The Watch Office
Florida is a national leader in emergency management—and now, we're bringing the conversation to you. This podcast goes beyond hurricanes and hazard plans to explore the people, innovation, and expertise that make the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) a model for the nation.
Each episode dives into a key aspect of preparedness, response, and recovery, with guest speakers from across a wide range of professions—showing that emergency management is more than a single job title. Whether you're a student, a job-seeker, or a seasoned professional, you'll gain fresh insights, discover new career paths, and hear stories that shape Florida’s approach to resilience.
Tune in to learn, connect, and be part of the future of emergency management in Florida.
The Watch Office
Ep. 08 - Keeping Response Moving: A Deep Dive into Emergency Management Logistics
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In emergency management, success depends on more than just boots on the ground—it requires the seamless coordination of people, resources, and information.
In Episode 09 of The Watch Office, we take a closer look at the critical role logistics plays in disaster response and recovery. From sourcing and tracking resources to coordinating deployments across the state, logistics keeps operations moving when every second counts.
Hear about the role of Florida’s Central Operations and Coordination Office (FLCOCO), a key hub for managing resource requests, situational awareness, and operational coordination during emergencies.
Tune in for an inside look at how logistics supports decision-making, strengthens response efforts, and helps ensure communities across Florida receive the support they need—when they need it most.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Watch Office Podcast. Today I am joined by members of our logistics team. My name is Kevin Guthrie, I'm the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. On my right is uh our uh logistics section chief and bureau uh deputy bureau chief of response, Christina Getzman. Um to my left is Brendan Blaze. He is the uh warehouse manager uh that uh operates out of our Auburn Dale location. And then uh last but certainly not least, our newest member of our team is uh Tim Conroy. He is our logistics program manager and oversees a lot of our Tallahassee logistics operations. Um first and foremost, thank you guys for being with us today. Um, you know, it's what we're what we're trying to do with these podcasts is really tell our story and let people know the things that emergency management does, because again, I think there's a lot of people that don't know what emergency management does, and then that there is a difference between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and FEMA, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and even all the way down to the local level of emergency management. And you know, one of the things that we often say here, the vision is we want to be the best at everything we do. I think definitely logistics is one of those things that even the country now, the United States, says Florida's got to figure it out and they know what they're doing, and they are truly the best in the country. And that goes to y'all's credit. Yeah, I get none of that credit. That is 100% on you guys and your teams, the 20 or so people that you guys supervise and manage on a day-to-day basis. Um, I often say that they are the best logisticians in the world, bar none, and I firmly believe that. So, as we talk about logistics on today's podcast, uh, for people who don't see the behind-the-scenes work, let's talk about it first in the blue sky role. Christina, we'll start with you. Can you walk us through what the Deputy Bureau Chief of Operations, Logistics Chief, does on a day-to-day blue sky basis? What are you doing? Tell us a little bit about your day.
SPEAKER_02Sure, absolutely. Of course, behind the scenes here uh is a lot more than anybody would actually expect. It's constant preparation for an activation on a day-to-day basis. For instance, we maintain situational awareness on critical infrastructure, uh, increase our emergency uh evacuation shelter space capabilities, monitor fuels across the state in any situations that might actually impact fort status or uh commercial trucking operations. On the strictly logistics side, we oversee and maintain facilities. All of our facilities are fleet. We are constantly leveraging relationships with emergency standby vendors, developing and maintaining emergency standby contracts. There's a human services aspect where we are maintaining relationships with all of our volunteer organizations and partners, maintaining stockpile inventories. There's so much behind the scenes. Um I could go on and on on.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I think one of the things that, because we do have other agencies to listen to our podcast, um, it's very, very clear that we are not the lead agency when it comes to fuel, we're not the lead agency when it comes to power. That's the Public Service Commission that's the Florida Department of Agriculture Consumer Services. Um, but why do we monitor what's going on there? And I think uh again, for it's important for our listeners to know if something goes bad, we need to know what's going on right now in real time. So that's why we are constantly monitoring, when we say we're constantly monitoring, because people in the in the field, uh residents don't care um what happens before what we call the left of boom. When boom and right of boom happens, whether that's a tornado, a hurricane, a domestic incident or something like that, they want to know that we're ready to go. And that's why we have to monitor so much uh ahead of time. I feel like all we ever tell people in our story is that we're monitoring, you know, response is monitoring, recovery monitoring, mitigation is monitoring, logistics monitoring.
