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. 10 - Restoring "The Big Four": An Inside Look at How Florida Leads the Nation in Emergency Response
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Emergency response is more than boots on the ground—it’s the coordination of people, resources, and information working together to protect lives, restore critical infrastructure, and strengthen community resilience.
In this episode of The Watch Office, listeners get an inside look at the disaster response operations that have helped make Florida a national leader in emergency management.
Hear from leaders within the Florida Division of Emergency Management’s Response Bureau as they share the planning, logistics, and operational expertise behind disaster response and discuss the importance of “The Big Four”: Food & Water, Power, Fuel, and Communications.
From assessing local needs and coordinating statewide resource distribution to overcoming challenges in rapidly evolving situations, this conversation explores the complexity of large-scale disaster response and the partnerships that help communities stabilize and navigate the path to recovery.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Watch Office Podcast. I'm Kevin Guthrie, Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. And today we have taken our podcast studio on the road. We are recording live from Orlando at the third annual Florida's Training for Emergency Management Symposium called FTEM26, where emergency management professionals from across Florida and around the country have gathered to train, collaborate, and strengthen the partnerships that help keep our community safe. Today's episode is especially timely because it is also June 1st, which marks the start of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season. And when hurricanes threaten Florida, the State Emergency Response Team, or the CERT, serves as the state's primary coordination structure for disaster response. CERT brings together local, state, federal, nonprofit, private sector partners to support impacted communities, coordinate the resources that respond to your communities, and help ensure Floridians receive the assistance they need before, during, and after a disaster. Joining me today, our members, and I shouldn't say just members, key members of getting Florida's emergency response team and the state emergency response team up and running. These professionals help coordinate some of the largest and most complex emergency management operations in the nation. So we're going to discuss today what hurricane response looks like in Florida, how agencies work together during disasters, the lessons we learned from those recent storms, and what it takes to stay ready year-round. So I think what I'm going to do, and I'm actually going to pivot as I read that intro, and I think what I want to do, first of all, I'll introduce everybody that's on the show with us today. We got State Emergent Response Team Chief and Acting Deputy Executive Director Ian Ian Gutticelli with us. I'm sorry. It's Ian Paul Gadega Goodcelli. That's what was going through my head. I had to get it right first. We have Amy Godsey, our operations chief. To my right is uh Christina Getzman. Uh she is our logistics chief. And uh if everybody knows how I am when names are like going, he's gonna screw this next one up. We have Kaylyn Perry, who is our planning section chief, and she responds to Caitlin and Kaitlin. Anything with a cuff sound. Anything that is close to that, you'll you'll respond to. So I'm you're very, very sweet, and I appreciate you doing that. So what I'm gonna start with, um, since it is June 1, it's the start of hurricane season. I'm actually gonna go to our uh not just our operations chief, but our chief meteorologist for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. You know, Amy, you want to just kind of talk like overarching all of the stuff. There's clickbait out there, there's all kinds of stuff. You know, you and I have had conversations about what is a El Nino, what does a Super El Nino mean and all that. So kind of give us a couple of minute breakdown, what's going on?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, sure. I mean, every year we look at the conditions across the globe. Uh, and actually we can look at historical data to give us at least some kind of predictors of what may be to come this year. Um, it looks like El Nino may be a major factor. Um, there have been El Nino years that don't quite suppress hurricane activity. Um, or, you know, honestly, it doesn't really suppress, you know, the possibility of us getting a major hurricane landfall. So um Hurricane Michael happened in an El Nino year, Hurricane Andrew happened in an El Nino year. And if you ask any of the residents either in South Florida or the Florida panhandle, did those seasonal predictions make a difference to you at the end of the day? No, it didn't. Right? So um it's simply a tool that we use. Uh it's possible that we have some suppressed activity this year, but honestly, our our job is to prepare for the worst anyways, uh, which could be a category five hurricane again. Doesn't mean it couldn't happen. Um so that's the breakdown we do expect near to below normal activity overall on average, but that doesn't mean anything in terms of landfalling events in the United States.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Okay, Amy, I appreciate it. And what she talked about there is, you know, it doesn't matter what it is if it's one storm or it's four-storm season. Um, this is a group of individuals that are gonna actually coordinate that response. So the the approach I wanted to take with today's show, and we we've we've talked about how we're gonna do this. Everything after what comes out of my mouth right now is 100%. We're we are we're out on the road, we do not have anything prompting us. We are we're really going to, as they would say, just gonna riff it here. So um I I thought it would be a good thing to start with. You've got you got some very, very distinct differences in emergency management sitting at the table today. For example, me, the state coordinating officer, the governor's authorized representative, uh I carry out the the governor's direction. I get that to Ian, uh, and then he takes the things that the governor gives me, and then he gets that then down to these three ladies that end up making all the magic happen. So I think what we're gonna start with is what I call the big four. The governor tells me we cannot fail at food, fuel and water. I'm sorry, food and water, fuel, power, and communications. Um so to that end, we're gonna break those each one of them down. So, Ian, when I say to you we can't fail at power, because you know you and I talk about power solves 99% of all problems. But when I say the governor says we cannot fail at power, and it goes to you, what what are you doing next?
