Thursday, June 09, 2011

Random Hacks of Kindness Philly

Full speed ahead as always.  Wanted to make a special post to talk about a pretty exciting event I was able to take part in this past weekend.  It was called Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), a project that started in 2009 to help build open source solutions to a variety of community problems to include disaster risk management and climate change.  Every year, cities across the world host events where subject matter experts and programmers get together to help develop tools to solve hundreds of problems.  I was fortunate enough to participate in this years event in Philadelphia at Drexel University.


Amos Scott and I made the trip to Philadelphia Saturday morning with no intention of producing any ideas for projects, simply to observe and learn something from the participants.  During the breakout sessions to determine groups and projects, we noticed that there was a lack of ideas in the disaster management field.  I provided an idea for a online tool for a person to enter their address into a app which would then poll a variety of open datasets and display the variety of hazards one may live near.  Essentially they would see a map of all the historical tornadoes, hurricane tracks, nuclear plants, etc around the location they decided to search.  Programmer Adam Hinz joined our group and would be the sole programmer on the team.


Obviously the first thing our team needed to do was come up with ideas and a rough idea on how the app would work.  I was lucky to have come up with a decent project on the whim, especially since Amos and I didn't come with anything on our mind to the event.  Adam decided to write the program with the programming language Ruby, a language he was very proficient with.  We then had to find datasets.


Our team encountered numerous issues with the data we wanted to utilize.  One of the first problems we encountered was inaccurate data.  For example, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had a dataset of Nuclear Reactors with the incorrect coordinates.  A dataset we couldn't use.  Second, we needed to know how to interpret the data and convert it into a format that our program could understand.  We had text files, shape files, KML files, and numerous other formats that we had to convert and parse.  That took the most time of the weekend, and if we had just had simplified data that we didn't have to convert, we would have gotten much farther along.


One problem with the data that didn't really have anything to do with the actual format was how we would determine which sets would be useful and which would not.  For example, how would we measure an area that was prone to major snowfall?  Would we just provide pinpoints of historical major snow events?  Would we just measure total amount of snow over the past xx years?  Would we provide a risk map determined by NWS or some other government agency?  We had to determine if we were going to just provide raw historical data to let the citizen decide the risk, or actually provide risk maps developed by agencies on the applicable hazard.  Each had their advantages and disadvantages.



Adam programmed away and by the Sunday morning, we had a pretty decent looking mockup of our app.  We rushed to complete a few sample modules on our program for Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Handlers of Hazardous Materials, Nuclear Facilities, Flood Plains, and Earthquakes.  Each had to be developed differently and took a lot longer than I thought.  Adam was able to complete the program by the judging period in which event facilitators looked at the complete projects by the six teams and chose the winners.  I did a short briefing for them to give them a background on the project and our purpose.


Each team presented their project to the 50 or so people that attended the event.  Judges made their decisions and surprisingly enough, our project "Disaster Mapper" was a winner.  Not bad for a team in which two of the members didn't even plan on participating, and a team with only one programmer!  We won a gift package of Amazon Gift Cards, cell phone solar chargers, Make Magazine subscriptions, and four bottles of Club-Mate (apparently the European Hacker beverage of choice).


The idea of RHoK is a brilliant one.  Gather the interest of subject matter experts and programmers by putting them in one place with some problems to solve.  We had great food throughout the entire event and the facility was great.  Additionally, I believe our team (as well as the others) has the momentum to continue their projects and make them into viable products for the community.  I've already demo'd Disaster Mapper to our Preparedness folks at DEMA and they love it.  As our team continues to build out the features and decide how we will roll out the project, we will likely make the app a part of PrepareDE.org.  Hopefully other emergency management agencies will follow suit.  There are plenty of other features that I have in mind that I really would like to see implemented.




Interested in trying out Disaster Mapper?  Type a Philadelphia address in to www.disastermapper.com.  There are still a couple bugs, but I'm sure Adam is working on them!

Regards

Monday, April 18, 2011

Help Wanted

Occasionally, something inside me remembers I have a blog, and that I haven't posted to it in a very long time.  I'm not sure who reads this thing anymore, though I'm sure if one searches a variety of different keywords in Google, one of the posts will come up.  Today was one of those days and I have the urge to give an update on where I stand in the world.

The last time I posted, I gave a bit of a review of my four years at college.  I sat there in a chair outside of Station 9 watching the 2010 school year wind down and students go back home for the summer...or go back home for good.  It was a time of reflection as well as a time to think about the potential options for the next stage in my life.

