Intern Insight Week 3

Finishing up my third week here at the Department of Public Safety and I have just about finished my weather exercise project.  When I arrived here the first day my internship supervisor game me my intern binder which was filled with a wide variety of projects that I could complete during my 180 hours here.  After finishing the task of sending out mailing to multiple establishments in regards to their emergency management, it was time for me to start an emergency debris management project.  This project involves me helping the department form an emergency debris management plan and helps me to understand just how important and crucial debris management can possibly be.  Look back to 2011 when Tropical Storm Lee hit Pennsylvania and the damage it did.   The Susquehanna River reached a record high of around 40 feet and destroyed bridges and anything else in its path.  With this came enormous amounts of storm debris and left the counties figuring out how to dispose of it all.  We now with the information of an emergency debris management plan these problems and concerns will be a thing of the past and everyone will be prepared for the worst.  I am starting this project right now by calling each municipality office within the county and acquiring any information that will be of help in forming this plan.  That includes waste disposal services, contact information, etc.

On Tuesday this week I attended a Safe Schools meeting with Eric Hoerner and it allowed me to see just how much work goes into keeping educational facilities prepared for disasters and what their plans are.  As you can see during these first few weeks here, I have already received a small taste of what emergency management is.  From meetings with FEMA and PEMA to the Safe Schools Association and debris management, there is never a dull day here at the Department of Public Safety.  One thing I must mention is that the skill of multitasking is very important in emergency management.  Everyone here is always working on something and usually more than one project at a time.  If you are unable to multi-task, you will have a rough time in this field.  I've only been here 3 weeks and I have been introduced to a wide array of topics and have projects under each of them.  You never know what is going to be thrown at you next, but that just adds to the fun of it!

*Go to http://bit.ly/wlSeqi to learn more about the Intern Insight Series.