In the coming weeks there will be a Disaster Zone Podcast with Professor Jeannette Sutton on the topic of Warnings. She is a warnings expert!  A recent LinkedIn posting by her pointed to the Warn Room article by her, Message personalization - what does that mean for a WEA?

Our typical approach here in the United States is to provide early warning of a wildland fire danger and encourage or in some cases order an evacuation from homes being in the path of a wildfire. This is not necessarily the case across the world.

What price is progress? Watching your own home catch fire and start burning on your own doorbell camera has to be one of the things that most people were not thinking about when they installed various security systems at their homes

One thing huge disasters do is point the finger and elevate the importance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Los Angeles fires are providing the emphasis today on the need for an appointment to be made by the Trump Administration for the position of FEMA Administrator.

This is a different type of Disaster Zone Podcast. The host, Eric Holdeman becomes the interviewee and Kim Guevara, is the interviewer. Kim has been researching different aspects of what it means to be an emergency manager. In her words, “a crisis athlete.”

I previously recorded a Disaster Zone Podcast: Forecasting the Weather as a Business that had Jonathan Porter, quoted below, as my guest. A great listen to learn more about that company and their operations.

AccuWeather has been the source of damage estimates for the ongoing California fires impacting the greater Los Angeles area. Their most recent damage estimate is below, along with excellent commentary on what we can expect for impacts to the insurance industry.

We all have a story for how our journey into emergency management began. Most of the time it starts tangentially with no direct line from fourth grade until we enter the profession and beyond.

I’ve highlighted this publication in the past. It is a terrific tool for anyone who has experienced a disaster of any type, but especially a fire.

There are plenty of fingers being pointed at who or what is to be blamed for the Los Angeles fires. I think we have run out of digits on our hands to do so.

Once again, a very predictable disaster is ongoing in California. Wildfires in an urban area fed by very dry fuels and high winds.

When opinions trump facts, where does that put us? To start with, the physical world. If I say it is safe to live right on the ocean, who has the right to deny me my right to do so? When green becomes red and red, green, how do we know how to behave or what to believe.

I’m not doing much hiring these days, but I did in the past. We tried to be careful about what questions we asked in a job interview. It is not just the individual questions you ask in an interview, but also how the interview is structured and if there is a panel assisting you, then what is the process for scoring each candidate.

While I write this the Eastern Seaboard is getting snow which is to be followed with cold temperatures. And, there is another storm brewing—this one on the West Coast and it will be hitting Southern California.

I’m always learning new things about organizations involved with our emergency management functions. I stumbled across this organization, United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC)

In a single word my predictions for 2025 can be summed up in one word—“Unpredictable.”   In December I wrote this blog post, An Interesting Time in History

Usually, we read about studies that either identify an increase in hazards around a particular type of disaster or a new unknown, until now, hazard. More tornadoes, more destructive hurricanes, etc. We are starting out 2025 with one “good news” hazard story.

Why is it that Puerto Rico continues to have major issues with the generation and transmission of electrical power?

It is not often that I get the chance to write about another nation’s approach to disaster readiness. See this Guardian article, In Sweden, we’ve been told to prepare for war. But will 21st-century citizens still rally for the common good?