Day 1

Before, during and after hurricanes, Law Enforcement provides numerous essential functions, including blocking off roads, coordinating and overseeing evacuations, protecting critical infrastructure, conducting damage assessment, participating in search and rescue, and generally serving as an on the ground-partner of emergency management agencies such as FEMA and state and local EMAs. This session will look at the partnerships in Charleston between Law Enforcement and Emergency Management agencies in responding to hurricanes effectively.

Luther Reynolds

Chief of Police
Charleston Police Department

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Shannon Scaff

Director, Emergency Management
City of Charleston, South Carolina

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While FEMA is an essential body for responding to hurricanes, it is frequently the State and Local Emergency Management Agencies that conduct most of the actual legwork on the ground regarding preparation, response, recovery and rebuilding. This session will hear from one of the leaders in the Emergency Management field in tackling hurricane preparedness and response with the latest tools and technology.

Michael Sprayberry

Director of Emergency Management
North Carolina Department of Public Safety

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The Red Cross provides a crucial role in helping emergency managers respond to, prepare for, and recover from, hurricane disasters. This session will take a look at how collaboration at the non-profit helps to manage resources and coordinate responses. 

Brad Kieserman

Vice President for Disaster Operations and Logistics
American Red Cross

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Insurance is a crucial part of managing the damage of hurricanes and promoting resilience in recovery. This session will look at how insurance plays into general hurricane planning.

Butch Kinerney

Chief of Communications, Federal Insurance and Mitigation Administration (FIMA)
FEMA

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This session will explore how the Houston PD took on a leadership role in responding to the devastation and recovery due to Hurricane Harvey.

Art Acevedo

Chief of Police
Houston Police Department

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This session will consist of a rundown of the latest goals for the 2021 fire season, and articulate the ways that the US Forest Service will seek to manage the challenges for aerial firefighting, tools and technology procurement and coordination across state and federal agencies.

Patricia Grantham

Director, Fire and Aviation Operations
US Forest Service

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In this roundtable, we’ll explore technology, fire mitigation, and the future. This will be a highly interactive discussion where executives in the firefighting industry can share best practices, common challenges, and predictions. We'll explore questions such as; What tech have you implemented recently that has been useful? What is technology’s role in fire mitigation? What are your aspirational technology goals for fire mitigation? How do you successfully introduce new technology to this complex environment? How are agencies enabling technology development through contracting processes?

Sponsored by: Erickson

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The 2020 fire season in Washington State saw more individual fires than in any other recorded year. This session will dive into the ways that Washington State, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia engaged in communication and collaboration to mitigate damage and preserve life and property over the course of the 2020 fire season. 

Charles Turley

Wildfire Division Manager
Washington State Department of Natural Resources

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This session will focus on the developments surround the integration of ATAK (Android Team Awareness Kit) in enhancing operational coordination among wildland firefighters. This session will also dive in on the partnerships that have been developed regarding ATAK on work that wildland firefighters with the Colorado Division of Fire Protection and Control are currently doing with members of the FIRIS project in Southern California.

Brad Schmidt

Wildland Fire Program Manager, Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting
Colorado Division of Fire Protection and Control

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There are numerous opportunities for cross-agency equipment and information sharing to better manage wildfires. This session will see a representative from Canada discuss areas of current and potential collaboration for preventing and suppressing wildfires.

Cliff Chapman

Director, Provincial Operations
British Columbia Wildfire Service

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Utilities and power companies, with their vast segments of power lines, play a crucial role in mitigating wildfire. This session will look at how different companies are leveraging the latest technologies, strategies and best practices for detecting and responding to wildfires before they spread. 

Jonathan Woldermariam

Director of Transmission & Distribution Engineering
San Diego Gas & Electric

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