SPEAKER_02We have to maintain that situational awareness. At any given time, we may not even have a major hurricane. It could be just something that is strictly implement, you know, affecting fuels across the state, which is a delicate spider web of operations. And if one piece fails, we have to be able to activate and make make sure we take care of it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, one port, you know, that that's another episode that we may do in the future is talk with our ports council and how the seaports are so critical of what we what it is that we do. But um just about every one of our seaports, if not all of our seaports, are single channel, means one way in, one way out. Absolutely. Um, and a vessel goes down the middle of that channel, we could lose a major, um, a major refueling spot for the entire, say, southeast uh side of the uh states.
SPEAKER_02Right, and we have to exercise on those capabilities continuously.
SPEAKER_04Continuously. Okay, so um I'm gonna do blue sky first and I'm gonna come back and talk about gray sky. So, Brendan, working down in Auburnale, Florida at our newest facility, uh FL Coco, or the uh central operations and coordination office, um, which is also known as a warehouse and office complex. Um, what are you doing, Blue Sky day-to-day? What is it that you you and your team down there are handling?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Blue Sky is a perfect opportunity for the warehouses to reset. We take a lot of inventory actions. Uh, we'll check our inventory levels, we'll make sure we're replenished uh correctly where we need to be in case of another activation. We do a lot of fleet and facilities. We will check our equipment, we'll make sure it's all perfectly operating and ready to be deployed at a moment's notice. Uh inventory control. Again, we would click at expiration dates. We'll make sure we are operating under FIFO, first in, first out, and that uh nothing is expiring or nothing's in danger of expiring inside of our warehouse. Uh, with the new facility, we have a lot of different capabilities with the office space we have, so we assist a lot of training exercises throughout the state. We have uh a lot of different agencies come and we will assist doing training exercises throughout the state. Um again, it's it's a very busy time, blue skies.
SPEAKER_04So absolutely, and I think this is a really good point. Um, you know, people uh don't know that people know that we we have three million gallons of water, three million shelf stable mills, uh, and a lot of other stuff there. Um, but you know, just recently we we worked with uh feeding Florida. Um, and when that when we start getting down to a point where stuff is expiring, we don't throw anything away. We make sure that that goes to needy individuals um just in time. And and uh I think that's very very important for us to point out because that's all about a all a part of that blue sky operation that you do. Tim, newest member from New York. Um and uh we're glad to have you. You you've been a certain welcome addition to our our team. Uh glad you're you're here with us. Um what are you doing here in Tallahassee um as far as your your blue sky job goes?
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you for the warm invitation and thank you for having me. Um and I'd like to say I I walked into um a very good situation with the professionalism that uh my staff and the whole agency for that matter. Um so kind of coming in in the middle of the move with Brendan down at the warehouse, moving two warehouses into one, and now we're moving to the EOC. A lot of things have been moving in that. Uh there's a lot of moving parts with that. Um I didn't really necessarily uh I'm coming in on the end of it, Brendan moving in and stuff, but just helping coordinate them or being their um connection to Tallahassee, you know, being um in constant contact with Brendan and the staff down there. Um fleet and facilities, um, again, great staff here. Um we you know maintain um the facilities here um and uh over a hundred vehicles that we have in our fleet, um, whether it's uh you know regular maintenance, purchasing, outfitting, um, and then of course reservations, um, and um also contracts and vendors. Uh so vendor services also uh a big part of it, getting the relationships with the vendors, learning a lot from um Tiffany and her team and um and assistant Christina as much as I can.
