The Emergency Management Network Podcast

Manufacturing Quiet Tuesdays
National Emergency Management Awareness Month, and a Confirmed Administrator at Last
Host: Todd T. DeVoe, CEM Runtime: 11:45 Recorded: August 8, 2026
SHOW NOTES
August is National Emergency Management Awareness Month, and this year it arrives alongside news the field has waited two years to hear. On Friday, August 7, the Senate confirmed Cameron Hamilton as Administrator of FEMA, part of a block of 74 nominations. After two years of acting titles and senior officials performing the duties of, there is a name on the door that stays there.
Todd DeVoe uses the occasion for something other than policy analysis. This one is a thank you. Not the conference kind. The real one.
He works through the profession person by person. The one-person department that also serves as the planning section, the logistics section, and the PIO. The planner who has read the same evacuation annex forty times, looking for the change that will matter, and who will never be told it worked. The duty officer at two in the morning, with the full picture assembled by four. The recovery specialist is still sitting at a kitchen table over a three-year-old declaration. The exercise designer who wrote a scenario meant enough to embarrass people, because an exercise that everybody passes taught nobody anything. The FEMA staff who stayed through the uncertainty. And the twenty-six-year-old, at their first activation, convinced everyone else in the room that they knew something they did not. They do not. Everybody is reading the same situation report.
Then the harder part. This profession’s best work is invisible by design. The evacuation goes smoothly, and there is no story. The warning goes out early and the numbers stay low. Success is indistinguishable from a quiet Tuesday. Todd reaches for Marcus Aurelius on the vine that produces grapes and does not go looking for applause, and lands on what Awareness Month is actually for: not asking for credit, but explaining what the quiet costs and who pays for it, so the October budget conversation goes a little easier.
The last thank you goes to the families. The empty chair at dinner. The eleven-word activation text that reorganizes a week. The skill of falling back asleep after the duty phone rings at three. And the thing most people miss entirely is being the first responder to the responder who came home from a bad one and could not yet talk about it. There is no ICS position for that. Maybe there should be.
CHAPTERS
00:51 The Senate confirms Cameron Hamilton as FEMA Administrator
02:56 Doc, welcome back. Why a permanent name on the door matters
03:07 Awareness Month, year two, and the traction it has built
04:08 Thank you, department by department
06:13 To the ones who are new: stay
06:40 When you do your best work, nothing happens
07:05 Marcus Aurelius and the business of manufacturing quiet Tuesdays
07:58 To the spouses, partners, and kids
09:26 A wildland firefighter son, and both sides of that door
09:42 Not a profession in decline. A profession that took a hit and stayed on its feet
10:52 Your assignment for the rest of August
YOUR ASSIGNMENT
It takes about four minutes. Find one person in this field whose work you have benefited from and tell them. Not on social media. Call them, and name the specific thing they did. Then find one family member, yours or someone else’s, and thank them for the hours that got taken from them.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
IAEM launched National Emergency Management Awareness Month in August 2025.
Auburn, Washington signed its proclamation on August 3.
San Bernardino County is running a campaign called Behind the Ready.
Senate confirmation of Cameron Hamilton, August 7, 2026, in a block of 74 nominations, 51 to 47.


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Episode Description
August is National Emergency Management Advocacy Month, a time to recognize the importance of speaking up for the emergency management profession and the communities we serve.
In this episode, Todd DeVoe and Andrew Boyarsky discuss why advocacy is essential to the future of emergency management. From educating elected officials and building partnerships to securing resources and strengthening community resilience, advocacy isn’t about politics—it’s about ensuring emergency managers have a seat at the table before decisions are made.
Todd and Andrew share practical ways emergency managers at every level can become advocates, explain the difference between advocacy and lobbying, and discuss how small conversations can lead to meaningful change. Whether you’re a student, practitioner, volunteer, or executive, this episode will inspire you to help advance the profession and better prepare the communities you serve.
Show Notes
In This Episode
Emergency management has never been more important, yet many people—including policymakers—still don’t fully understand what emergency managers do. National Emergency Management Advocacy Month provides an opportunity to change that.
Todd and Andrew discuss:
* What National Emergency Management Advocacy Month is and why it exists
* Why advocacy is a professional responsibility
* The difference between advocacy and lobbying
* How emergency managers can educate elected officials and community leaders
* Why relationships built before disasters matter
* The importance of telling the emergency management story
* How advocacy can improve funding, staffing, planning, and preparedness
* The role of professional organizations like IAEM and NEMA
* Practical advocacy ideas for emergency managers at the local, state, tribal, territorial, federal, private-sector, and nonprofit levels
* How every emergency manager can make a difference—even without holding a leadership position
Key Takeaways
* Advocacy is about education, not politics.
* Emergency management deserves a voice wherever public policy is discussed.
* Strong relationships built today strengthen disaster response tomorrow.
* Every emergency manager is an ambassador for the profession.
* Advocacy helps build safer, more resilient communities.
Challenge for Listeners
During National Emergency Management Advocacy Month:
* Schedule a meeting with a local elected official.
* Invite community leaders to tour your Emergency Operations Center.
* Share your emergency management story on social media.
* Mentor someone entering the profession.
* Participate in advocacy efforts through your professional association.
* Take time to explain what emergency management really does to someone outside the field.
Quote of the Episode
“Advocacy isn’t about asking for more. It’s about helping people understand the value emergency management brings before, during, and after disaster.”
Connect With Us
Follow the Emergency Management Network for more conversations with leaders from across the emergency management profession. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and share this episode with a colleague who is passionate about building more resilient communities.


