Tropical Storm Fay Gone but Not Forgotten

On August 16, 2008, the State of Florida was declared to be under the threat of Tropical Storm Fay by the National Hurricane Center, Miami, Florida. The Hurricane Center projected that Tropical Storm Fay would move westward through the Gulf of Mexico and then would threaten the entire State of Florida. Governor Christ issued Executive Order 08-170 took effect at 1409 hours August 16, 2008, which declared that a state of emergency applied to entire state of Florida. He declared that “Tropical Storm Fay posed a serious threat to the public health, safety, and welfare”. The declaration established that the Director of Emergency Management, Craig Fugate as authorized to activate the state’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and other response and recovery, and mitigation plans. As the State coordinating Officer Mr. Fugate was authorized to issue this Emergency Final Order and suspend any statute, rule, or order that prevent, hinder, or delay timely performance of disaster response functions related to the emergency. As Floridians prepared little did they know that Fay would make four different landfalls, on the state, and that flooding would surpass or match water mark levels set by all three hurricanes during 2004.

Fay was an unusual tropical storm, even by Florida standards. It first made landfall in the Florida Keys on Monday, August 18, then headed out over open water again before hitting a second time at Cape Romano near Naples on August 19, the southwest coast. It limped across the state, popped back out into the Atlantic Ocean and struck again near Flagler Beach on the central coast and finally making a record fourth landfall on the Florida Panhandle August 23, about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola. Fay was a slow moving tropical system that produced significant rainfall and flooding hazards, as well as several tornados. Damage assessments are still being conducted but in the State of Florida there are 13 deaths from this storm and one dozen injured. Since leaving Florida, Fay dropped as much as 6 inches of rain across parts of Mississippi, Alabama, eastern Louisiana, western Georgia.
Less than two weeks after Tropical Storm Fay pelted Cuba with heavy rains and thousands of Cubans were evacuated; Cuban authorities are now warning the island’s 11 million inhabitants to prepare for a potentially devastating storm. This new storm now named Gustav, which was a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall in Haiti on Tuesday, August 26 is likely to regain hurricane intensity. Expert’s forecast shows Gustav entering the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday or Sunday as a Category 3 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of at least 111 mph (179 kph). So again Floridians and those along the Gulf of Mexico are preparing. After all it is hurricane season!

As a trained and certified Reviewer that has participated in over a half-dozen reviews for other institutions, I can attest to the arduousness, rigor, and professionalism of the process that has been instituted by Quality Matters. This recognition is evidence of the commitment made by Capella University to academically preparing Public Safety leaders of the future.

Take care and stay safe.

Joe Pascarella

We wrote several blog entries on this topic
on this topic.

Anniversaries of major tragedies serve multi purposes, most of them positive. The remembrance and memorials help reconcile the unthinkable and senseless loss of life. The memorials also ground us and compel us to recognize the preciousness of the moment and life. The negative part of anniversaries of major tragedies is that the anniversary forces us to relieve the trauma of the incident; What were we doing on that day? What were our last memories of the bridge? Did we know any of the victims?

Mental health experts are mixed regarding the emphasis that should be placed on anniversaries, although an emerging perspective in trauma counseling within public safety is the singular approach. Essentially, one form of counseling does not fit all. Each individual reconciles trauma from a major event differently, therefore, there is not “right way” to grieve.

As always, take care and stay safe.

Joe Pascarella

At one point several months ago, firefighters were contemporaneously battling nearly 700 wildfires in California. Several factors such as the weather, wind, and arid brush in California make wildfires a perennial challenge and population and development over the last several decades has increased the exposure and vulnerabilities.

Battling these wildfires presents numerous challenges for public safety, particularly the need for cooperation and coordination amongst agencies given the expansive geographic area and length of incidents.

Take care and stay safe.

Joe Pascarella

Happy Independence Day!

As you know, this day marks the birthday of the United States as an independent nation and I would like to thank those throughout Public Safety, particularly our military personnel serving abroad, for keeping this great Nation Free and Safe.

Take care and stay safe.

Joe Pascarella

The controversially charged nature of our military deployments will be debated for some time. Yet, what I believe to be less debatable is that the entire country must rally around, and support, our returning soldiers to ensure a successful reintegration into society. Some of these young men and women have endured life-altering experiences during their deployment. I think that this study highlights these pressing, and in many ways unmet, needs of our returning service members.

Thank you in advance for sharing any thoughts on this issue and for visiting the study’s website at www.joiningforcesamerica.org.

Please have a safe and glorious July 4th!
Charles

In 2007, Dr. Mosser traveled to Israel to attend the Executive Counter-Terrorism Course at the Institute Counter Terrorism, Herzliya, Israel. While in Israel, she meet with senior foreign officials and others to discuss counter terrorism methods to prevent suicide bombings.

Dr. Mosser has served in numerous crisis operations assignments and assisted in investigations such as PAN AM 103 and the first World Trade Center bombing. Most note worthy was her providing critical intelligence to security agencies resulting in the capture of five terrorist’s and her participated in counterintelligence investigations to detect and identify individuals and groups conducting espionage and terrorism against the U.S., which resulted in the location and capture of a spy.

Dr. Mosser has lectured on global perspectives of terrorism and emergency preparedness at; FEMA Higher Ed Conference in 2008, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Cape Fear Community College, and numerous local radio and television and continues to provide antiterrorism, security, and emergency preparedness and respond training for law enforcement officers and first responder’s worldwide. Dr. Marian Mosser was the region 4 coordinator for the State of Florida Division of Emergency Management for the last year.

Marian should be joining us at Public Safety Signals in the near future. Please join me in welcoming Marian to our discussions of current and important issues to public safety.

According to legal analysts, this ruling will have little effect on existing policies and laws.

The case centers around a local law in Washington, DC that bans the possession of handguns in the home for self-defense. The United States Supreme Court ruled in Heller that the law violated the Second Amendment of the Constitution by a 5-4 ruling. This split is consistent with the divide in the United States regarding firearms control policy in that a significant percentage of citizens feel that firearms are dangerous weapons that should be banned while a significant percentage of citizens consider the possession of firearms a Constitutional right.

In the middle are Public Safety personnel that must confront violence on a daily basis. Part of the issue is that regardless of the laws and policies, many criminals flout the existing laws and policies rendering them of little utility.

The disagreement between these two scholars is healthy for public safety in that numerous perspectives are required. Additionally, contemporary threats are continuously changing in that what may have been the structure or tactics several years ago may have changed. These threats are continuously evolving. Ideally, scholars, and practitioners in can arrive at a consensus based on this considerable amount of research.

Take care and stay safe.

Joe Pascarella