SPEAKER_02You know, and and well new, Brenda brings to us extensive experience. He actually worked for New York City during 9-11. So he he's got an extensive background in logistics and um devastating situations.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, and uh not to take away from either uh Brendan or um Christina, but you know, Tim is that you know, we we we always give the the governor shouts out on our uh on our uh podcast, but you know uh Tim is that quintessential individual that you know was in New York, lived in New York, decided, you know what, Florida's doing some stuff, but I don't want to put words in your mouth, Tim, but um you know he shared a story with me and he started him and his wife got in the car, started heading south, and ended up right here with us in Tallahassee. And at the time we had a uh a logistics um position open, and uh he was able to take bring all of his experience from New York um and to include uh New York Trade Center um uh involvement and bring a lot of that information right here to us in um in Florida. So welcome to the team. And so uh and again that that that last piece that you talked about, a lot of people don't know, is the vendor services. Uh we we manage a lot of vendors on a day-to-day basis, but that's also a good bridge, if you will, to get us from blue sky to gray sky. Because I think a lot of people associate vendor services with gray sky activations. Um, you got to have them on standby, you got to have them ready. That's the blue sky piece of it. But then uh once we actually use them, we activate them, that's part of a gray sky. So, how do things change? Because I know it changes immensely, especially in the logistics world, of steady state monitoring, making sure something's not expired, making sure the oil's getting changed in a vehicle, making sure we're cranking all the generators and they're working and performing up to the speed. But then all of a sudden, even a couple of weeks ago we had flooding in Central Florida, you know, and I'm on the phone saying, get ready, here we go. So walk us through first and foremost, from as you transition out of your role as as Deputy Bureau Chief of Response into full-blown logistics section chief. What are you thinking? What are your priorities? What are you, what are you, how are you leading your team? What is it you're you're doing when you transition to those disaster operations, Christina?
SPEAKER_02So the transition is actually uh obviously immediate. Um, it can actually be quite difficult because I have to abandon the infrastructure side of things and actually focus solely on logistics. I bring my team together and the and the first thing we do is make sure that we are assessing the county needs, um, monitoring all missions and making sure that we're fulfilling and distributing uh commodities and supplies as quickly and as efficiently as possible. So our move shifts immediately from preparation to action and getting all those things distributed. We develop LSAs immediately, we activate all of our vendor contracts that are necessary immediately, um, requesting quotes from them. Um, like I said, our LSAs, we're looking for areas to establish base camps for emergency responders. We are looking for areas to set up points of distribution for a distribution of commodities like food and water. And sometimes, in addition to food and water, it can be tarps or ice. There will be multiple locations in an area that is devastated. Um, we're looking for areas to set up comfort stations, which include like restroom trailers, laundry trailers, shower trailers to maintain hygienic conditions in a devastated area where there may not be power or running water. So, I mean, those are the things that we focus on immediately and continue to push out.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, basic human needs. And just for our listeners that are not familiar with emergency management, I know we have a lot of them, LSA, logistical staging area. So this is we we basically take Brendan's big warehouse of 400,000 square feet, we find some vacant acre field and we establish a temporary-ish kind of warehouse for big equipment and goods in the middle of uh runways or uh or actual farmland.
SPEAKER_02Pumps of all sizes, generators of all sizes, and additional services that will be pushed out of LSA's as well.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. Brendan, we'll get back to you. So um we we've had an event, uh, we had an incident, something has happened. Um, you know, Christina's activated logistics section. Talk about you and I you got about what 12-15 people down there that work for you. Correct. Um, so what are you guys and the team down there um in Auburn Dale doing when the activation order is given up here in Tallahassee?
SPEAKER_03Oh, it is an explosion of activity. The activation order comes uh, it becomes a 24-7 hub at that point. Uh typically they'll bring in uh anywhere from two to three hundred National Guard, they'll come in, vendors will come in, reps in the counties will come in, and uh, we will immediately establish uh loading trailers, getting stuff ready, getting stuff prepped, getting equipment prepped. We will be responding to missions on uh the Web EOC system. We'll be in direct contact with the counties, all the logistical staging areas, trying to support any way we can, getting supplies, goods, equipment, services, anything that's required uh directly to the locations that need them. Uh it's quite an experience, uh humbling. From from a retail background, it was amazing to see the first time. And the first time being Ian was my first experience with it. Uh just incredible uh the amount and the uh the reaction time and the amount of resources that go out. Take a look at the warehouse now. Typically on the tours, things everyone says is that that's a lot of water. You got so much water, and I say the same thing every time. You'll be amazed at how quickly we go through this water. This warehouse goes from full to empty, just like that. It's fantastic.
