparing for the next Operational Period; a less well known, but equally important tool, is the Work Analysis Matrix (ICS-234). Looking at an ICS Operational Planning “P”, your work on the ICS-215 …
Continuing to provide critical emergency management performance support to responders, EMSI is proud to offer our new Joint Information Center (JIC) job aid and JIC course . The job aid and course were recently developed by Type 1 PIOs with extensive public information and joint information experience, in consultation with …
This post should really be titled, “If You’re Not Collaborating With Others During a Crisis Situation, You Need to Rewrite Your Crisis Plan.” That’s a bit wordy, though. Here’s the thing about being at the center of a crisis – whether you look at it from the standpoint of your …
“BLUF.” If you’ve never seen the acronym, it means, “Bottom line, up front.” Insert it at the beginning of any piece of written communication, and you’re telling those receiving the message, “This is the most important part.” If you’re a professional communicator, it’s similar to the concept of “flagging” during …