At that point I may have had a couple of job applications in to a variety of agencies, and I certainly know I placed many applications in after that summer.  These ranged from lengthy processes in fire or law enforcement agencies around the Mid-Atlantic region, to jobs in emergency management agencies, to jobs in the private sector.  All jobs that I wanted to start, put in time for the long haul, and have a career I could look back on.  Unfortunately, all have come back unsuccessful.

Thankfully, they have not been because I am unqualified for the position of question.  I have continued to get e-mails to the effect: "Due to loss of funding, we are currently unable to fill the position you applied for."  With the current state of the economy, it is extremely difficult for government agencies to maintain staffing, especially within public safety departments.  They simply can't justify positions that citizens don't want to pay for.

It's across the board.  Fire departments are closing stations, police departments are cutting officers from the streets, emergency management organizations are simply closing.  It has come to the point that citizens just don't care.  Just as many feel with insurance, they feel they aren't at risk to justify the insurance of having a fully funded and staffed public safety department.  "A fire truck will show up eventually, and the police officer will get here at some point...plus I've never had to call 911 before, why would that change in the future?"

As I stated in my last blog post, I questioned if I would have went to a different university if I had known I would be interested in the pubic safety field.  Now I question if I would have went in to this field.  It seems as if public safety is on its way out, even as major catastrophes in countries like Japan pan out and show how resource strapped any nation can be.  Even the private sector jobs in the public safety sector are dwindling.  Government agencies are contracting less consultants, and industry is shutting down fire brigades and safety departments.  Where costs can be cut, costs are cut.

As I've done all my life, I try to incorporate long term planning in to all of my decisions.  My career is certainly one of them.  In a society where people spend about 4-5 years at a job and go somewhere new, I respect the values of a long term career at an agency.  I've found in the people that I've worked with, that the ones with the most knowledge and respect towards their career are the ones that have worked at one place for 20-30 years and retired.  I'd like to see myself in the same position one day.  It is a trait that is difficult to convey during job interviews, especially as many of the people that interview me have only been there a few years after leaving their previous place of employment.  Even at DEMA, I'm a veteran.  I can compare the organizational chart from 2006 when I was hired out of high school with the chart from today.  It's impressive to walk in the building and not know who many of the people that work there are.

There are reasons that I haven't gone in to high stress mode when it comes to my career.  Thankfully, current healthcare legislation allows for me to remain on my parents insurance until I'm 26.  That said, I'd like to hope that I'd have my own career (with benefits) by the time I'm 26.  Let us hope our economy has at least gotten itself together to a certain degree by that point.

Second, my current employer and supervisor have made extensive attempts to keep me as employed as long as possible on my current contract.  My boss, Bob George, has been a real blessing to work with over the past four years, and I'd hope that even if I were to get a job somewhere else, I could continue to work part time for the program that he has built from the ground over the past decade.  Citizen preparedness has been a great initiative to work on in Delaware and it feels great to actually go out and "touch citizens" to explain the importance of preparing yourself for disaster.  Certainly with the resource strapped agencies we deal with today, it's important for everyone to take a bit of responsibility for themselves.

So I'm still covered by insurance and still getting a paycheck.  Things aren't so bad.  Plus I still feel like the work I do is actually making a difference out there in the community, and that certainly is one of the better feelings out there.  One aspect that I continue to think about is where are the rest of my college peers currently?

I look at them on Facebook and have found that many have decided to go on to Grad School or they're working at servers in a local restaurant in their hometowns.  You went to school for four years and you work as a waiter at Ruby Tuesday's?  It's a shame that many of these bright individuals can't find a job that they can't excel in.  Grad School was certainly a logical decision for many, as they will obtain their Master's while the economy settles and hopefully recovers.

My job interviews continue and I'll remain optimistic.  If anyone out there knows of something that I should be looking into or knows of a position (with benefits) that I should apply for, let me know.  I'll certainly be grateful!

Regards

Saturday, May 29, 2010

I'm still here.