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EMN Podcast Episode Description
The Most Beautiful Game: Managing the FIFA World Cup 2026 from the JTOC
What does it take to keep one of the largest sporting events in history running safely behind the scenes?
In this special episode of the Emergency Management Network Podcast, host Todd DeVoe takes listeners inside the Joint Tournament Operations Center (JTOC) during the FIFA World Cup 2026, offering a rare, first-hand look at the emergency management professionals who worked around the clock to support one of the world’s most complex events.
While billions of fans watched the action unfold on the pitch, another team was monitoring weather, coordinating intelligence, tracking team movements, managing rumors, preparing for protests, supporting public safety, and solving problems before the public ever knew they existed. From the Planning Section to logistics, communications, technology, and multi-agency coordination, this episode explores what it really means to operate at the center of a global event.
Todd shares stories from more than a month inside the JTOC, lessons learned from building an interagency team under pressure, and the leadership principles that transformed a room full of professionals into a family. You’ll hear about the challenges no one saw, the victories no one celebrated on television, and why success in emergency management is often measured by what doesn’t happen.
Whether you’re an emergency manager, first responder, public safety professional, or simply curious about what happens behind the curtain of a mega-event, this episode provides an inside look at the planning, coordination, and resilience required to support the most beautiful game.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* How a Joint Tournament Operations Center functions during a global sporting event.
* The role of emergency management in supporting FIFA World Cup operations.
* Lessons in leadership, planning, and multi-agency coordination.
* How situational awareness, information sharing, and decision-making work in real time.
* Why relationships—not technology—remain the most important resource during complex incidents.
Join us as we pull back the curtain on one of the most ambitious emergency management operations ever undertaken and discover how thousands of hours of preparation made the extraordinary look effortless. The FIFA Tournament Operations Center serves as the central hub connecting host cities, venue operations, security, communications, and tournament leadership to ensure seamless coordination across the competition.
Because in emergency management, the best stories are often the ones the public never hears.



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Today’s brief leads with a magnitude 7.8 earthquake off the southern Philippines that prompted a Pacific Tsunami Warning Center advisory for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, with no threat to Hawaii or the U.S. West Coast. We cover national wildfire operations at Preparedness Level 2, including active fires threatening structures and infrastructure in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, and Alaska, plus a multi-day Storm Prediction Center severe weather threat, two Pacific tropical depressions, a paused Kilauea eruption, and approaching FEMA assistance deadlines in Washington and Hawaii. EM Morning Brief is your concise daily update on national and state-by-state emergency management news. Produced by Sitch Radio, an EOC Voices podcast.
Key Takeaways
· Tsunami advisory (Guam and CNMI): A magnitude 7.8 Philippines earthquake prompted a Pacific Tsunami Warning Center advisory for hazardous currents and sea level fluctuations; effects expected from about 12:45 p.m. ChST Monday, no full-scale evacuation called.
· No threat to Hawaii or the West Coast: The Warning Center assessed no tsunami threat to Hawaii or the U.S. mainland Pacific coast.
· Wildfire posture: NIFC remains at Preparedness Level 2 with ten uncontained large fires; the Chestnut Fire near Chelan, Washington has evacuations in effect, and the Michaud Creek Fire near Pocatello, Idaho shows extreme behavior threatening structures and energy infrastructure.
· Seven Cabins Fire (New Mexico): Largest active incident at 31,870 acres, now 90 percent contained, with closures still in effect.
· Severe weather: A multi-day SPC threat spans the Northern High Plains, Central Plains, Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, with damaging wind, large hail, and isolated tornadoes possible.
· FEMA deadlines: Washington December-storm applicants have until June 10; Maui and Honolulu Kona Low applicants have until June 14.
· Kilauea: Summit eruption paused at ADVISORY; next fountaining episode forecast June 12 to 15.
Sponsors
The NIMS Store - https://thenimsstore.com/
Sources
Seismic and tsunami
· Guam Homeland Security: Tsunami Advisory Remains in Effect for Guam and CNMI, 11:00 a.m. update, June 8, 2026
· U.S. Tsunami Warning Centers: official tsunami messaging portal
· USGS: Significant earthquakes, 2026
· Hawaii News Now: M7.8 earthquake strikes Philippines, no tsunami threat to Hawaii
Wildfire operations
· NIFC: Incident Management Situation Report, Sunday June 7, 2026, 0730 MDT (source for all state fire incidents and acreage)
· NIFC: National Fire News
Severe weather
· NWS Storm Prediction Center: Day 1 Convective Outlook
· The Watchers: SPC issues Enhanced Risk for severe thunderstorms across Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota
Tropical weather
· NHC: Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook
· NOAA: NOAA predicts below-normal 2026 Atlantic hurricane season
Volcano
· USGS: Kilauea volcano updates
FEMA assistance deadlines
· FEMA: One month remains to apply for FEMA assistance in Washington (deadline June 10)
· FEMA: Deadline to apply for FEMA assistance extended to June 14 for Maui, Hawaii, and Honolulu counties


