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PIO Help Wanted

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Yesterday afternoon my department was toned out for a mutual aid on a working fire in a neighboring town. We sent a Chief and an Engine. I followed the transmissions on my scanner and it appeared our work was limited. The scene of the fire was right near a notorious, long shuttered psychiatric hospital. A number of plans are on the table of how to eventually utilize the land the facility is standing on. Everything from parks to a planned community is on the table.

Due to the interest in the site, I figured the media would be all over this one. Little did I know that the media would be all over me.

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Posted by on September 1, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, Journalists and Reporters, Media Outreach, Opinion • Tagged: , , , , ,

Arizona goes into Preventative Crisis Mode

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I just read a story on Phoenix’s ABC15.com that leads me to believe that Arizona tourism might be looking to crew up a backup line if the fire starts getting too hot regarding the State’s controversial immigration bill.

The Arizona Governor’s Task Force on Tourism and Economic Vitality has hired HMA Public Relations in what the story says  is an effort to “tackle any negative backlash caused by Senate Bill 1070.”

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Posted by on August 30, 2010 • Filed under: Branding, Crisis Communications, Marketing, news, Opinion, Public Outreach, Public Scrutiny • Tagged: , ,

Sign of the Times

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Suppose the department you serve in as PIO wanted to prove to the residents of your district that the bond issue for a new firehouse was justified due to the exemplary service you were providing to the community? And suppose you took money out of your departments taxpayer funded budget to purchase signs to place at the scene of past fires, MVA’s etc to hammer the pointy home and let everyone know about the great work you are accomplishing with their taxes? Obviously many citizens would feel a little uncomfortable that perhaps the department was over aggressively politicking for the new firehouse and that their taxpayer dollars were being used to not provide vital services but to pay for signs.

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Posted by on August 23, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion, Public Outreach, Public Scrutiny, Uncategorized • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Sketchy Characters on the Fireground

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I mentioned in my post yesterday that we have had three structural fires over the past couple of weeks in my hometown of Smithtown, NY. Every fire was different with its own unique set of challenges and tactics of attach. Although all the fires were different there was one common denominator near the fireground.

Each time there is a working fire an assortment of sketchy, slimy, shadowy characters appears near the fireground. Some carry business cards, some clipboards, some notebooks others camera or the obvious “costume” they put on to look like a member of the community concerned about their neighbors house burning to the ground.

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Posted by on August 12, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion • Tagged: ,

Access Denied

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I wrote a post awhile back where I discussed that I banned a news outlet for life for distorting a story that they did not vet properly. Now I see the US Army has also in a way sent a reporter into purgatory for his dealings with them.

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Posted by on August 10, 2010 • Filed under: Journalists and Reporters, Media Outreach, Opinion • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Media Friends

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As PIO’s most of us are constantly working to position our departments in the most positive public light possible. Much of this effort involves interaction with the media to spread the word about our professionalism and efforts. While it is great that we can create cordial working relationships with the press, it is not beneficial to either party to become “friends.” Sooner or later tough questions are going to have to be asked by the media and on the opposite side we may find a story to have erroneous facts or flawed opinions.

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Posted by on August 4, 2010 • Filed under: Journalists and Reporters, Media Outreach, Opinion • Tagged: , , , ,

Public Relations Links Galore

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I was just cleaning up my favorites sites on Internet Explorer. I have not updated my links section on this blog in awhile. I use these favorites for both my work as a fire department PIO and as a marketing and public relations professional for a national not for profit organization.  Over the weekend I will hopefully add some of these new sites to my links page.

I present to you the most often visited PR sites that I rely on for information.

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Posted by on July 30, 2010 • Filed under: Marketing, Media Outreach, news, News Releases, Opinion, The Fire PIO - Wily Tips • Tagged: , ,

How Professional Sports Allowed Phoney Forgiveness

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There was a time in life when folks would not receive a “free pass” for their indiscretions. Recently I was pounding away on the computer in the conference room at the firehouse when two of the younger guys walked in and sat at the table to shoot the breeze.

One of the guys was talking about a friend who cheated by hanging out with his girlfriend. When he confronted the friend, he admitted to his misdeeds and was forgiven. He got a “free pass.” In my younger days a similar situation would have ended with fists flying. That might not have been the correct resolution to the problem, but it did replace the “free pass.”

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Posted by on July 28, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion • Tagged: , , , ,

Should a Blogger get fired from her Full Time PR Job?

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One of the challenges of writing a daily firematic blog and serving as a PIO of a volunteer department is making sure that my opinions do not affect my department negatively. This is what I must do regarding the general public’s perception of my department and this is also what I must do in the blogosphere.