SPEAKER_02So typically, whenever you say we can't fail at power, the next step is okay, get with these three and go from there, give them the direction on what each of the items they have to do. Amy more focusing on getting the resources out there, Christina supporting whatever kind of resources they have out in the field, and then Kalen really pushing the messaging and the documentation to you and your team. So then when the governor does come to you saying, hey, where we're at, you're able to accurately report that to them.
SPEAKER_01Right. So and I think what's very important on that is you know, we'll take the lat and uh especially for um uh Christina and Kalen, we'll uh really focus on Hurricane Helena Milton of 52,000, right? So, and I I because I think this is gonna be a really good breakdown for our listeners and those that are viewing us on uh I think it's on Rumble that we're on for the video piece of it. Um and I'll I'll come to you in a second, Amy, because all you know 52,000 line workers um exponentially changes your your operation uh in the infrastructure area. But what does 52,000 line workers mean to logistics?
SPEAKER_06Um well, 52,000 line workers, I don't can you clarify the question?
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, just you know, the logistical needs of supporting 52,000 people like the base camps and the and the and the mass feedings and all that, it's very heavy.
SPEAKER_06We have to we have to establish base camps in multiple locations depending on the path of where the power outages occur. And those base camps could be anywhere from 250 to 2,000 persons each one. And then there's feeding associated with that. There's all the wraparound services and fooding people associated with that. It's all yeah.
SPEAKER_01I don't think people really uh know and understand it. It's it's bathroom trailers at showers. It's uh when you when you say wraparound services, I wanted to kind of break that out because wraparound services means bathroom trailers, shower trailers, laundry trailers, you know, people people don't realize that um you know Lyman's clothes get dirty too, and we we've got to figure out how to do those things, um, then feed all of those individuals three times a day, really probably more than that, because um, you know, they're they're burning more than 2,000 calories a day, so we've got to make sure that we keep them fed and hydrated. That all falls underneath the logistics. Um Kaylin, as it goes into the, you know, what is it that you're trying to get from all of those people at the end of the day? Uh, you know, uh Ian alluded to it, but you know the the the governor can stand up there and say we have to have 52,000 electrical responders because why?
SPEAKER_04And that is so we rely a lot on the individual reporting, and it's hard, especially for power, just because it comes across from so many different sources. And so we just combine all of that and we try to track it from the power that is going out to the power that is out there so that we have to make that every three hours. And then on top of that, we're also tracking the responders that are based at the base camps and what resources they're using.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that's a whole other thing that you do for um for us as a division. Also, that obviously rolls up to the governor when you hear the when you hear hear the governor say something about a burn rate that that 100% comes out of Kalen shop. That she is putting those things together on whether that's a burn rate of meals, bottles of water, um, how fast are we restoring electrical uh capacity? All of those things are coming out of Kalen shop. So Amy, what do you want to you know I there's so much I I feel like just in the in the power area operationally, I can unpack here, but I'll I'll let you take a stab at it, and I'm probably gonna ask you another appropriate question or two.
