Volume 17, Issue 3

This study examined the strategic planning practices of county-level emergency management agencies (EMAs), with a specific focus on strategic planning adoption and its relationship to local program quality. The study utilized a descriptive, cross-sectional survey design to collect planning- and program-related data from more than 300 county-level EMAs across the United States. The study findings revealed that most of the county EMAs included in the final sample had previously engaged in strategic planning activities, with nearly all of them continuing to use strategic planning as part of their general management practice. The study findings further revealed that strategic planning had a direct and significant impact on the overall quality of local emergency management programs, and that the strategic planning EMAs had significantly higher mean quality scores across all program dimensions when compared to the non-strategic planning EMAs.

This article expounds upon the experiences of local emergency management professionals to determine if there is a pattern in the attitudes that these managers exhibit regarding the centralization of policy and operational control during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. Responses to a 2016 survey described beneficial and detracting features of the federal requirements, which affected the department's ability to meet their jurisdiction's demands. This article describes these attitudes and determines whether jurisdictions that were favorable to or against policy changes made during Obama's administration represent jurisdictions that voted Democratic or Republican in the five previous presidential elections. Doing so tests the theory of "representative bureaucracy", which suggests local bureaucrats will represent their constituents' background and beliefs in their actions or attitudes. The findings suggest that elements of "representative bureaucracy" exist, but also that disappointment over the actions taken by both administrations persist.

Social media applications facilitate information sharing between agencies, yet scholarship primarily focuses on government-to-citizen communication. This article explores how agencies use social networking applications and microblogs such as Twitter and Facebook to share information and interact with each other. Public information officers (PIOs) from 35 state emergency management agencies were interviewed, and transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. Findings demonstrate that PIOs employ Twitter and Facebook to monitor content for situational awareness, post training opportunities, network with other agencies, and share and reuse content in different ways. Fewer agencies directly coordinate preparedness information campaigns during nonthreat periods and risk communication during emergency response operations. General impediments to those practices include lack of personnel, insufficient technical knowledge, and preferences for other channels. In all, Twitter and Facebook complement—but do not take the place of—other information and communications technology (ICTs) that facilitate operational coordination.

Emergency planners and first responders often access web-based information resources during disasters; however, these tools require an active Internet connection, which may be unavailable during a disaster. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) provides several free non-web-based disaster response tools. This study assessed intention to use web-based and non-web-based informational and response tools during disasters among emergency responders and librarians. Educational workshops were held in four Missouri cities in spring, 2016. The NLM tools were presented and attendees practiced using the tools during disaster scenarios. Pre- and post-intervention data about NLM tool awareness and intention to use these tools versus other web-based resources was collected. McNemar tests assessed a pre/post change in intention to use each resource. Four workshops were held, with a total of 74 attendees. Intention to use the NLM tools was low prior to the workshops (range: 20.3–39.2%), but increased significantly immediately afterwards ( p  < .001 for all pre/post comparisons). The workshops resulted in increased NLM tool awareness and increased intention to use the tools during future disasters. This provides evidence of attendees’ perceptions of the usefulness of the non-web-based NLM tools in place of other web-based tools in situations without Internet access.

One of the main challenges in assisting displaced persons who have lost their homes as a result of a natural hazard is the provision of adequate post-disaster accommodations, such as temporary housing. Although the need for temporary housing has increased around the world in recent years, it has been criticized on economic, environmental, and social grounds. A universal approach to post-disaster accommodations cannot successfully deal with this issue because each recovery process involves a unique set of conditions. Therefore, rather than defining a specific strategy, this study aims to present an approach capable of producing customized strategies based on contextual and social conditions. To this end, first, the main factors influencing the choice of post-disaster accommodations are identified through five case studies. It is concluded that all of the factors can be organized into three main vertices to simplify the highly complex issues involved in post-disaster accommodations. The case studies also show that the decision-making process consists of two main parts. To date, a recurring failure to distinguish between these two parts has led to unsuitable outcomes. Thus, this paper presents a new decision-making methodology, consisting of multiple steps, phases, and indicators based on the main vertices.