SPEAKER_04I know one of the things our comms team is trying to help us do, because again, you know, one of the things behind this podcast is us being able to tell our story, give people, if you will, intimate details, if you will, about how we do our business. And I know one of the things that you're working on in conjunction with comms at uh my request is you know, the next time we have that big disaster and we empty that warehouse, we're we've set up for time-lapse video so that we can actually show that story of how you and your team get that job done in a matter of hours, literally in a matter of hours. And and all of this good stuff is going to people in need. Um, and then all of a sudden it starts to fill itself back up. And then it's just a constant cross-docking, as we say in the uh logistics.
SPEAKER_03Cameras are in place now, so yeah, we'll see how we'll be able to capture that.
SPEAKER_04So we're we're excited about that, and we want to tell y'all a story because I mean, you and your team down there, as well as the team up here in Tallahassee, but you know, I I think in in the last 20 years since we've had the uh Central Florida warehouse that used to be in Orlando, now in Alberdale, Florida, we've really not engaged in a way that we probably should have. And you guys are such an important aspect of what it is that we do and the success of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, making us the number one logistical team in the country and the number one response team in the country. You guys are certainly at the heart of that, and we appreciate uh everything. Brendan, yeah, they are all right. So I know that y'all's two roles in the disaster when we go gray sky is a quite a bit different. You know, you you basically uh become Christina's right hand inside that EOC. So we've been activated, things are happening. Um, you've got some people that are doing the Brendan version of what's going on here in Tallahassee with fleet and stuff like that. But talk a little about what you do, uh Tim, as uh when you get activated into your Gray Sky role.
SPEAKER_01So uh as you said, sir, just uh whatever Christina needs. But I'm um been monitoring Web EOC for missions that are coming in, trying to move them along to the right place, you know, walking around the EOC, get going to the right people, make sure that that mission's moving along. Um, and again, any logistical things that I could help Brendan with from our end from up here. Um, I've also deployed um recently, uh most recently with the flooding to help Dwayne out with pumping and operations down there, um, just getting pumps out of the warehouse and onto the location and stuff like that, just to be an extra set of hands um when needed.
SPEAKER_04I think we I think the four of us probably understand this more than anybody else in the world uh because um I all I always feel like that that uh individual that says somebody says, Well, can you do something? And I said, I've got a guy for that, or I've got a gal for that, right? Ultimately, we all have guys and gals for that that do extraordinary work on a day-to-day basis. And we we what we all get to do um here more than anything else is um we get to lead those great teams and those those great individuals. So um, you know, maybe in a future podcast we'll have some of the uh some of the logistical uh brain and broad power. Oh yeah, that would be fun. Yeah, so um so we let let's transition um into our next bigger bucket question. Um we we talked about a lot of the good the good team we we um get to oversee. We talked about the things that we get to do, blue sky, gray sky, and how that looks. But in every single gray sky, and maybe even uh blue sky if you want to talk about it, every time, you know. Um I I there was a there's a uh guy that works for FEMA, his name's Rod McAllister, and I and I've got some he gave me a quote one day, and most of I think all of you guys know Rod, and he says, in logistics, we have three plans. One of the three is gonna work. So, to the heart of that question is what's the biggest challenge, logistical challenge? We're gonna have challenges in every single disaster. In logistics, we're gonna have challenges in every single disaster. Um, what are some of the challenges we've faced in the last two years and how did the team work through them? And I'm gonna go kind of go in a reverse order on this one. I'm gonna start with Brendan because I want to hear from maybe bottom up and then how you're uh how you manage that at the top. Understanding that uh both of you guys um have like last hurricane season um that you can pull from and our and obviously our ongoing support of immigration. So, but and even Tim, if you've got something that you had in New York before you came to us, I certainly want to hear what are challenges you face.