SPEAKER_05Sure. Yeah, I mean power stabilization and and re-establishment is one of those unique challenges, anyways, operationally, because so much is driven by the private sector. So it really uh is important for us pre-storm to build those relationships, go through training together, establish those networks and partnerships. Because Christina can deploy thousands of generators, and that's great for short-term stabilization of essential services. But what we're really trying to do as an emergency response team is get the community back on their feet as quick as possible. And that can only be done through the mutual aid partnerships from our private utility companies, some of our co-ops across the state that each have their own unique needs as well, right? They are also responders at that same time. And so between operations and logistics, we're there to support those responders and make sure they have what they need, whether it's road clearing teams, you know, cutting down trees, tossing them, just trying to rem remove all of those bottlenecks and roadblocks so that they can do what they need to do and restore power to our citizens as quickly as possible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I I remind as you were talking through some of that, Amy, you know, from an operational challenge, I remember um Hurricane Michael, um, especially with the Unity Fiber Line, um, which was directly related to the operation of the electrical line workers and the uh tree trimming companies that were cutting the debris out of the wires, ended up cutting about three, four, five times a day cutting that Unity Fiber. So maybe talk a little bit. How do you how do you work? And in um this is gonna get a little bit awkward for our listeners here, like, well, I thought she was logistics. There was a point in time in life that uh uh Christina was our infrastructure branch director in operations, and all of this fell underneath her. So you uh Christina, you can certainly chime in if you want to. But maybe talk about the operational challenges of deconflicting, because one of the things we're gonna talk about in a few minutes is com communications too, but that that Comcast cable line and that electrical line and that regular phone line, fiber line, they're pretty much all running on the same set of poles or under the same underground utility. So however you guys want to do that, uh maybe talk our people through the complexities of that from an operational standpoint.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, honestly, and even cellular networks are often on the on the same tower. So it's sometimes um, you know, one issue has cascading effects. And and so it is some of that pre-um positioning or just understanding how the network is set up. Um you know, we see it all the time where people are doing construction, they end up hitting a natural gas line. It is going to happen. And so, you know, if you come into it knowing that there's going to be cascading challenges, um, it's it's really understanding the infrastructure network, both above ground and below ground, um, unfortunately. And uh again, figuring out ownership and and if you set your teams up for that understanding as they deploy, um, maybe we can minimize mistakes.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, and there's also collaboration involved between ESS or emergency support functions because if you have cut and toss teams going out, they actually cannot clear the area because they don't know whether or not a line is hot. So that's where you have to embed utility crews and and have them work in tandem together so that one can make sure that the line is not hot so the other can actually um perform and actually clear the area because one without the other gets nothing done.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think you know, obviously another thing that falls underneath Amy is um typically with all of these crews we're gonna have some type of law enforcement element that's out there helping direct traffic and maybe that's a National Guard element or a law enforcement element, but that that's a whole other piece that has to just go into the power piece. So let's shift from power to maybe more of a traditional food and water, because again, I I I think it's important for people to know you know the people need power, they need food and water, they need fuel, they need communications. Those are if we if we can get that stuff done, just the power piece, we can solve about 99% of all problems. We get the other three done, I mean we're we're we're well on our way to recovery. So, Ian, anything you want to chime in with on uh food and water? Because I ultimately where I want to go with that is how do we bring in the National Guard? How does that then transition back over to the counties, talk about big boxes and things like that? But uh there's a there's a whole lot to unpack there because it's just me saying we can't fill it food and water, I think people naturally are just thinking pods, but there's so much more that goes into it from your standpoint um on this objective level, and and maybe even break that down to as to how long will the pods open, what's the guiding principle that you choose at your level on when they they close, they open, and so on.
