Jody Price Oromocto Fire Department

54 Member Composite Department3 Management20 Career Firefighters30 Volunteer Firefighters1 Administrative Assistant

Departmental Overview

Town of OromoctoOromocto First Nation BurtonGearyLincolnRusagonis/WaasisMaugerville/Sheffield

Communities Serviced by OFD

What do we do?

Fire SuppressionWater Rescue (Surface)Ice RescueMotor Vehicle AccidentsOff Road RescueFire Prevention

Hazardous Materials (Operations Level)Medical AssistanceDisaster Services/EMOEMO Planning Coordination

The GoodThe BadThe Ugly

10 Tips How good

communication can provide a community with an extremely effective response during emergencies.

Internal Communications The Leader

1. Good

Starts with the person at the top.

The attitude of the Leader toward the EOC Committee sets the tone for how everyone else will support the plan and the EOC.

One of the most important things a Leader can do to support the EOC Committee is attend meetings and exercises

Internal Communications The Staff

2. Good

Make sure the staff understand the importance of supporting the EOC Committee and the EOC.

One of the most discouraging things for the EOC Committee is lack of staff support.

Staff need to support: - Plan Updates - Meetings - Training/Exercises

External:Public Communications on multiple levels

3a. Good

Have multiple ways of communicating with your residents

Social Media Standard Media LED signs Sentinel Door-to-Door

External:Working With Your Media

3b. Good

Develop relationships - Press Releases - Tours of affected area

Feed them!

National vs Local Media - Large Incidents

Ensure your Emergency Responders have multiple communication methods

4. Good

Ensuring your community has multiple levels of communications to use during an emergency :

Land lines Cell Radios VHF/UHF/Trunk Sentinel Amateur Radio Satellite Social Media

Using Social Media to your benefit

5. Good

Understand it

Be on it

Monitor it – (dedicated person)

Stay ahead of it

Train on it

Set Policy on its use

REOC Flood 2014 Message

Having a Budget to Support EMO Programs

6. Good

Ensure your EMO budget is sufficient to allow you to support your:

- Committee - Plan - EOC

Stand alone account, not blended into multiple department’s budgets

Not Communicating with (outside) Partner Agencies

7. Bad

Having no contact with Partner Agencies until the Emergency.

The first time you exchange business cards shouldn’t be during the emergency.

Build Partner Agencies into your Plan and Committee.

Ie: Red Cross, Amateur Radio, School District, Major Employers

Not having a Communications Plan

8. Bad

Not having all forms of Communications written into your plan.

Internal Communication EOC, Responders

External Public, Outside

Agencies, Media

Never using your EOC and/or Plan and not having AAR’s (After Action Reviews)

9. Bad

If you have a prolonged incident

If you have an incident that exceeds your capabilities

Any incident – the more you activate the EOC and do After Action Reviews (de-brief) the stronger your Plan and EOC will become.

Not Communicating Before During or After Emergencies

10. Ugly

Stay ahead of potential emergencies (Meet, Plan, Go home, Wait)

Lack of Communication sent to: EOC Committee Staff Public Social Media Media

Make sure we learn from our past experiences

If you don’t spend time supporting and communicating the Plan and EOC don’t think it will run perfect during a time of Crisis

No Budget

11. Ugly, Ugly

For the Fire Chiefs New Fire Truck!

Contact Information

E-mail pricej@oromocto.ca Twitter @ChiefPriceOFD Phone 506-357-4462 Address

50 Miramichi Road Oromocto, New Brunswick E2V 1S2

Web site www.oromocto.ca

Questions