SPEAKER_03The biggest challenge is probably tempo. We've had uh multiple situations break out throughout the state, but require resources to the different counties throughout. So being able to manage it's not just in one location. I mean, multiple places need assistance. So getting the right resources to those locations in a timely manner, safe, efficiently, is probably one of the bigger challenges. Coupled with, I mean, even globally, there has been some supply chain issues that we've had. So getting our hands on some supplies, uh, flood buckets come to mind. Uh, also uh flood control devices come to mind too. They're very extensive to roll those out to different counties, uh, the Tiger Dams and Muscle Walls, different things like that. They are there's a lot of complex pieces in those, and then there's specific needs to the different places you deploy those things to that require uh specialized equipment. You know, you might need additional sun pumps, you might need additional tubing, additional braces, you need asphalt anchors versus concrete anchors. There's a lot of different pieces that go to uh getting the stuff involved in getting it set up correctly so that the assets are safe. So it's probably been the biggest challenge.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and I think um, you know, just from experience uh with all of you guys, because I, you know, I try not to micromanage you, but I also there's an expectation that I'm hyper involved. Okay. Um, and but you know, I think one of the challenges is always um just even a training component, making sure that our people, because everybody, everyone that works for you guys has to be able to drive big equipment, forklifts, uh, off-road equipment, be able to run and maintain pumps, run and maintain generators, run and maintain light towers, run and maintain uh vehicle message boards. Um, that takes a lot of technological experience, that takes a lot of mechanical experience. And sometimes, you know, making sure we have the right fit when we hire people that come with that type of background, or that we can develop that background. Those are certainly some challenges too. Tim, what about you? Uh, what challenges have you faced in the last couple of years and how are you and the team that you lead working on those?
SPEAKER_01Um, I think uh you mentioned um finding the right people. I know we do have some vacancies, or we recently had vacancies down in the warehouse. I know having CDL drivers and people that can operate stuff is um is a challenge to find people that have come in qualified. And I know we've recently been discussing and searching out a way. I think we actually have a small plan in place to train some CDL, some of our employees on CDLs. Um, we also um with ring power, um they have a um um I can't think of the word. Um simulator. They have a simulator for heavy machinery. So we we met with them a couple of times, went to a dem demonstration uh with their simulator. Um so I don't know if we're actually gonna obtain that, yeah. But uh that's something that would be an improvement for the staff.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, they they also tried to sell me on that, and that is a great piece of equipment. And what a, you know, I think again, taxpayers listen to us, and and and I think one of the things that um is a good takeaway here is you know, that that piece of equipment is about $300,000. But at the same time, the equipment that we operate is in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars. And the simulator can actually operate that, you know, give you every everything, the same look, feel same look, feel, the the you know, even to the point of the machine vibrating as it's as it's on its tracks moving down the moving down the simulator. Roadway, but we're not burning a lick of diesel. We're not burning a, you know, all we're doing right there in that situation is we are running scenarios and scenarios and scenarios, whether it's through a hydraulic bomb or it's through a brush cutter, it's through a forklift, a an excavator, whatever that might be. And it allows us to do all of that stuff from the same piece of equipment, not five or six different pieces of equipment with absolutely zero burn and fuel. So ultimately, yes, it's a large upfront $300,000 piece of equipment and um uh to buy, but at the same time, over years, we're gonna save three, four, five, six times that by training our people in an environment that doesn't depend on rain, shine, sweet, or snow, it's all indoors. You know, you can you can constantly have your individuals in their training. So those are those are uh great points. Christina, so challenges you face, uh other than dealing with me in the UC, which is uh probably challenge one and challenge two in that order.
SPEAKER_02Okay, well, it's a privilege to work for you both, so I thank you for that. Um, but uh uh just punning off of basically what um Brenda was saying, this past season has been, or the past year has been a series of back-to-back um incidents that have taken place that have definitely taken a toll on staffing in the EOC. Um, it has been exhausting. Um, we've had um severe winter weather, tornadoes, flooding, three major devastating hurricanes back to back, and and our team just came together, pushed through, we cover one another when it came to supply chain issues and inventory issues where we couldn't obtain flood buckets and sometimes even tarps, um, all the way up to the administration level in the EOC. Um, everybody was Googling and looking for the products to get in little piecemeals to make sure that we could get everything out that we said, and even built our own products. We worked with vendors to actually in our warehouse build flood buckets because we could not find them anywhere in the country.