SPEAKER_02So that is true. A lot of people when they think about food and water, they think about oh, it's a pot, that's it. But it is so much more. You have feeding operations with NGOs and other volunteer partners, you have um communities just standing up on their own to providing support that way. Um, you have those big box stores opening again. So, like when you do something for pods, typically we try to have them out in the fields ready to operate within 24 hours. Um and they're open for about 72 hours. Counties already help pick locations, but the most important part is making sure where they pick it, it's not near a big box store that's already open. Because you don't want to take away from the community to help stand itself back up. Uh, and the whole goal from that is if they can stand up themselves, they can put money back in the community and start the um road to recovery. So you have those pods that pass out food, water, sometimes tarps, ice, all depending on what's requested. At the same time, you have our mobile feeding kitchens, our mobile feeding mission, Ranbar, human services team really focusing on sheltering, make sure people nearby have the food. They like to make sure we have hot meals because pods only provide cold meals. With those, those are those longer-term missions that really work well to provide that sense of normalcy to communities. Uh, typically when you have the most hard-hit areas, that's where you see those larger feeding missions. And that way you're able to make sure people have that hot meal. Because you can have a cold meal, but every once in a while you need something hot to make you feel like, hey, I'm still a person going through this whole event. I'm still a person, I still feel things. Um, and then of course, you have those um meals on wheels to take care of those vulnerable population. You have the Red Cross passing out different sorts of um cards, feeding programs to make sure people are able to sustain themselves. Again, feeling like they're that person. So working with uh these ladies to make sure we get those resources out there, whether it's Amy and her team focusing on that human element with human services, and then focusing with Christina and setting up those pods to make sure individuals can drive by and get what they need. Sometimes you have mobile pods, sometimes you have things that are a little more closed off depending on the areas, and then Kaylin's team again focuses on that reporting and capturing to show what's going on. And then we help use that information to decide where we need to focus our uh resources next.
SPEAKER_01I think one of the things that I'm gonna come to you first, Kaylin, because um I remember my time as a cert chief and even my time um as the state coordinating officer. Um I think your team, especially your embedded planners, and I don't I don't necessarily know that people appreciate this. Fuel pods are kind of and when we say pods, I guess I should have said points of distribution. But you know, power, fuel, and and even comms are in that infrastructure. We we we kind of know where those are gonna be at. We know the, let me rephrase, we know the easements, we, you know, we know where that stuff's out on the roadway. When it comes to points of distribution, mass feeding, um the the feeding kitchens and nonprofits and all that, I feel like that's where your embedded planners really, you know, you you can say as a county, we wanna we're gonna have five feeding kitchens. What we don't know is where we're gonna put those until the disaster happens because we just don't know where that's gonna happen or you know, physically where that's gonna happen, what's gonna be the most impacted areas. So maybe you want to talk a little bit about the planning process with those embedded planners, especially in the human services branch, as we start to do that, because I I I really think for the purpose of this conversation, you guys are a lot of unsung heroes on getting that plan down because when I I I I I've been in about two human services meetings when we start talking about mass feeding, and it is like, wow, it it's everybody's got a good idea, and then you got to bring some order to that chaos. And I think that's what you guys are doing is trying to bring that.
SPEAKER_03But really, a lot of it is listening to our voluntary organizations that are down in the field and the local county emergency management agencies that are there getting reports from citizens. They can really identify the pockets within their jurisdictions that have the most need for feeding. Uh, we'll overlay it usually with the power outages maps and the reporting from that to kind of see where they are able to access things and where they have are kind of closed off. A lot of it too also has to do with debris. If the roads aren't clear, if they can't access an area, we'll focus on trying to get a pod over into that area. But all of that has to do with focusing with the people that are on the ground.
SPEAKER_01So communities. So there was a couple of things that Kaylin said there, and I and I want to make sure people picked up on that. Number one, it's local. We were listening to local emergency managers first. Then there's an intelligence-led piece to that, which is we're overlying where the power outages are, where are the road closures. Does it you can sit here and say it makes sense to open a open up a pod at Park A, but if Park A's infrastructure is there is no power, the roads leading into and out of that park are closed, it's not helping the community at all. So there's got to be this intelligence-led kind of methodology to it as well, and that's certainly what your team brings to it. Um Amy. That operation is insane. Because again, as you heard Ian say, it's gonna be a it's gonna be in tandem a group of things that are happening all at one time. Um walk us through your operational side of the house, and then I'm gonna come over to logistics because logistics is just as complicated.
SPEAKER_05Yes. So I mean our our mass care team and human services branch is an amazing group of individuals that leads this effort. Um, so from the operation side, I'm just there to ensure that they have you know what they need to support the communities. But it is what Kaylin was saying is leveraging those partnerships even during the off season, they're constantly um finding new partners, new resources. Um, how can we support each other in order to get those essential commodities out into the field after a disaster? It it really does emphasize what Kaylin said, where those local, those nonprofits, those charities are are working with you know needy individuals daily. Uh and so they understand and even you know houses of worship and you know the religious community understands the needs of their citizens and you know the surrounding areas. Um so from an operational perspective on mass feeding, you know, my job is to make sure that they have places to go working with local emergency management, whether that's working with logistics on uh you know use agreements, um, sometimes we'll just find a parking lot in front of a church, you know. You know, at the end of the day, we're going to get you know life-sustaining commodities there, um, even if we've got to just throw some dirt on the ground and and we'll we'll get it out there because it's it's that important. Um but it's finding who has you know the right commodities. You know, we have you know basic supplies, but you know, there are very individual and tailored needs of the community, uh whether it's you know adult or or senior adult supplies or or infants, you know, yeah, leveraging those um partnerships and resources and getting again the right life-sustaining uh commodities out into those communities that need it the most.
