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New HazMat Challenges for Modern EMS Units

In today’s increasingly complex and ever more dangerous world, EMS units in U.S. communities both large and small are learning to cope with a broad spectrum of mass-casualty incidents and events never before encountered by their predecessors. Here are a few common-sense cost, training, political, legal, and operational suggestions that

HELP: A New Approach to Volunteer Management

From the Pre-Colonial Era to the present, America has been a nation of volunteers. The tradition of neighbors helping neighbors is probably more important today, though, than ever before. The cost of dealing with a “relatively minor” CBRNE incident is prohibitively expensive, and it is likely to be years before,

Emergency Responses to CDLs: The Hidden Dangers

Meth labs are another clear and present danger not only to individual users and the nation as a whole, but also to the lab workers, innocent “civilians” living in the same neighborhood, and – most of all, perhaps – firefighters and other first responders who are risking their own lives

PTSD: The Front Lines of a New Conflict

The “save rate” of military personnel wounded in battle used to be extremely low. Now it is much higher, thanks in large part to better medicine and improved medical transport (ambulances and helicopters, primarily). However, one unanticipated result has been a huge increase in the survival of personnel suffering from

The InfraGard Alliance: Personal Relations & Information Sharing

When the most capable and most experienced U.S. law-enforcement agency and 47,000 of the nation’s best informed and most dedicated private citizens join forces to thwart terrorists, track down and capture criminals, and protect the nation’s infrastructure, the smart money is on the “good guys”. Which is only one reason

2012 Great Central U.S. ShakeOut

On 7 February 2012, more than one million people across nine states will participate in the 2012 Great Central U.S. ShakeOut! Learn more and/or sign up today to participate.

Social Media: A Seismic Opportunity

On 23 August 2011, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck Mineral, Virginia, and rattled a large area up and down the U.S. East Coast – an area unaccustomed to such seismic events. In the moments that followed, information and shocked reactions spread at an unprecedented rate. But the first reports were not

The Role of Social Media Before, During, and After a Disaster

The new all-hazards safety rule for young children, senior citizens, and everyone else in between: Don’t leave home without your smartphone. Be careful what you say, though – several billion people may be listening in… or looking in. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. Ask anyone who has

Defining Emergency Management in the 21st Century

The profession of emergency management has come a long, long way from the streets of London to the gates of the White House, but the policing principles enunciated by Sir Robert Peel provide a strong foundation for President Barack Obama’s Presidential Policy Directive 8 on National Preparedness and its goal

An Interview with The Honorable Tom Ridge

The former DHS Secretary provides his own nonpartisan insights on the current state of U.S. emergency preparedness, comments on many areas of progress – and some gaps still to be filled – and offers a number of helpful short- and long-term recommendations for the future.

The 2012 Public Health Preparedness Summit: Regroup, Refocus, Refresh

New technologies and greater budgetary, political, and workplace challenges, so what else is new? That is the question that participants in next year’s Anaheim “Summit” will do their best to answer while also devising better and more imaginative ways to, as always, do more with less resources…and with fewer people.

Tracking and Locating Fire and Emergency Personnel

As firefighters and other emergency responders well know, disaster may be lurking just around the next corner. Or maybe in the burning room one floor below. Which is why breadcrumbs and a working PASS or any other reliable type of tracking-and-location system are so important in fighting fires. “The life

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