Preparedness

“For any data that a forecast produces, there’s uncertainty in future conditions, For these last ten years we’ve seen a lot of extremes ... forecasting procedures are trying to adapt to that.”

New London, Conn., Emergency Management Director tom Curcio said getting people to evacuate is difficult. Police have two high-water vehicles to extract people from neighborhoods when they get into trouble.

The FBI has no exact statistics on swatting incidents, which they first became aware of in 2008. The incidents that have been reported have increased from 400 cases in 2011 to more than 1,000 in 2019.

“The melt is really going to start happening in the next week,” said Lisa Hiebert, a spokesperson with St. Paul Public Works. “As the water level rises, we have very clear plans around our response and notifying the public.”

A tank car of butane, a form of liquefied petroleum gas, derailed but didn't release any of the highly flammable material. The only cargo known to have spilled was some powdered, natural bentonite clay and multiple box cars of Coors Light and Blue Moon beer.

Although the role of climate change in tornadoes is not fully understood, researchers say locations are shifting, the season is lengthening and the number of tornadoes in a single event is increasing.

Due to "a very high amount of water in the snowpack across the region, with the north shore, east-central Minnesota, and all of northwest Wisconsin currently ranking in the top 10% of historical snow water measurements."

A nine-session series on how businesses can effectively mitigate, respond to and recover from an active shooter or other mass casualty event could make a big difference in an emergency.

Mass shootings get more attention, but the smaller-scale tragedy of gun suicide represents a majority of firearm deaths in most states. In the United States, suicides make up 57% of all gun deaths.

Some manufacturers of electric vehicles are eliminating AM radios, one of the ways federal, state and local public safety officials communicate with the public about important information during emergencies.

The county’s Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, which expired in 2022, helps access federal funding for projects like earthquake retrofitting and vegetation management to control the spread of wildfires.

The Woodstock Fire Department was selected for a $132,597 FEMA Assistance to Firefighters grant toward the $139,227 project. The department will chip in $6,629 to meet a required 5% match by the recipient of the grant.

Marin County is developing a new radar station that will track atmospheric rivers and inform a network with real-time data to help officials respond to potential flooding with a more customized report.

"From heavy snowfall to dangerous winds, everyone in Illinois should be prepared for adverse conditions. Earlier this month, Illinois saw multiple tornadoes throughout the state, followed by unseasonably-warm temperatures."

Wassel takes over as head of FirstNet after a 34-year career with the Department of Defense, where he founded the Global Public Safety Communications Working Group.

Preparedness is key for keeping operations moving in the event of a cyber incident, like when Dole Foods didn’t know it had been the victim of ransomware until customers complained they couldn’t find their favorite products.

The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, demonstrates that in spite of some efforts to mitigate derailments of hazardous materials, it hasn’t been enough to halt preventable accidents.

The federally funded, four-day training event put participants through the paces of a hypothetical scenario. After setting the stage with a mass public emergency, teams dove into tabletop simulations to role play how they would respond.