SPEAKER_01No, absolutely. I mean, you even to the point of throwing dirt in a in a we we did that. Um Hurricane Michael, we we got with a private landowner, cow pasture, and we made we made that work because that's what the that community needed. Logistically, as we talk about that land use agreement to prepping that parking lot and getting that ready, uh, you want to talk a little bit about what logistics uh challenges you guys are facing uh when it comes to food and water.
SPEAKER_06Okay, uh yeah, so food and water, we have our commodities at the warehouse, but in addition to that, if we have to replenish those commodities constantly. One of the reasons that I asked you why, and going back to the 52,000 utility workers, one of the reasons I asked you to clarify your questions is because logistics isn't only providing um like space or responder-based camps, it's uh providing mutual aid, such as like, okay, the private sector, they try to um provide their own staging areas, their own responder camps as much as they can, but there are times where it's it's too much for them to handle. We have to assist. So we may have to provide staging areas for food, water, trucks. We may have to actually provide the trucks themselves through through mutual aid. Food and water, we come out of the warehouse, we establish pods based upon uh community needs and county requests. Um, I mean, is there any more you can want to do about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, no, I I just you know the logistics piece of this is just you know, again, it it it is all about distribution. You know, three three million as you talked about the the resources in the warehouse. We had three million uh bottles of water, we had three million three million shelf stable mills, we have hundreds of thousands of baby and infant type uh commodities. But at the end of the day, all of that's gonna go out, it's gonna go into the network, and then we've got to backfill all that stuff back in. And in some cases, you know, I I think in in one year we we put out millions of um you know, tens of millions of of things. So that's a constant, you know, our our warehouse, which I don't want to say sits dormant, it's an active live warehouse, but it goes from you know processing some commodities each week to going to full-blown Amazon mode um in a in a disaster and and then running like that for 30, 45 years.
SPEAKER_06And we have a whole team of individuals that it takes in order to get that done. So and as far as the pods are concerned, like Ian said, we have to constantly monitor the communities as well, because like you said, the economy is drastically affected by a disaster. We want to make sure that the economy heals itself. So we will monitor um the power that comes back and restored in that area, stores that open in that area to make sure that we don't have we're not affecting the economy.
SPEAKER_01I think uh I think something to have a real conversation with um is people need to know that when when the power is back on, if that local Walmart, we call it Big Buck store, if that local Walmart publics, when Dixie Independent Grocer is back up and running, we are going to be constantly having a conversation with that local community about shutting that point of distribution down. Because that realistically, you know, we are not in the business of giving stuff out for free. That is not what government is supposed to be doing. We're supposed to be there supporting and lending a helping hand, doing the things that we need to do to get your infrastructure back up and running. Once we get that power back onto that water restore it in and that big box store can get their trucks back in there, um, that's what we want. That is recovery. We need to get you guys back going to the you want to add anything in that.
SPEAKER_02So one thing I do want to our viewers and listeners to keep in mind is for both logistics and operations and even plans, it's not just one community. When we have a disaster, it does affect multiple counties, multiple parts of our state. So we are really pushing out resources statewide. Yeah, so it's not just doing, hey, one county specifically, it is 67 at one time, everything going on. So we are managing such a large fold that is pretty impressive that you guys are able to manage all that during disasters.
SPEAKER_06There's logistically from the warehouse or from wherever the food and water comes from, but typically it comes directly from the warehouse. It gets pushed out through large uh transportation tactics in order to get it to where you state.