Over the past years, the frequency and scope of disasters affecting the United States have significantly increased. Government agencies have made efforts in improving the nation’s disaster response framework to minimize fatalities and economic loss due to disasters. Disaster response has evolved with the emergency management agencies incorporating systematic changes in their organization and emergency response functions to accommodate lessons learned from past disaster events. Technological advancements in disaster response have also improved the agencies’ ability to prepare for and respond to natural hazards. The transportation and logistics sector has a primary role in emergency response during and after disasters. In this light, this paper seeks to identify how effective policy changes and new technology have aided the transportation and logistics sector in emergency response and identify gaps in current practices for further improvement. Specifically, this study compares and contrasts the transportation and logistical support to emergency relief efforts during and after two major Hurricane events in the U.S., namely Hurricane Katrina (which affected New Orleans in 2005) and Hurricane Harvey (which affected Houston in 2017). This comparison intends to outline the major steps taken by the government and the private entities in the transportation and logistics sector to facilitate emergency response and the issues faced during the process. Finally, the paper summarizes the lessons learned from both the Hurricane events and provides recommendations for further improvements in transportation and logistical support to disaster response.

Since members of rescue forces such as firefighters have to deal with sometimes extreme and dangerous situations, high-quality basic trainings are indispensable for their professional success. There is therefore an obvious need for standardized tools assessing the training quality. This paper aims to develop and validate such an evaluation instrument. In Study 1, a qualitative analysis ( N  = 21) was used to identify core characteristics of good firefighter basic trainings and served as theoretical basis for the generation of corresponding items. In Study 2 ( N  = 257), the item set was piloted and reduced, its structure was assessed in exploratory factor analyses, and first validations were conducted. Study 3 ( N  = 451) tested the proposed factor structure via confirmatory analyses and validated the questionnaire comprehensively. Factor analyses showed a six-factor structure. The scales of the newly created Feedback Instrument for Rescue forces Education – Basic education (FIRE-B) are to be judged as reliable. Moreover, there are several clear indications of validity. Thus, the present research contributes to the understanding of critical factors and processes of basic trainings. Furthermore, the FIRE-B has a high practical relevance, both in the assessment of training quality and in the identification of opportunities for improvement.

In April 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) participated in the Gotham Shield Exercise, led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and in collaboration with other federal agencies to test the federal, state and local government’s ability to respond to an improvised nuclear device (IND). With active engagement from CDC leadership, 266 scientific and support staff from across the agency participated in the Gotham Shield exercise. The scenario involved a 10-kiloton detonation near the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey. This nuclear detonation scenario provided CDC with the opportunity to test some of the all-hazards tools the agency uses during response to other national or international emergencies, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mapping tools, and apply these tools to a nuclear emergency. Geospatial analysis associated with real time data can provide near real time information for individuals and entities associated with response and recovery activities. This type of analysis can provide timely data in regard to maps and information used to properly place staging areas for Community Reception Centers (CRC), mass care locations, and other medical care and countermeasure related services. Maps showing locations of power loss, such as locations of lost or inoperable main electrical grid and substations, combined with real time data on where power is available provides valuable information for first responders and emergency managers as well as responders engaged in communicating critical public messages to affected populations in these areas. By using real-time information, response officials can direct the response, allocate scarce resources, aid in coordination efforts, and provide a more efficient means of providing critical public health and medical services. The results of the exercise highlight the importance of using geospatial analysis for response planning and effect mitigation before, during, and after a public health event of this magnitude, and the value they represent in informed decision making.

The past decade brought about a dramatic change in the global Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) risk with a reduction of the threat of war and an increase in risk of terrorism. These changes have a considerable influence on the development of CBRN defense technologies: from highly predictable scenarios with relatively good risk assessment and intelligence capabilities, to a wide variety of scenarios with limited predictive capabilities in the case of terrorism. First responders are challenged to deal with multilateral issues, which are more complex than ever before. As long as the threat was state-posed and in a war context, CBRN technologies were developed in light of defense authorities’ demands. Nowadays, with the diminishing wartime threat, the market is left “unsupervised.” Manufacturers and developers are adopting their technologies with limited to no feedback and support of the end-users. In turn, this leads to suboptimal technological results from the operational point-of-view. This paper calls for a multi-sectorial, joint venture between academia, industry, government and first responders. Such collaboration should seek a non-competitive, financially stable environment to bridge gaps in the development of defense technologies that are adapted to the rapidly changing threats. Examples and discussion will be provided.