I'm still here.  A very early morning four Augusts ago, my mother, grandfather, and I traveled to the City of Newark with a truckload of Rubbermaid bins, microwaveable food, ridiculous colorful folding chairs, and kinds of electronic equipment.  I was going to be moving into a dilapidated dorm (which has now been completely renovated) on the East side of the University of Delaware with no air conditioning, bare cement walls, and cold ceramic tiles.  In this room, I'd live with another guy that I had never met, and had really no interest in ever meeting.  Originally, I thought I had an idea of how the next four years of my life would end up, and I made every attempt possible towards the beginning to create a detailed plan of how I would stick to my life goals.  I found that every bit of planning I did to try and create a life course went right out the window every minute that went by over the next four years.  I learned in college that for the most part, long term planning doesn't always work out the way it's supposed to.


I don't know if I was just pissed off that morning because it was early or if I really was angry about being there at the University of Delaware.  Looking back, I don't really know how I could have been that angry about the University at that point, maybe with the exception being that they placed me in a room with someone I didn't know, especially when I wanted to really move in with a high school friend of mine who was also attending the University.  As I would find out, every year of the three years I lived in University housing in Newark, I ultimately ended up having dealings with UD Housing in either trying to get my roommate out of my room or me trying to move to another room.  I learned in college that people are inconsiderate, will press their snooze button six times when you don't have to get up for class, throw all of their crap around the room, and that I had a hard time dealing with it.

Another defining moment of that first day was the fact that I had to leave my parents and really take care of myself for the first time in my life.  I didn't really know how that one was going to work out.  I had no idea how to cook anything for myself, how to do laundry efficiently, or clean on a daily basis.  And I found that for myself within a few days of being there.  The University added items to their "how can I piss Justin off list" by closing the dining halls on Memorial Day...which took place only a few days after I had arrived there.  Because of that I couldn't use the meal plan or the dining hall that was near my dorm.  I remember instead, I went to a place called Lettuce Feed You up off of Main Street, since I was looking for a sandwich or something.  If you can't tell by the title, Lettuce Feed You sells salads, not really anything else.  For some reason I was so angry, I just got some salad or something there (I hate salad) ate half of it, and threw the rest away.  I learned in college that I probably shouldn't make irrational decisions, and go to a place that sells salad looking for sandwiches and then be angry about it.

And Mom was upset that I was leaving as well.  She cried when she dropped me off that first day and she cried today at Graduation.  I always like to tell the story on how ironic it was that she was so upset that I was leaving, yet I ended up coming home that next weekend.  But, I understand it.  Without my parents, I certainly wouldn't have went to college.  I more than likely would have joined the military or done something else.  Even to this day, I'm still not sure UD was right for me, or that the decisions I made here were right, but I do know that the direction my parents led me in, and the support they were able to provide were certainly better than anything I could have come up with myself.  I learned in college that your family is absolutely critical to your success in the future.

And just like that first weekend that I went home to the place I was familiar with, I went home often.  UD was convenient, that it allowed for me to get from Newark to Lewes within about an hour and a half.  It got to the extent freshman year that I went home every single weekend.  I wanted to get back to all of my friends from high school and the people I was familiar with. My negative attitude that freshman year kept me tied to the same people I had been tied to for the four years earlier.  And when they went off and did different things, moved different places, and continued their lives, I was stuck in an era that no longer existed.  I learned in college that you shouldn't judge every single person around you as someone you don't want to meet, especially when they make a considerable attempt to meet you.

But there was hope.  I remember that first day in Newark, a friend from high school and a adjunct professor who I had known well from my professional career went to lunch at a restaurant on Elkton Rd.  We sat there and talked about technology and a variety of other subjects, in a leisurely fashion over lunch.  I thought to myself, this is really what college can be like.  I'm going to be able to work on fun technical projects as an electrical engineer, and have intelligent conversations about things that interest me with people that have the same interests as me.  I was wrong.  The engineering candidates that I met that first year couldn't tell you what a capacitor was from a peanut and didn't have nearly any hands on experience with electronic equipment.  However, they were very smart with math and science leading to why they graduated today from the College of Engineering.  I learned in college that engineering doesn't have much to do with anything except math and science.  And that it wasn't for me.

Crazy enough, I thought I could do it that first semester.  I studied hard, worked my ass off, and really made an attempt to be an engineer.  What made it tough was the fact that none of the classes that I found myself in had anything to do with engineering and I was doing absolutely horrible in them.  And then add the fact that I had all of the additional useless activities that the UD Residence Life program wanted me to participate in (which thankfully don't exist anymore due to a lawsuit) I had just about enough of it.  I felt like I was learning absolutely nothing, and that I was making no progress towards an engineering degree.  I knew that I had to switch my major.  I learned in college that the University has no incentive in helping you switch from one major to the other, and that it's probably a less painful to light yourself on fire than switch majors.