SPEAKER_01No, absolutely. It it it is a it is a feat in and of itself. Um we're gonna go a little bit rapid fire here. We're gonna talk about um uh communications. Um, you know, it's very similar to uh to power. Any anything that's different about communications being it tele uh telecommunications, radio towers, um uh fiber, Comcast cable, you know, uh we'll just say the cable independent cable uh companies, anything that's different there as we look at uh from a logistics planner or a um operations standpoint on on comms?
SPEAKER_06Sure, there may not be any comms.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, com comms is a commodity in my going on today. There's nothing.
SPEAKER_01Right. So I th I think you know that that brings up the challenge of if there is no communication, it just makes it that much harder to do the planning piece, the logistics piece. We do make some, you I know Ian and I sometimes we just make we'll we will make decisions based on assumptions. You know, we make the best possible decision with the information we're getting. And if we're getting no information from an area, and I know that we've had this happen a couple of times um as this team's been together, we just make the assumption that the worst has happened and we're sending the cavalry. Until we hear differently, we're just gonna, you know, we're gonna call it, for lack of a better term, the movie broken arrow, and we're we're gonna call it broken arrows and everything we got over there to help it.
SPEAKER_02It's a lot easier to turn things off than it is to start with. 100%. So you might as well just push as much as you can and let them go, hey, I'm good. Yep. It makes life easier.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that that's absolutely uh true. We it's uh we call that the firefighter mentality. You see flames, you hear bad, you see bad, you're gonna you're gonna get a bad re you're gonna get a I shouldn't say a bad response, you're gonna get a response that indicates a bad situation. Where and and to your point, you know, it's a whole lot easier to turn it off than it is to turn it back on. Um let's go to the last thing, and that's fuel pods. Um, you know, this is something new that Governor DeSantis has taken on, um, has big almost been a a a cornerstone of his um of his administration. I think let's start um again, I'll start with Ian and then we'll go to logistics uh because that that a lot of people don't know where our fuel comes from. And I don't know that we really want to say where it comes from for the purposes of security and all that. We'll just say it comes from about a state. Um so when when we do fuel, um what what's going through your mind when I say, Ian, we're we got three, four ports that are gonna be down and uh we're gonna have to bring fuel in.
SPEAKER_02Well, most people don't know that most of Florida's fuel actually comes from ports, not via any of the what's the pipelines or anything like that. Um so when we do have situations where we have ports down, um the first thought in most of our heads is okay, we have to get more fuel in the state. So we have fuel vendors that help bring things in, and then from there, the overall strategic goal is ideally figure out what the actual problem is. Is it the ports are down, the fuel is the issue, or do you have gas stations that don't have power, don't have Wi-Fi, and that's an easier solution. The goal is to go with the easier solution. We do like the option of pushing towards fixing the gas stations, fixing those local communities, so then that way they can stand back up, put that money back in the communities, and it's a lot easier for everyone to understand just do what they always did.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we w strategically and objectively, Ian and I want to be at gas stations. Um we do not like setting up uh points of distribution for fuel in parks and other uh public infrastructure, um, the environmental concerns, all there's just so many things that come with uh with fuel. I would much rather pump fuel even if it's to to the point of bringing a semi-tanker into a gas station. Gas stations are built to pump gas. Let's get it there. Um and that that's a certainly a strategy that we've had here lately. Um getting getting the fuel, where is it or not, where is it coming from? I've already said we're not gonna say where it's coming from, but let's talk about how it gets here and and and maybe the the life cycle of the fuel in that I don't necessarily know that when when we know we're gonna lose a port or ports plural, like a hurricane Ian uh Ian Helena Milton the volume of fuel that we're putting on the road is uh it's probably a logistical, again, another logistical feat in and of itself.