SPEAKER_04Logistics is at the heart of every mass care mission, of every infrastructure mission, of every emergency response mission, and all of the things that we do, y'all are right there in the middle of that. So, in uh whether it's immigration or it's a flood event or it's a tornado or a snow event, that mass care piece, caring for people, you guys are right there in the thick of that, making sure that they have food, that they have water, that they have sanitation, that they have a shower, that they have this, the the stuff about you know, people are using the bathroom on buckets and things like that. Those are that's just absolute utter nonsense because you guys are hyper vigilant and making sure that the you know, I'm gonna go a little bit local here, that even the least of these have the best of these. And uh you guys certainly are the heart of treating people uh with uh with human decency, and and I appreciate what you guys do. Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. I mean, even that like a lot of times people forget about the warehousing team with the 24-hour operations that go on, and I refer to them as the heartbeat of every activation.
SPEAKER_04So logistics is an area for many agencies to increase capability and capacity, and I will say, and I think uh all of you would agree, Governor DeSantis has given us and afforded us the opportunity to build more capability and capacity through disasters than any predecessor that you that that's that has been in my tenure in public safety, which has been about 37 years now. And he is just, he's like, you know, he wants us to be smart about it, he wants us to do the benefit cost analysis. But if it's if it's cheaper for us to buy a piece of equipment than it is for us to lease or rent it for 180 days or however long we're gonna need it, do the right thing by the taxpayer, make the dollar, whether that's a local dollar, a state dollar, or a federal dollar, go as far as we possibly can. And I know you guys have got a team, y'all work with procurement, and there is four people from procurement that do nothing but benefit cost analysis all day long, every day, to make sure that we make those right those right things. So, but for logistics, um, again, this is an easy way for local and even other states that might be listening uh to us right now, be able to build an increase capability and capacity. I know each of you, we have built a lot of capability and capacity, especially in logistics over the last five years. So I here's what I'm gonna ask you to do is maybe since a lot of it is stored with Brendan, instead of Brendan talking about all of it, let's maybe start with Christina. We'll just kind of go round Robin and maybe I'll facilitate a little bit about some of the new capabilities and capacities we have. So, what what's maybe your favorite capability and capacity that we've built out in the last five years, Christina?
SPEAKER_02Well you skip Brendan as FL Coco. The central um the central, I was forgetting central corporations and coordination office. Yeah, termed FL Coco, that's what we all call it. Um, it's a new state-of-the-art warehouse. Um, it is it in it it took two warehouses that we had in the Central Florida region and actually combined the two. We actually have increased our warehousing space. It's state of the art, it's modern, it's it's the capabilities are almost endless there. Um so that is a major one. And and outside of a logistics perspective, but also um for the FCOC, we're constructing a new state emergency operations center very close by that is going to meet the needs that we haven't been able to meet as far as our building is concerned uh for many years. So, and that's coming very soon.
SPEAKER_04Yep. Brendan, so we talked about the facilities. What's your favorite maybe piece of equipment or or whatnot that we've gained uh capability capacity on?
SPEAKER_03Oh, it's my favorite topic. I love FL Coco, it's my favorite. I just beam with pride. Uh the favorite capability we have in there is the is the warehouse management system. Uh, it allows me to do uh daily reporting, it runs me to check on inventory levels, it gives me uh up-to-date information that we I can use to communicate to the team here, let them know new pieces of equipment that come in, let them know what inventory levels we're at. Historically speaking, how much inventory we've used uh during past emergencies that we might need to replenish, we might need to think differently and uh bring some more on. Uh but again, uh the the heavy equipment and the specialized equipment as well. I mean, we brought on so many generators, some skid steers, some excavators, bunk houses. Uh the list goes on and on. We've got fuel tanks on the way, we've got all the office trailers, uh, and these things get used regularly, quite a bit uh throughout the state.