I figured since I liked what had done in my career at DEMA the summer prior to college, I would look into the emergency management profession.  The University of Delaware had a program in the emergency management field through their Disaster Research Center that seemed to fit my interests.  After hours and hours of aggravation working with the Academic Advisement Office, Dean's Office of both engineering and arts and sciences, the Registrar, and my advisors, I finally was able to switch to a new major.  Looking back, I rather would have had a more in depth emergency management program involved in the degree, but I feel that I've learned most of what I know in this field through self-study and my employment over the past four years.  I learned in college that experience is sometimes much more valuable than the education that's provided at a university.

It really started looking up.  During spring semester of my freshman year, I was taking three political science courses which I really enjoyed, and found much more interesting than anything I took while in engineering.  Two of the courses were in the 300 level (Junior), and I still found them much easier than the intro level math courses I was taking.  There's still a D- in College Pre-calculus (a class which I never needed) on my transcript which completely screws up my GPA.  I started really getting the hang of college and the process required to study for exams.  Over the next four years, I learned what classes I actually needed to attend, and what ones were a waste of time.  In some classes, buying the books were a complete waste of money, and I believe I saved quite a bit of money by refraining to purchase books in many cases.  I learned in college to not waste time doing things that really don't have to be done, and not to waste money buying things that don't have to be bought.

I finished my first year of college with a new vision of where I was going.  I felt like I was on the right track to a career in emergency management and that I probably would be able to keep up with the amount of school work required in the upcoming years.  Sophomore year I would move into some of the brand new dorms on the north part of Newark with someone I knew.  I really felt like I had a good handle on what was going on around me and I made the best attempt to have a positive outlook for the upcoming year.  Unfortunately, that year held so much promise that I never was able to take advantage of.  Sophomore year really brought out some hidden problems in my personal life that I continued to ignore up until that point.  I learned valuable lessons about trust, friendship, and maturity.  It's obvious when I observe the way I acted in the past, that I never really matured when I thought I did.  I acted like a moron, in the way I treated people and the way I portrayed myself.  I don't know if I wanted attention or if I was just completely clueless.  I really found that those around me hadn't matured either.  I questioned their morals and I questioned mine.  I don't know if I have ever been as lost in my life.  I learned in that trust, friendship, and maturity are something to cherish, and if lost may never be regained fully again.

I realized that I had made no effort to meet people, understand people, or even introduce myself.  If there is one thing that a potential college student reads in this blog, this is by far the most important part.  It is absolutely critical that you find something to do with your spare time while at college.  This allows for you to relax and find new hobbies or interests, and also helps to act as an interface to meet new people.  Whether it be going out to house parties every weekend, joining clubs, joining fraternities or sororities, or playing a sport, you need to find something to do with your extra time.  Even as ridiculous as one might find the usefulness of drunken house parties to ones life, it's much better than sitting in your dorm room for hours on end playing guitar by yourself.  Just do whatever you can to meet people and learn about them.  You'll probably meet a lot of really good friends along the way.  I learned in college that no matter how well you can play the blues on guitar, if you don't have someone else playing with you, you're just wasting your time.

Though I didn't react fast enough to the fact that I was wasting my free time in college, I did find something to spend a significant amount of time meeting people and helping the community at the same time.  Months after I had joined the Lewes Fire Department down at home, I joined the Christiana Fire Company in New Castle County during my Junior year to both learn more about incident management and meet people who were interested in helping the community during an emergency.  I started riding during the day at Station 3, then spending the night a lot at Station 3, and eventually ended up moving in there completely during the first half of my Senior year.  The friends from high schooI that I had moved in with at the Christiana Towers during my Junior year never understood how I could spend so much time at a firehouse.  I really feel like the fire department helped me keep my sanity the last two years I was at the University and I respect the people I've met at both Christiana and Aetna for keeping me involved and interested in the fire service.

After four years, I realized Newark was changing around me.  Through sophomore year into the time I graduated, I realized that the place I came to on my first day was evolving every second.  Businesses were changing, new buildings were being built, others being torn down.  Even the restaurant on Elkton Rd. that we went to that first day freshman year was torn down and replaced with stores and apartments.  I really got to know Newark well and even as it changed I liked it.  It's strange looking back at pictures from 2006 and looking at the landscape of a town that is completely different today.  I learned in college that the environment around you may evolve faster than you evolve yourself.