I do report on my own department and how we handle public relations and crisis communications occasionally, but I would, in my own opinion, be a fool to make my department look foolish to the folks from across the country who read this blog.

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Posted by on July 23, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Community Newspapers are Vital to Spreading local FD News

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To volunteer fire departments across the country local community newspapers are our bread and butter vehicle for getting news out to the community. Unfortunatly, like many other print publications, local papers are also suffering through hard times. I think it is our responsibility to tell as many members of our communities as possible that these new sources are vital to spreading the local word.

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Posted by on July 20, 2010 • Filed under: Branding, Journalists and Reporters, Opinion • Tagged: ,

Festival of PIO’s

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My “office” at the firehouse is in a corner of the conference room. I have a desk against one of the walls. On the wall in front of my desk is a bulletin board that has all the current 2010 new clippings from press the department has received. It’s just about full, and that’s both good and bad. Good for the press we have received on stories concerning fire prevention, community award ceremonies, parade appearance and member recognition but bad for those clipping that resulted in devastating fires and MVA’s or loss of life.

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Posted by on July 19, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, Opinion • Tagged: , , ,

You can fool some of the people some of the time..

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Suppose we were asked as PIO’s to meet with the media directly after a structural fire where much more went wrong than right. Instead of confronting the situation and transparently addressing where we succeeded, where we failed, and what we should have done to make things run better we took a different tact. We decide to ignore the present, forget about the fire and tell the press that things would have been much worse under the leadership of the past Chief and things are going in the future to get much better. The press would look at us like we were raving lunatics.

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Posted by on July 13, 2010 • Filed under: Media Outreach, news, Opinion, Public Outreach, Public Scrutiny • Tagged: , , , , ,

Another Black Eye for the Volunteer Fire Service

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Back in 2005 Newsday, Long Island’s major daily paper, spent eight days lambasting the volunteer fire service. Long Island, where I live, is one of the most concentrated areas in the country for volunteer departments. Close to 180 departments and districts span Nassau and Suffolk counties. In the eight part series titled “Fire Alarm” (the word alarm referred to their perception of a serious problem and not the tones we wake up in the middle of the night to answer) Newsday found fault with virtually everything the fire service does and stands for.

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Posted by on July 12, 2010 • Filed under: Crisis Communications, Journalists and Reporters, Media Outreach, Opinion, Public Scrutiny • Tagged: , ,

A Photo can Speak a Thousand Slanted Words

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A couple of years ago one of the guys at the firehouse was showing me how to use Photoshop. I needed to learn some simple skills – specifically how to erase license plates from MVA photos I wanted to send to the press.  As a result of boredom over the lesson the famed “sock on fire” trick photo shot was created.

It’s pretty funny when you look at some of the altered images people create with programs like Photoshop, but it is no laughing matter when the press or a news source uses these tools to create something that isn’t really there.

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Posted by on July 7, 2010 • Filed under: Journalists and Reporters, Opinion, Photography, Public Scrutiny • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Break in the Chain of Command

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I have tremendous admiration for GEN Stanley McChrystal. I respect his dedication to attain victory, his strategic objectives and his pursuit to get the assets this country needs in the Afghan theater to get the job done.

Through some of my past posts, referring to President Obama’s crisis leadership, you may sense that I am less then enamored of his decision making process. Yet in the McChrystal-Obama dispute I have to lean towards the Presidents side in this one.

The lifeblood of the volunteer fire service is the adherence to the chain of command. If a Captain is badmouthing or second guessing the Chief, the chain is snapped and chaos ensues.  Lack of response to direct orders or discrediting the Chief to members of the Department has never resulted in a positive outcome. It can only lead to internal firehouse strife and ineffective operations on the fireground.

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Posted by on June 23, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, Journalists and Reporters, Opinion, Public Outreach • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

While Nero Fiddled, Obama Practiced his Short Game

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When we look at any crisis communications scenario we work hard to anticipate the unanticipated and deal with it using the best knowledge base we have accumulated over the years. Maybe a certain technique we learned at an industry seminar or college class, maybe a case study of another crisis incident that we garnered good intelligence and experience from.

While it’s great to be book smart and learn from others experience, the top element, in my mind, of dealing with any crisis communications incident is to have COMMON SENSE. Yes, PR is allot about COMMON SENSE. There are many out there who make good livings in PR, are book smart and savvy, but totally lack COMMON SENSE.

This lack of COMMON SENSE can be traced to both the doors of the White House and hallowed hall of BP corporate headquarters in the way these two organizations blatantly lacked any tact in three incidents that happened over the weekend.

