Volusia County, Florida Educates Media In Emergency Preparedness 

Release Date: January 9, 2003
Release Number: HQ-03-006

Washington, D.C. -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) commends Volusia County, Florida's Smart Practice efforts in developing a program to educate members of the news media about emergency preparedness to increase their understanding of response operations and procedures during an emergency situation. FEMA recently launched an initiative to gather and share the smart practices of state and local emergency managers and responders on a weekly basis. The shared information will benefit the national emergency response community by improving state and local preparation and response plans for emergencies and disasters of all kinds. This week's submission highlights Volusia County, Florida.

"FEMA's effort to prepare the nation includes highlighting the smart practice of state and local emergency managers and first responders to strengthen their preparedness and response capabilities," FEMA Director Joe M. Allbaugh said. "By collecting and sharing the best ideas from the state and local level, FEMA can help communities improve their emergency preparedness and response-related activities for effective programs."

State and local smart practices could involve: effective mutual aid practices, response operations, training, assessment tools, planning models, exercises, standards and competencies, incident management and much more. Selected smart practices will be e-mailed to state and local customers in a weekly Spotlight on Smart Practices bulletin. Visit www.fema.gov/onp to read about Volusia County, Florida and their efforts to allow members of the news media to experience first-hand some of the challenges that face emergency personnel during a major emergency or disaster to help increase their understanding of emergency preparations and response operations, as well as view other smart practices.

To submit a smart practice idea to share with other emergency managers and responders or to subscribe to the weekly Spotlight on Smart Practices, e-mail a request to SmartPractices@fema.gov.

Last Modified: Friday, 14-Feb-2003 16:40:16