FEMA: Inflating Disaster Reservist Numbers

FEMA has known for years that it has a shortfall in the number of disaster reservists who augment the full-time staff at FEMA when there is a disaster. Years ago these were retired emergency managers or engineers who supplemented their retirement income via service with FEMA. They deployed for weeks to months at a time to wherever there was a disaster. But they worked — when they wanted to work. They were not employees who you could "order" to a disaster. 

This changed during the Craig Fugate years and disaster reservists were required to be "available" for when disasters strike. Many of the old-time reservists left in droves. For Superstorm Sandy, the FEMA Corps with its legions of young people helped fill the gap with running supplies up flights of stairs to stranded residents who could not leave their buildings due to lack of electricity, etc. But they were no replacement for the dedicated and older and experienced cadre that FEMA once had. These are the people who work the Public Assistance (government infrastructure projects) that need technical evaluations and cost estimates.

When FEMA has a disaster now it will do a number of "local hires" to help with that disaster. In the last six months these people are now being required to sign-up as disaster reservists. Though that works for that individual disaster, many of these people don't intend to be deployable across the nation to disasters wherever they may strike. So, the number of reservists is going up, but the true capability of this reservist cadre is not what it once was and these higher numbers of reservists may be giving FEMA a false sense of where they are on their shortage of trained reservists. 

Disasters have a way of illuminating issues that have been hidden by the lack of a demand to "stand and deliver" services.