See all posts in the network tagged with crisis-communications
The FDNY is currently trying to unravel the details concerning an allegedly drunk individual in uniform, sleeping at the entrance to an apartment building following St. Patrick’s Day festivities in New York.
A few years back my department was confronted with a similar situation. The proper crisis management of inebriated firefighters in uniform can be a difficult one to call for a PIO and department leadership.
A difficult situation unfolding for the Jacksonville Beach Police as the department PIO and detectives released a photo to the media of a suspect in a crime that they were looking to bring in for questioning. The problem? The suspect being sought was innocent and misidentified.
The Department, from a crisis standpoint, admitted to their mistake promptly, but damage has still been done.
The Firegeezer reported yesterday on a sad case involving two members of the Western New York State Cattaraugus Fire Department. They have been charged with the embezzlement of between $30,000 and $80,000 of Department funds raised.
It appears the powers that be in the Department did not do the proper “size-up.” I think in many instances, you can cut a crisis off before it happens by doing your due diligence.
At a recent fire exhibition on Long Island a fellow PIO asked if I had a couple of minutes to talk to him about a problem he was having. A number of people in his community were complaining to members of his volunteer department about what they thought was the excessive costs involved in running and maintaining a motorized drill team to compete. So upset was the Chief of Department that he asked the PIO to send a release to the local papers extolling the virtues of motorized racing. The only problem is the PIO agrees with the community complaints.
I’m neither a stock investor nor regular viewer to CNBC but by chance I was speed clicking through the channels a couple of mornings ago and stopped momentarily to hear Warren Buffet talk about Toyota and crisis communications.
In about five seconds Buffet gave one of the greatest overviews of tackling a PR nightmare that I ever heard:
Yesterday I reported on the story out of Las Vegas where public discontent was directed at the Fire Department due to citizen observation of full apparatus crews with their rigs parked in front of area health clubs. Firefighters, backed by current regulations, are required to workout 90 minutes a day. Department members can either work out with limited equipment in quarters or pay for their own membership and use a public gym. It is an interesting story that I will continue to follow.
Two points that come out of this local Las Vegas story that should concern every PIO is how the news traveled quickly and was almost instantaneously placed under the national microscope of analysis.
The Las Vegas Fire Department is catching the ire of many residents who are upset at seeing fire apparatus parked in front of health clubs while entire crews workout during shift hours. This is a potential full community mega ton public relations bomb that can be diffused with some communications finesse.
NATO forces in Afghanistan Chief, US Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal made a public apology, with translation in Dari and Pashto, to the Afghan population for an unintentional attack that killed 27 civilians a few days ago. McChrystal is attempting to be more transparent and forthright with public information distributed to the Afghan population.
I have taken a few days to review all the public information related quotes pertaining to the plane crash and fire in Austin, Texas.
From an Austin Fire Department perspective they did all the right things. On the fire ground their response, attack and search all followed SOP. During the initial news conference Austin Fire Chief Rhonda Mae Kerr spoke briefly, discussed the fire, thanked the Department and applauded the response of the entire unified command in the city. She turned the investigation over to the FBI.
In the midst of an audience that looked like they were placed there as part of a juicer infomercial, and a script that sounded like a 19 year old killer reading remarks prepared by his lawyer before a death sentence, Tiger Woods failed as both a person and convincing communicator.
The most practical government applications for Twitter are in public safety and emergency notifications. I’m currently kicking around a blueprint for exactly how I can use Twitter more effectively to keep the community instantaneously informed of fires, road closings from MVA’s, power outages etc.
From a community and public relations perspective things are not looking good in Flint, Michigan. First, response time was questioned in the tragic fire last Saturday night that took the lives of four children ages 1-4, and now the Mayor of Flint announced today that 23 firefighters will be laid off tomorrow. The layoffs will leave just 65 firefighters in a city of 118,000. Flint can also lose two fire stations, which would leave just 3 for the entire town. The city is trying to close an $8 million budget shortfall.
Pittsburgh EMS has been thrown into a controversy after a Hazelwood man died February 7th who had called EMS 10 times over a two day period seeking help for a stomach ailment. It is a terrible tragedy to be sure. From a Public Information standpoint, the Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Michael Huss and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl have been blunt with their reactions to the episode. It remains to be seen what happens over the next several days but initial reaction has fulfilled some of the main tenets of The Fire PIO’s 7 primary responses to a crisis.
Many of us have been following the tragic townhouse fire in Flint, Michigan this past Saturday that took the lives of four children ranging in age from 1 to 4. A full investigation is underway to determine two key issues. The first is how the blaze started.
Currently the theory is that one of the children’s fathers allegedly fell asleep while babysitting with food on the stove. Some neighbors claim he was not in the building at all when the fire raged.
The second issue, more germane to The Fire PIO, is how the Flint Fire Department will answer allegations that their response time was inadequate, and what the closing of a local firehouse might have played in the tragedy.
In my humble opinion the quickest way for us to become instant villains as well as guilty until proven innocent is to utter the words “no comment.”
In a sticky situation that begs for solid crisis communication techniques the two most dangerous words you can ever tell a reporter is “no comment.”
“No comment” renders you powerless over a story involving your department. It invites reporters to talk to other people who might not hesitate to put their spin on your issue. Worse yet, it makes you look defensive and unsure how to truthfully answer.
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