And I'm not sure how much I evolved.  They say in college, that you're brainwashed and made to think differently about your morals and political views by the college administration.  I'd have to say, the students here at the University have changed my perspective on more things than the actual administration has.  Really just seeing how these people operate in society has really shown me what goes on in real life, and what to expect in the real world.  I never once had a professor who could change my opinion, but in many cases provided an extremely unique perspective on something.  Though some professors didn't do a good job, I had a few that impressed me and will be getting good reviews from me on "ratemyprofessors.com".  Weird that I waited four years to fill out reviews on that website?  I learned in college that it's absolutely imperative to look at every possible outcome and variable to a situation or you might not really know the truth about it.

I failed at that in many cases.  I never looked at the outcomes of the many decisions I made in college and how they would effect me and my long term plans.  I made irrational decisions, some of which worked out, most of which didn't.  And over the past four years I've had a lot of time to think about those decisions and what I would have done differently.  Even my decision on major or what college I should have went to could be disputed.  Should I just have went to DelTech for two years and got an associates for free with the STEM program?  Should I have applied to transfer to a different school when I decided to get out of engineering?  Should I have planned my major out better when I applied in high school?  Should I have just joined the military and gotten an ROTC scholarship?  I learned in college that hindsight is always 20/20.

When I arrived at the Russell B dorm on that first day, I severely miscalculated the outcome to having a negative attitude about the next four years.  That negative attitude resulted in a catastrophic failure to enjoy any sense of a professional and social life here at the University.  Just that simple fact that I was pissed off that morning created a chain reaction which drastically destroyed any potential recovery of my college experience.  This has been a tough four years, with work, with friends, with family, and with school.  The reason it's been tough has been due to the causal relationship between that first day and the next four years.  I learned in college that one bad mistake can haunt you forever.

Regardless, I'm still here.  Still here in Newark as 4,000 of my graduated peers have went home with memories and experiences that they will never be able to recreate.  Off to start their lives, probably settle down, and move on.  I've got a piece of paper that says I attended college.  The key lesson I learned in college, is that the defining moment of any chapter in life is the start of it.  For this next chapter, I'm going to make the best of it and not be pessimistic on what could potentially be the best chapter of my life.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Rejuvenating Interest

The past two weeks I've spent in Bethany Beach at the National Guard's 193rd Regional Training Institute in the Emergency Operations Communications Course.  The course went over a variety of things from operation of a variety of radios, interoperability gateways, and the theory behind radio communications.  This past Thursday we included a trip to the Smyrna Readiness Center which houses the Joint C4 Coordination Center as well as DEMA, which I'm all too familiar with.  I was the only civilian in the course which was pretty neat as I got to learn a lot from the Army and Air Force personnel who were my classmates.  The 193rd RTI is the US military's school for interoperability and I was lucky to get a spot in the class.
During the course, I got to play with a lot of radios that most civilians have never heard of including the following:
Harris AN/PRC-150 HF ALE Radio


Harris AN/PRC-117F VHF/UHF Radio

Thales AN/PRC-148 VHF/UHF Radio

ITT SINGCARS VHF Radio

Harris RF-350 HF ALE Radio

Motorola Micom-2E HF ALE Radio

Motorola Micom-3R HF ALE Radio

Motorola XTL-5000 and XTS-5000 Radios
In addition to learning the operation of each of these radios, we were given instruction on patching the various systems together using the Raytheon ACU-1000 and the various components available including the Wide Area Interoperability System (WAIS) and NXU radio extensions.  It was great getting some hands on time with the ACU software and programming since we rarely use it within the state.  We also got some time to learn about the Joint Incident Site Communications Capability (JISCC) packages that both the Army and Air National Guards are able to deploy during a disaster which includes a satilite mobile data terminal, VOIP phones, laptops, LMR's, repeater, an ACU-1000 with various public safety radios, HF radio, and video teleconference equipment all in one trailer.  It is quite an impressive setup.  The 193rd has a specific course just for the JISCC which I plan to take next summer.
Working with some of these guys on the military side, I really got to see some of the major issues we are going to run into during a disaster.  First, I don't think the National Guard realizes how crucial these JISCC packages, and the other assorted commo equipment will be during an incident.  These packages rely on little infrastructure compared to civilian systems and are versatile to where they can be placed.
I also really was able to learn a lot about the requirements that the Guard needs at an incident site when it comes to a detailed plan about where communications links need to be placed.  They could really care less about how you want them to do it, they just need to know where the links need to be made and they will do it.  I gave them some info about how they can fit in to the incident command structure and that their go-to person would be the COML of the incident.  Also it helped when I provided them copies of the ICS-205 communications plan, which they were very unfamiliar with.  The military has their own forms and format as we all know, but it helps when they become familiar with the civilian side.