SPEAKER_04So I think I kind of chuckle when you said the the um basically the innovation in the inventory of the warehouse because I don't know how many times I used to call you uh before the technology and say, Brendan, how much of X do we have on in the warehouse? And you say, Literally, I gotta go get a calculator and look at my shoes off and do the counts. And and now it's like we call you in a matter of seconds, you say it is 3,321,115. Right, period. Hard stop. And uh that that is definitely something new that we have. Um, I I completely agree with you. Fantastic. Tim, what about you? Your face or favorite piece of equipment, favorite piece of something that is a new capability or capacity.
SPEAKER_01Um, I think overall, just coming into it, uh seeing and hearing stories of how it was just a year ago, to seeing the improvements. Um, and just overall, the like you mentioned, the uh commitment to get us the right equipment or to get the needed equipment to be prepared. Those pumps that we deployed, we had to go get gaskets because those pumps had only got there a couple of days prior to the flooding, right? So, I mean, perfect timing, but we had what we needed.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. So that and that was, you know, that's I I like the fact that you brought up flooding because um we have had certainly our fair share of flooding, uh, inland flooding here uh recently. Um, and that was a capability we did not have at all. We were 100% dependent on either the private sector or the federal government, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, which is a great partner, uh, Lieutenant College Westcott and uh and the colonel up there. Um, but they they we just did not have that capability. But now, through the governor's vision and us being able to you know do those um benefit cost analysis to ensure that um we were uh we were utilizing taxpayer dollars wisely, we now have new capability capacity. And um whereas that disaster, that that Central Florida, uh Mount Dora, Eustace, um Titusville, uh Space Coast area uh disaster would have probably cost us in the past 30, 40, 50 million dollars to go out there and handle. We're uh I got the numbers from Ian the other day. We're we're at less than eight million dollars. So holy cow, reach out of estimate, say the taxpayers a whole lot of money. So really, really, uh really good points. Um we talked about that that kind of talks a little bit about improvements. Let's talk a little bit about innovation. I know, I know Brendan, you talked about innovation already um in the in the tech piece, but is there anything new and innovative that we're utilizing um at the warehouse uh that you can think of um outside of the technology?
SPEAKER_03I think the biggest innovation we've made is in our people, is uh in the training programs that we've we've placed on them. Uh, I've got a couple of uh the associates just went through the certified managers training courses. Uh, and again, we're always looking for new ways. We've had muscle balls out there, we've had Tiger Dam out there doing extensive training. Uh, like you mentioned earlier, that this stuff is technical equipment and it requires you can't just throw somebody on the stuff and say, hey, go clear some brush up there. So that's been our biggest innovation, it's been other people. And then with continued training programs that are rolling out and all the new programs that are rolling out. Uh yeah. No, I I agree.
SPEAKER_04I I I I firmly I I firmly agree with you on the on the people piece. Um, you know, I I I started to call a couple people out by name, but if I know I start, I'm not gonna remember everything, so I'm not gonna call out my name. But um the the team in both areas um is just uh high level of performance, you know, and and it starts with investing in your people. And I certainly appreciate you, both of all three of you investing in our people. Any any innovations, Tim, that you can think of that um we we've done in in logistics that people want to know about or people might want to know about?
SPEAKER_01Uh one thing I I've seen that is being very helpful is the um logistics resource catalog. Yeah, that I know a lot of hard work went into that, but I haven't been here for a full-blown activation. But from what I understand, when people start ordering equipment and stuff, they don't always know that they they might need a driver or they might need this amount of hose to go with that pump. Or so they have it all right there in that one document. I think that's gonna be very helpful going forward.
SPEAKER_04No, 100%. I I I completely forgot about that document, even leading into the show. I completely forgot about that document until you talked about it. But you know, as simple, something as simple as just a document, a book handout that says, hey, if you're needing to uh run a forklift, hey, have you thought about fuel? Do you need propane versus diesel versus some other type of uh fuel component? Do you have an operator for it? Do you need something that'll go off-road versus on-road, long reach versus short reach? So, and we've done, we have taken um, and that was all done under your your leadership, Christina, but going through and painstakingly going through a lot of items to make sure that we got that done. So you can talk about that, or you can talk about any other innovations as well.
