Responding Isn’t Enough: Reflections on Life in Emergency Management
August is National Emergency Management Awareness Month—which usually means a governor signs a proclamation, a few agencies post stock photos of sandbags, and then everybody goes back to business as usual. Meanwhile, emergency managers keep doing what we’ve always done: hold the system together with duct tape, caffeine, and pure stubbornness.
From the Tailboard to the EOC
I didn’t start in emergency management with a nice office or a stack of binders. I started out riding the tailboard of a Ford C-800 fire truck in Alachua County, Florida, as a volunteer firefighter. Later, as a paramedic, I learned fast that when someone’s dealing with trauma, you don’t get to form a task force or schedule a meeting. You either act, or they die. Simple as that.
In 1987, I became Alachua County’s Emergency Manager. The job description was basically: “everything no one else wants.” Hurricanes, wildfires, hazmat spills—you name it. In 1997, I moved over to the Florida Division of Emergency Management as Bureau Chief, and by October 2001, Governor Jeb Bush handed me the keys. That’s when the fun really started.
The 2004–2005 hurricane seasons weren’t “busy.” They were biblical. Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Dennis, Katrina, Wilma—it reminded us Florida’s like your sore thumb jutting out into the ocean, and every hurricane was a hammer. We learned fast: don’t plan for the disaster you think you can handle. Plan for the one that’s going to break your system and make you wonder why you ever took this job.
By 2009, I was running FEMA. Haiti earthquake. Superstorm Sandy. More federally declared disasters than anyone should have to sit through. And here’s the blunt truth: if you think FEMA saves the day, you’ve been watching too many movies. The reality is: disasters are locally executed, state-managed, and federally supported. If the locals aren’t ready, it doesn’t matter how many planes Washington flies in.
Responding Is Not an Outcome
I’ve said it a thousand times: responding is not an outcome.
Turning on the big screen in your EOC? Not an outcome. Holding a press conference with a fancy seal behind you? Not an outcome. Activating the “fuel plan” while the trucks are still parked 300 miles away? Definitely not an outcome.
Too many EOCs confuse activity with results. The scoreboard isn’t how many ICS forms you filled out. It’s:
Did people survive?
Are the hospitals still open?
Did families get the help they needed?
If the answer’s no, then all the color-coded charts in the world won’t save you.
Drowning in Data, Starving for Insight
Today’s EOCs have a different problem: too much data. Sensors, models, social feeds—everybody’s dumping info in your lap. The result? More dashboards than a 747 cockpit and just as much confusion.
That’s why I work with Bent Ear Solutions (BES). Unlike most vendors, they don’t roll in with a shiny toy and a sales pitch. They actually listen first (radical, I know), then take the systems you already own and make them useful.
Take Ting Insights. BES plugged Whisker Labs’ real-time outage data straight into GIS dashboards. That means instead of waiting 12 hours for outage reports, you can see immediately which neighborhoods and hospitals are going dark—and get resources moving before the mayor’s on TV asking why grandma’s oxygen concentrator quit. That’s the difference between “we responded” and “we made a damn difference.”
A Nod to the Folks in the Trenches
Emergency managers aren’t heroes with capes. We’re the ones chugging bad coffee at 2 a.m., trying to keep the lights on, the buses running, and the shelters open. If you don’t see us, it usually means things are holding together.
So, during Emergency Management Awareness Month, skip the photo ops and take a moment to appreciate the invisible scaffolding holding your community up. Because when things fall apart, it’s those people—quietly, stubbornly, and usually without credit—who keep the world from getting worse.
Join BES at Booth #236 at IAEM 2025
We can’t wait to land in Kentucky this November for the nation’s leading conference for Emergency Managers. We’re proud to support IAEM as a top-tier Driving Partner and are eager to host the President’s Reception for the second year in a row. Click the button below to learn about the new capabilities we’re showcasing and how we help organizations nationwide enhance their resilience and efficiency by leveraging their existing technology.
About the Author
Craig began his career as a firefighter and paramedic, served as a county emergency manager, and then as Director of Florida Emergency Management, leading the response during the two years that experienced the most hurricane impacts on record. In 2017, Craig was confirmed as the FEMA Administrator, serving both terms of President Obama’s administration (2009 – 2017), and coordinating the federal response to a record number of disasters. Fugate led FEMA through multiple record-breaking disaster years and oversaw the Federal Government’s response to major events such as the Joplin and Moore Tornadoes, Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Matthew, and the 2016 Louisiana flooding. Craig currently works with Bent Ear Solutions, LLC, an SDVOSB that helps organizations to leverage the technology solutions that they already have in the most efficient manner possible and align them with operational workflows.