We took part of a couple of commo exercises during the two weeks.  One where we set up an HF base station at our location, programmed the frequencies and callsigns for ALE, and then required five manpack HF kits to deploy around the installation while they programmed their radios via the keypad.  Trust me, it's not easy trying to program one of those things from the keypad, it's much easier just hooking it up to a computer and using the software.

The class helped to rejuvenate my interest in RF.  Unfortunately my job at Delaware State Police takes me away from the RF side of things that I'm familiar with and I don't get to play commo stuff that much.  This class refreshed my memory and gave me a few "I remember that!" experiences as we were going through some of the material.  I can say it gave me an insight to how military commo works and how I'm going to have to interface with them during a disaster.

Thursday, July 09, 2009

This is all starting to get really interesting.

First as I do in every blog post, let me apologize for the length of time since the last post...which in this case was multiple months ago.  I'll be quite honest, blogging isn't really all that interesting anymore.  I started "The Logbook" to provide more timely updates to my life that I was not able to do by updating my website.  Unfortunately with the blog, I never really gained any dialog with anyone and it was never very interactive.  Additionally I always had to put aside a lot of time to make a post that I really liked and that gave a good update to what I was doing.

I'm going to continue maintaining the blog with posts every month, but I suggest that you add me as a friend on Facebook if you are looking for even more up to date information.  It's more interactive and I keep it more up to date.  If I wouldn't know you and you are just a reader of the blog, just mention who you are and that you were a subscriber to my blog when you add me.

http://www.facebook.com/justinkates

And no, I don't use Twitter except to track when a disaster happens within Delaware which actually came quite in handy a week or so ago when we experienced a small earthquake in New Castle County.  I found out about it an hour before the rest of DEMA did just using the tracking features on Twitter.

So what has happened since the last post?  Some pretty big news was the fact that I finished my Junior year of college, which is fairly hard to believe.  I remember just yesterday when it was my junior year of high school.  This was also the first semester I graduated on Dean's List which I was pretty surprised with.  This semester was really filled with a lot of disaster based sciences (Meteorology, Natural Hazards, Earthquakes & Volcanoes, etc) and was much different than previous semesters.  I'm on track to take 12 credits next fall, and 12 credits in spring to graduate.  I'm extremely excited to get out of college, yet also not thrilled with the fact that the job market has hit rock bottom.  I have a few things in mind to hold me over if things don't work out.


Speaking of jobs, I have changed positions since the last post.  I now work for Delaware State Police in a place called the Delaware Information Analysis Center.  I can't really speak about what they do because it is a sensitive operation, but you can get the idea that it is a fusion center where intelligence information flows in and back out to various agencies after it has been vetted and confirmed.  Since I have come from the response side of emergency services, it is interesting to see this perspective of trying to "find" the disaster before it happens and get the information out to the right people.  Once again, similar to DEMA I'm a consultant working on special projects.  Currently I'm working on a public alerting system which will allow for information received by the DIAC to be broadcast to various levels of users based on their security level.

I've been involved in a variety of activities over the past few months including working with the Incident Management Team for the Dover International Speedway NASCAR races, participating in various fire school training during pretty much every weekend this year, and of course the constant flow of meetings I need to go to.  As the motto says, "Securing the Homeland, One Meeting at a Time".

Today I made a response with the Lewes Fire Department to a working structure fire near Midway.  I was officer on Engine 82-2.  I try as much as possible not to be in the officer seat but with a volunteer service at a rural station, sometimes it's difficult to get more people with experience on the truck.  As with every incident it got me thinking about the various things that make the fire service in Delaware interesting.

First would be the fact that Rehoboth's fire department beat us on scene from their Station 2...which is geographically closer to where the fire was from any of Lewes's stations.  District lines sure are interesting.  Kudos to Station 86 for making a quick response.