SPEAKER_02Well, and and just the yes, the requestable resource catalog did have a heavy logistics component, but it was actually a team effort between logistics uh uh operations and plans because there are definitely services that are provided outside of logistics that they maintain. Um I I think one of the biggest uh innovative uh projects that we've taken on that have been helpful all the way around has been our partnership with Slomba Slobal in the development of Debies. The uh Debbie's is the Division of Emergency Management Enterprise Solutions Software Program, and it has enabled us to develop several modules for the efficient operation and maintenance of many aspects of emergency management, including fleet and inventories, um accountable property inventory, um grants, contract management, you name it. There's been so many things, and I only look forward to the further development of other modules, such as our critical infrastructure one day that'll come out. Um so that has definitely been a plus. We're also currently working on the logistics and the infrastructure side for um development of new AI strategies for statistics in real time during activations, um, avoiding the human error and allowing people who would normally spend all day long uh you know uh gathering this information to actually work on response efforts.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. All right, so we're gonna start bringing this in for landing, but I I you guys know that I'm passionate about students and I'm passionate about the next generation of emergency management. And you know, and I think for um this this last question, rapid fire around Robin, I want to focus on you guys have this show as an opportunity to recruit future logisticians. And I'm gonna go around the we'll probably go around the horn twice, but what's one thing that you're interviewing a potential candidate, maybe out of high school, maybe in college, is doing more supply chain logistics or you know the uh blockchain type stuff. What is it you're looking for in a future team member in the logistics section at the Florida Division Emergency Manual that we'll go brand in first and we'll work our way around the table probably twice?
SPEAKER_03Jumps off into my head just because of the varying nature of what we do, and you have to be creative thinkers. So, uh like imagination, I think, is is something valuable. You have to be able to look at a problem and be able to think outside of the box and come up with creative solutions to how are we gonna get this commodities to this location. Uh the roads are flooded and we can't get it any other way. I mean, think uh, for example, a couple years ago, the the Pine Island and the Sanibel Island, we get barges or helicopters or trying to different ways to transport items in. You got to be able to think creatively. So I would look for that.
SPEAKER_04I would think when you when you started that, I I immediately thought about Disney Imagineers Correct. So, Tim, what do you got?
SPEAKER_01Um, I was thinking like uh just asking where they're where they're see, try to get a feel for where the head is at as far as what's the main reason you want to get into this business? Why do you want to get into emergency management? What's your why? And if it's well, you guys make a lot of money, you guys, you know, yeah, you can get a lot of overtime. Okay, so you know it's about the people, and we want to hear that. That we want to help the people that we're serving. We want to, you know, when time of need, we want to be helpful, and I think that's a big trait that we see in all of our employees.
SPEAKER_04So I hear imagination, creativity, I hear a desire and a willingness to want to help people. Christina, you got the final word on that.
SPEAKER_02So I would agree with both of them, and and my response sort of ties into both. I look for drive. I want somebody to have absolute drive. I want somebody who wants to come in, wants to get the job done, and doesn't like the word impossible. Impossible is a word that is not in my vocabulary. Even if it's something that somebody has told you there's a roadblock there, um, you can't go that way. There's always a workaround, which is the thinking outside of the box and the imagination, absolute drive and commitment to get the job done, and not allowing the word impossible to add to to enter their vocabulary.
SPEAKER_04And I so I have these seven P's that I call leadership, my seven Ps of leadership, but you guys have hidden on all of them. So we're talking about a desire to have to help people, knowing what your purpose is, you know, what is that purpose? And then what you're talking about there in my mind is a passion. Yes. You've got to be passionate, you've got to be driven about what you want to get done. Folks, I want to thank these uh individuals again. Christina Getzman, uh Deputy Bureau Chief of Response and Logistics Section Chief, Tim Conroy, our logistics program manager, and Brendan Blaze, our uh state's warehouse manager, for being here with us. Thank you for joining us today for this episode of the Watch Office Podcast. Be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode and can stay informed on the work happening across Florida's emergency management community. You guys have a great week.