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Posted by on June 21, 2010 • Filed under: Crisis Communications, Opinion, Public Scrutiny • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Netcast Appearance and Banned for Life

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I’m sitting in the airport setting sail for some business in south Texas. Two areas to cover while I wait for the flight.

First, I’m honored that my Brothers at Firefighter Netcast have asked me to be a guest on their program this Thursday, June 17th. John and Rhett will be interviewing me at 9:00pm EST.

To get the link to the broadcast visit http://www.firefighternetcast.com/ Call in and say hi!

Banned for Life

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Posted by on June 16, 2010 • Filed under: Crisis Communications, Journalists and Reporters, Media Outreach, Opinion • Tagged: , , , , ,

Quoteable Quotes

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I’m not one to be a big guy on quotes when I speak. Some people can quote great philosophers, writers and poets whenever they are engaged in conversation. Over the years though I have accumulated a few quotes on the art of communications to try to make a sometimes difficult subject more simplified in my own mind. Here are some of the Fire Pio’s quotable golden rules of communications –

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Posted by on June 14, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

A Crisis Communications Crisis

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There was a time when a good crisis communication plan addressed the situation at hand in a timely transparent manner. The plan owned up to admitting and confronting the bad,  showing  a solid plan for rectifying the situation and giving folks confidence that the best and brightest were working to develop the best resolution.

In the BP debacle the crisis communications plan of both the oil giant and the federal government seems to be constructed around a template of protecting our image to protect our stock and assets on BP’s front and blaming the other guy and passing the buck on the federal end to protect political assets. Neither plan as it stands is giving much solace or sorely needed answers to the American public.

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Posted by on June 8, 2010 • Filed under: Crisis Communications, news, Opinion • Tagged: , , ,

First Time in the Paper

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Last night I attended a scholarship program for our two high schools. Each year the Smithtown Fire Department presents four scholarships to seniors who will pursue engineering degrees in college. The scholarships are in memory of two of our past members who died in the line of duty. Both were engineers by profession.

Our Chief presented the scholarships and I took several pictures of the presentation. Once the contingent left the stage one of the recipients came up to me to ask when the photos and story will be in the papers. He was excited that he was getting press and that his family and friends would see the story and his image in print. He told me that this is the first time he would have a picture and story in a newspaper.

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Posted by on June 4, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion • Tagged: , , , ,

Some Jargon be Gone

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The military loves to use plenty of jargon for everything it does. I just got off a conference call with a number of folks from the Army and heard the usual assortment of ‘swag” “alibi” “do out’s”“straw man”“10,000 ft screwdrivers” etc., etc. This is a military way of life and I enjoy listening to the code words.

As many of you know though, from a number of my posts, I am not big on current “civilian” clichés. To me clichés are words and phrases that have been overused to the point that they have become almost meaningless.

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Posted by on June 3, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion

Boots on Necks doesn’t cut it

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From a crisis communications point of view the Obama administration has failed miserably in providing any sort of semblance of order in providing crucial information, known expertise or a strong face and voice for the overwhelming oil spill in the Gulf.

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Posted by on June 1, 2010 • Filed under: command-leadership, Crisis Communications, Opinion • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

We Remember

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On Monday, Memorial Day, most of us will have the honor to put on our uniforms and march and pray at department services for the souls of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Memorial Day is slipping away from our consciousness. This national day of mourning sees our fellow citizen’s head out to the beach, country, malls, car dealers, picnics and barbecues without ever giving a second thought to those who paid the price for our freedom.

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Posted by on May 28, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion • Tagged:

How the Press Release was Born

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The history of the public relations profession in many ways can be considered kind of bland. Don’t get me wrong; what we do is crucial in the dissemination of information. I can’t imagine a world without public relations, but from an historical perspective things sort of, in my mind, just fed off of itself to evolve. The last several years have show tremendous moves forward in the way we practice our profession, but the good old days really wern’t that old at all!

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Posted by on May 27, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion • Tagged: , , , , ,

Firematic Funeral

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funeralI’m going to a Firematic Service for a deceased honorary member tonight. We’ll gather at the firehouse in our Class A uniforms and proceed to the Funeral Home. I know a large number of members will attend, they always do. Those in attendance will line up single file on both sides of the parlor room, remove cover, listen to the brief service and then in groups of two, proceed to the coffin for a final salute.

I’ve been to more Firematic Services then I can remember. Some have been for younger members that I knew well, but most have been for senior guys who served many years ago and who I hardly, if at all knew.

What motivates so many to go to these services and pay tribute to those we might have just known in passing or given a quick, “how you doing?” nod to?

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Posted by on May 26, 2010 • Filed under: Opinion • Tagged: , , , ,