Another thing was staffing.  I know on Engine 82-2 we had two cadet members in the back.  Cadet members are volunteers that are under the age of 16 and are unable to attend Delaware State Fire School due to their age.  Rescue 82 had three cadet members in the back.  I believe there were cadet members from Station 1 on scene as well.  Even with the lack of training these guys have, they make a significant difference on the fire scene helping out.  They are by far some of the most active members in the fire department, and it's great to see a continuation of a younger generation in the volunteer fire service as volunteerism is down across the nation.  Lewes is doing an excellent job on bringing junior members in and keeping them active.

One of the issues I had during this fire was literally trying to find the place.  I had a familiarization as to the development that the fire was located in but none of the streets.  Our fire department mapbook didn't have a page for this development, nor was the street name listed in the glossary.  Thankfully we keep an ADC mapbook for Sussex County in the engine which allowed me to get a location of the street, but without street numbers.  When we got to the street we had the choice to make a left or right.  Of course with the luck of both the Driver and Officer we made the wrong turn ultimately requiring us to make another loop around the block.  We didn't lose more than a minute of time but it definitely opened my eyes up for the need of up to date maps in the mapbook and how spoiled we are at Christiana with computer aided dispatch and computer mapping in all the trucks.  As always I need to keep up with the new developments and make sure I'm familiar with the district.

I do believe after that incident I'm going to go through the map book and see if there are any developments that we haven't added yet.  I believe I can use my GPS to make a waypoint map drawing out the streets to make new map pages.  Then I just need to either look for hydrants or get the info from the water company to add them to the page.  It shouldn't take too long but it will definitely allow for a more up to date mapbook.  Just another thing for me to do.

I'm waiting on Google to transition the Google Page Creator system over to Google Sites.  They have said it's going to happen for the past year now.  When it happens I have some updates to do to the website and more additions.  Keep an eye out for pictures and other things in the future.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

A New FEMA Director

First I should note that Dunkin Donuts coffee has saved the day again. Delicious and it woke me up.

President Obama has nominated Craig Fugate of the Florida Division of Emergency Management to be the new FEMA Administrator. Many in the homeland security/emergency management field have been questioning when Obama would come out with a decision and finally we see his choice. Fugate has a long experience in the emergency services field starting in the fire service like many emergency managers. Director Fugate has served as the State Coordinating Officer in 23 Declared State Emergencies, 11 of which were Presidential Declared Disasters. Pretty impressive if you ask me.





My personal opinion is that Obama couldn't have picked a better person. Anyone should know that Florida has an extremely large number of disasters and has gathered a large amount of knowledge when it comes to dealing with them. Florida is the 4th most populated state in the US which helps to cause even more challenges! I wouldn't mind spending a summer down in Florida working in the emergency management field just to actually get some experience seeing some real incidents. Many of you know that Delaware has been spared far too many times...



I have a similar viewpoint on many issues with Director Fugate. Below is a quote from the Associated Press article on Fugates nomination:

After Hurricane Katrina, Fugate said there was too much focus on blaming the federal government for the botched response. He said in a 2006 interview with The Associated Press that it was the state's responsibility to prepare for such disasters, and the state should only turn to the federal government for help when the disaster is larger than the state can handle on its own.

Agreed.

His experience at the State level will help him bridge the gap when it comes to the State/Federal relationship during emergency management response, as well as help him create a model plan for states across the US to follow in order to better prepare themselves and their response plans. I can say that I feel pretty good about the future of emergency management under his supervision.

He also has a personal website like me. Check it out:

http://www.disastersrus.org/

By the way, Governor Charlie Christ has nominated me as Craig's replacement in Florida. Just kidding, I'll keep that one in my dreams!

Also Obama nominated a new FEMA Chief of Staff. Look where he got his Masters Degree from!


Jason R. McNamara
Mr. McNamara serves as an Associate Vice President and Director of Emergency Management/Homeland Security in Dewberry’s Emergency Management, Disaster and Mitigation Services Group with a focus in emergency management and homeland security preparedness, planning, interagency and intergovernmental relations, and congressional relations on the local, state, and federal governmental levels. Mr. McNamara holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Psychology from the Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Arts in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware.


Regards

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Delaware Online News Video: Fire hits Ogletown house

I was there this morning for this alarm. More pictures available:

http://flickr.com/photos/disasterphotog/3307031601/ (scroll through)
http://flickr.com/photos/afirefighterscamara/sets/72157614389868002/