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Today’s brief leads with Orange County, where Garden Grove’s GKN Aerospace hazmat emergency de-escalates and all evacuation orders lift, returning the final 16,000 residents home with no injuries. New Mexico’s Seven Cabins Fire reaches 64 percent containment and Lincoln County rescinds all evacuations. CISA adds an actively exploited vulnerability to its KEV catalog, the central United States faces a multi-day severe-weather threat, Kilauea holds at ADVISORY, and FEMA assistance deadlines approach in Washington and Hawaii. EM Morning Brief is your concise daily update on national and state-by-state emergency management news. Produced by Sitch Radio, an EOC Voices podcast.
Key Takeaways
• California hazmat: All Garden Grove GKN Aerospace evacuation orders lifted June 4; about 16,000 residents returned, no injuries, but tank cleanup remains delayed.
• New Mexico wildfire: Seven Cabins Fire at ~31,867 acres and 64% contained; all evacuations rescinded June 4; Capitan Mountain forest closure still in effect.
• Cyber / CISA: CISA added CVE-2026-45247 (Mirasvit) to the KEV catalog June 3 with an active-exploitation flag and a federal remediation deadline.
• Severe weather: NWS and SPC flag a multi-day large-hail, wind, tornado, and flash-flood threat across the central Plains and mid-Mississippi Valley through the weekend.
• Volcano: Kilauea remains at ADVISORY / Aviation Color Code YELLOW; eruption paused, episode 49 possible within ~10 to 15 days of June 1.
• FEMA deadlines: Washington December-storm applications close June 10; Hawaii Kona Low Individual Assistance closes June 14.
• Lifelines: City of Aiken, SC water main break June 4 affected ~60 connections; precautionary boil-water advisory to follow restoration.
Sponsors
The NIMS Store - https://thenimsstore.com/
Sources
NIFC / Wildfire
• NIFC Incident Management Situation Report — National daily wildfire situation report and preparedness level
• NIFC National Fire News — National wildland fire activity summary
CISA
• CISA Adds One Known Exploited Vulnerability to Catalog (June 3, 2026) — CVE-2026-45247 Mirasvit deserialization flaw added to KEV
• CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog — Authoritative KEV catalog and remediation deadlines
USGS — Volcano
• USGS Kilauea Volcano Updates — Hawaiian Volcano Observatory status and alert level for Kilauea
Severe Weather
• NWS National Forecast — National Weather Service hazards and severe-weather summary
• SPC Day 1 Convective Outlook — Storm Prediction Center severe-weather outlook for the central U.S.
Tropical / NHC
• National Hurricane Center — Atlantic and Eastern Pacific tropical weather outlooks
FEMA
• FEMA — Hawaii Kona Low deadline extended to June 14 — Individual Assistance deadline for Maui and Honolulu counties
• FEMA — One month remains to apply in Washington — June 10 deadline for December storms and flooding
USGS — Earthquakes
• USGS Significant Earthquakes — 2026 — No significant U.S. seismic events in the last 24 hours
California
• ABC7 — Garden Grove chemical tank updates — OCFA lifts all evacuation orders June 4; residents return
• City of Garden Grove — Hazardous Materials Incident — Official municipal incident information page
New Mexico
• NM Fire Info — Lincoln County rescinds Seven Cabins evacuations (June 4) — Evacuation orders rescinded; acreage and containment update
• Lincoln National Forest — Fire — Forest Service fire and closure information
South Carolina
• City of Aiken — Water Main Break Advisory (June 4) — York Street NE main break affecting ~60 connections


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