{"id":2396,"date":"2012-07-18T06:51:07","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T12:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.periniassociates.com\/?p=2396"},"modified":"2012-07-18T06:51:07","modified_gmt":"2012-07-18T12:51:07","slug":"waldo-canyon-fire-public-information-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/2012\/07\/18\/waldo-canyon-fire-public-information-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Waldo Canyon Fire: Public Information in a Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Michael Perini, ABC<\/a><\/strong>
\nperini & associates<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

Public information requirements during any crisis are significant. \u00a0However, with local officials having to conduct their duties while also worrying about evacuating, it makes this effort to communicate accurate and timely information to the public even more challenging.<\/p>\n

Here are my thoughts, as they relate to crisis communications, \u00a0having been impacted by the Waldo Canyon Fire.<\/em><\/p>\n

Our hearts and prayers go out to all those who lost loved ones and property. \u00a0Also, to business owners who lost customers and had to lay off employees during the Waldo Canyon Fire due to the economic impacts of this major disaster.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the fire is now 100% contained. \u00a0However, the community will be in recovery for sometime and most are already hard at work picking up the pieces from the worst fire in Colorado history. \u00a0My family and business were on standby to evacuate, but were one of the fortunate ones that did not have to. \u00a0We deeply thank our fire fighters, police and emergency management teams.<\/p>\n

With what happened in Colorado Springs — 347 homes destroyed \u00a0and 18,247 acres burned– \u00a0local community leadership (El Paso County, Colorado Springs, Teller County, Woodland Park, etc.) were all under the microscope to provide citizens with information. \u00a0The\u00a0comfort citizens get when knowing that community leaders are doing everything possible is hard to describe during a crisis. \u00a0A visible presence is strong evidence that local leadership is aware and taking action to do all to keep citizens safe.\u00a0 Also, being visible can not always be done only when the leadership has a free moment. \u00a0Leaders MUST make time, be articulate and always have a caring attitude.\u00a0 \u00a0We saw this going on in the daily sessions with the media.<\/p>\n

Being defensive does not build confidence for citizens.\u00a0 Determining what went right or wrong needs to be left to after everyone is safe and the crisis has been controlled.<\/p>\n

With people evacuated and on stand by to evacuate we can not assume that merely telling them go \u00a0to a website is going to work for them. \u00a0Other methods for disseminating public information must be used.\u00a0 And yes, information has to be repeated as citizens are under stress and might not see, read or hear the initial release of information.<\/p>\n

Here are public information tools that were used during the Waldo Canyon Fire and can be a lesson for other communities.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Official websites.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Social media.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Community and Business Marquees:\u00a0 Scrolling information on evacuation and resource locations<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Factual information released to the media on a frequent basis to include conducting interviews.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Priority by community leadership to conduct community meetings.<\/p>\n

6. Central location where citizens could go IN PERSON to get the latest information.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Use of on-going media press conferences to distribute the information if a presence by a local official was not practical.\u00a0 For example, having the Incident Commander in Colorado Springs mention what was going on up close to our town instead of depending on the media to ask the question was very useful to \u00a0concerned citizens.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Flyers were posted in business locations and other areas that citizens have access to with regards to community meetings.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 Use of electronic reverse 911 or Alerts<\/p>\n

10. \u00a0Email blasts.\u00a0 For example the Greater Woodland Park Chamber sent out \u00a0official information to \u00a0membership.<\/p>\n

As the former Director of Public Affairs at NORAD and USNORTHCOM, I have had my share of crisis communication planning and execution. \u00a0However, having to live personally through a fire and see the public information efforts conducted by others I salute all involved in this heroic endeavor to keep us informed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Michael Perini, ABC perini & associates Public information requirements during any crisis are significant. \u00a0However, with local officials having to conduct their duties while also worrying about evacuating, it makes this effort to communicate accurate and timely information to the public even more challenging. Here are my thoughts, as they relate to crisis communications, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[13,347,348,25,349],"class_list":["post-2396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice-and-counsel","category-crisis-communication","tag-crisis-communication","tag-media","tag-public-information","tag-social-media","tag-waldo-canyon-fire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/periniassociates.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}