Public Safety
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Firefighter staffing shortages come in contrast to the increased amount of work on their plates. Calls now range from wildland fires to motor vehicle accidents to medical problems that would never have prompted a call years ago.
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Law enforcement agencies across the country are amping up their efforts to train for the chaos of a mass shooting event, mimicking the stress responders will encounter in real time.
Michigan will become the 21st state to enact what is more commonly known as "red flag" laws. Under this change, Michiganders will be able to seek temporary removal of firearms from at-risk individuals.
While local school districts follow and utilize state-mandated emergency response plans, training and drills, many implement additional safety features or frameworks.
The program at Columbia Southern University focuses on cutting-edge industry trends, topics and research and emphasizes theoretical as well as practical emergency management leadership components.
Users can see the status of rivers or creeks, including the water height and time of last update. The icons will also alert users if the river is currently in a flood stage and show a graph displaying water levels for the past several days.
Even with months of planning for an active shooter drill at a high school in Conneaut, Ohio, with an emphasis on interoperability, the drill showed how ingrained in police departments is the inability to communicate.
"Our public safety team members are extremely essential to our community and we want them to know how much they mean to us. It's important for us to invest in attracting and retaining the best people."
A new bill introduced in the Senate, and a companion House bill, would reclassify 911 dispatchers as first responders, giving them increased benefits like access to mental health services.
Columbia likely won't be the last department to see across-the-board support for its volunteers. Dozens of municipalities and school districts in the county are considering their own tax credit programs.
But a growing portion of windward Hawaii island is considered abnormally dry, and long-range models are still predicting below-average rainfall across the state for February and March.
"The biggest thing in any event like this is ensuring the coordination and communication is happening regarding what resources are available," Greeley City Manager Raymond Lee said.
Steve Patterson, mayor of Athens, Ohio, representing the National League of Cities, noted that since 2017, the NFIP's authorization has been extended 28 times, all on a short-term basis.
A project using multiple data sets and lidar technology can predict and model how fires will affect specific forested areas and help balance the interests of sometimes-competing stakeholders.
"I'm really disappointed how many people have told me in the past three and a half years I've been involved with this, 'Yeah, I'd like to be more involved' with those people not ending up helping out."
FEMA is currently accepting applications for teens interested in emergency management and community preparedness, which the agency says gives a “glimpse into the future of our profession.”
