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#emergencymanagement

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>>In 2018, Kerr County, along with the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, applied for a $1 million grant for a flood warning system.

“That application was not selected, okay. That’s the bad news,” a commissioner said, according to Kerr County commissioner meeting minutes at the time.

Two years later, in 2020, according to Kerr County meeting minutes, that same commissioner said: “We’ve been trying to get a new flood warning system here.”<<

kxan.com/investigations/kerrvi
#Kerrville #Texas #Flooding #KerrCounty #PublicSafety #EmergencyManagement

#USCongress is pushing through so many proposals. The #houseofrepresentatives just approved by 2 votes (214-212) HR4 which claws back $9.4b in funding for #PBS #USAID and other items.

I watched as much of the debate as I could, but it was just pure animus and cruelty. The loss of funding will affect #EmergencyManagement for rural areas that rely on these public broadcasts and alerts for fire and weather danger.

opb.org/article/2025/06/12/npr

OPB · House approves Trump’s request to cut funding for NPR, PBS and foreign aidBy KEVIN FREKING

I’m sure #ThisIsFine

The acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cameron Hamilton, was fired on Thursday, one day after defending the existence of the department he’d been appointed to oversee, E&E Newsreports. Testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday, Hamilton had told lawmakers that “I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate” FEMA — a response to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s remarks that “the president has indicated he wants to eliminate FEMA as it exists today.”

#ClimateCrisis #FEMA #EmergencyManagement

heatmap.news/rewiring-america-

Heatmap News · FEMA Replaces Administrator 23 Days Out From Hurricane SeasonBy Jeva Lange

Today I signed five more letters stating the city's position on state bills that would affect Thousand Oaks residents and businesses.

Positions are based on the city's best interests, not on personal beliefs. For example, while I have concerns as a civil libertarian about ALPR data retention and potential abuse, I also recognize that police investigations often take longer than 30 days. Given that the well-being of all residents is Job 1 for all public servants, public safety benefits come first.

Just had a memo shared from #DHS, signed on 3/25/25 mentioning that disaster grants for NGOs and for Non-congregate sheltering are going to be reviewed. Disaster grants and non-disaster mitigation for state and local gov entities will be 'unaffected'. There is at least a 45 day backlog for the 1200+ pending payments (each request is bundled with many others).

'Sanctuary Jurisdictions' are being targeted for blocking payments for EMPG (Emergency Management Preparedness Grants) and HSGP (Homeland Security Grant Program).

They are 'ensuring' that the grants 'do not touch on immigration', their words..

EMPG is a big kicker, that pays for most of my state's EM professionals. Granted it's only about $10m/yr, that's still a lot of capacity we will now have to find. I recommend that we get a refund on the taxes we paid into this.

I copied this out of the Emergency Management reddit group, and thought it would be a good topic for discussion here.

Diehard Movie

Has anyone here ever watched "Live Free or Die Hard" from 2007? The 4th diehard movie? It's pretty applicable for EM (in my opinion).

The main plot is about critical infrastructure going down from a cyberattack because the main hacker dude used to be the chief engineer of DOD Infrastructure Security, and he showed generals what it would look like if the whole infrastructure went down, so transportation, water, electricity, finances, etc; and he got fired because he embarrassed people.

The whole incident is a shitshow, with DHS, FBI, NSA, Public Works, etc; all scattered and lacking coordination, especially when the satellites, landlines, and phones go down, and this film also emphasizes why it's important to brief and stay in touch with the public, albeit that becomes difficult in the second half of this film.

FEMA also gets criticized a bit in this movie about Hurricane Katrina (but when has that ever been new?).

I thought it was a great movie since 1, it's diehard, but 2, it shows why it's important to have systems, plans and backups in place for incidents, it's important to have everyone trained in NIMS and ICS, what it looks like when systems and infrastructure goes down, and how it looks like when there's "ripple" effects that happen and how they ultimately affect everyone.

Any thoughts?

Firefighting #rotorcraft shortfall prompts Bell’s 214ST reboot: aviationweek.com/aerospace/air. Aerial #firefighting is an #aerospace niche but it is a critical one. Within that niche, #VTOL aircraft bring unique capabilities. They deliver water and retardant precisely, transport firefighters to remote areas, and perform aerial reconnaissance. VTOLs are essential assets for rapid response and effective wildfire management. 💪🚁 #aircraft #aviation #emergencymanagement #engineering #verticalflight

aviationweek.comFirefighting Rotorcraft Shortfall Prompts Bell’s 214ST Reboot | Aviation Week NetworkAustralia’s McDermott Aviation owns the type certificate to the twin-engine, 8-metric-ton helicopter.