SPEAKER_06It is it it's millions of gallons. It's millions of gallons. Initially, when we have a disaster, we will prepare and and this is now 80 shop, but we will prepare by um requesting um staging up to like 400,000 gallons of fuel at one location, 400,000 gallons of fuel at another location, maybe a 60-40 moon gas or diesel split or an 80-20, dependent upon what the needs are at that time. Um so it the c the fuel is constantly flowing. And going back to comms, um, you know, we have equipment there that can help with that, uh, like providing Starlinks or like at a gas station with if one of the only reasons maybe they have the fuel in the ground, um, but they can't get it out because they can't use their electronic systems for transactions. We'll provide a starlink for concerts and they can actually get that going again.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we we tr we want to try to solve the problem at the lowest possible level at the root at the root problem. Again, is if it's power to the fuel station, how do we get the power back on, even if that's with the generator? Um if and again, you know, I've got power, but I've got no gas. We'll we'll figure out how to get your gas to your gas station so that you can we can dump it into the tanks. Uh there's no sense in us um trying to do it the hard way. Probably the ones that are hardest for us, and I and I think back to like Hurricane Hermeen um that impacted St. Mark's. And you know, if you've got a gas station that's on the coast and those tanks have been inundated with saltwater intrusion or something like that, that that that that's gonna be a problem. That that's gonna be a a mobile fuel pod tanker sitting in a park somewhere. There's just no if, ands, or buts around it. We that's the only way to fix that because you're gonna DEP and EPA and Department of Agriculture Consumer Service is gonna be spending so much time getting that station back online that you know that that that's real problems. So um anybody want to add anything else on fuels while we're talking about it? I know it's uh I say it's a logistical issue because it, you know, all of that's being trucked in logistically from um a long ways away. And we will uh you know it turns into an operation, but the the backbone behind it is certainly logistical.
SPEAKER_06I think fuels is definitely one of the largest operations that we have to deal with in a disaster, be it from an operations perspective, perspective, and logistical perspective. Um just take if we were to have a channel block, we have a plan to deal with that as well. If we have islands that are inaccessible, we have a plan to deal with that as well. So I mean there's just so much involving fuel, and fuel is is definitely one of the heaviest guidelines.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and and and and Christina brought up the um the diesel versus uh motor gas, but you know, she also deals or I know I say she, um she and the infrastructure uh section underneath Amy deal with aviation gas, Jet A, um you name it, um, LNG, CNG, uh all of those uh all of those fuel products. We're not just talking about a fuel, uh a type of fuel product, because again, our AV gas and our Jet A fuel are all coming in via pipeline that's from the ports. And if they're there we can't get planes out if we can't, you know, get fuel out.
SPEAKER_06So and then when all that when all that fuel comes in here, we have to have a place to stage all that fuel. So logistics will assist in order to find a staging area location for them that is actually suitable for fuel storage. So there's a lot of problems.
SPEAKER_01And and this and this is I I think probably of the things that we talked about today, fuel for us is the one that's most evolving. Because I I I feel like every single disaster we're finding out a new and a better way to do something, um, even to the point of staging and and some of the things that you know just driving up and down the road. I say I you know, Grant and I say, Oh, we could actually stage fuel here. This is a perfect place to stage fuel and things like that. So uh this is one of those areas that is uh constantly changing. Anybody want to have the last word before we start the closeout?
SPEAKER_02Caitlin, you were gonna say something.
SPEAKER_04I was just gonna say we talked about like the worst case scenario of these fuel scenarios, right? Whenever the consumer can't get fuel, but we're also increasing the demand for fuel during disaster response tenfold every time. Like all the power restoration crews, all of the base camps, all of the generators, all of the shelters, like our fuel consumption skyrocketed whether or not there is a shortage.
SPEAKER_01That's a very valid point.
SPEAKER_06And then it has to get back to the community in order to heal the economy so we can get back to work and get to the store. It's all based on the right.
SPEAKER_01Trust me, we operationally, logistically, planning-wise, sh uh objectively, and then strategically, we want you to get your food, water, power, fuel, communications back up and running as fast as possible. I want to thank our guests for joining us today uh and sharing their experiences and insight into Florida's response mission on those four things that the governor wants us to be successful at. To work uh I'm sorry, the work of the state emergency response team is truly a team effort. And I think you've heard a little bit about that here today. It takes strong partnerships, dedicated professionals, and a commitment to serving Floridians before, during, and after the disaster. And thank you to everyone attending the third annual Florida's Training for Emergency Management Symposium here in Florida in Orlando. Uh events like FTEM help ensure that we continue to learn, improve, prepare for what challenges we're gonna have ahead of us. And uh many of those are obviously eccentric to the topics we talked about today. As always, thank you for listening to the Watch Office Podcast. I'm Kevin Guthrie, the executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. I want you to make sure that you like, subscribe, and share this episode. Until next time, stay prepared, stay informed, and we'll see you on the next episode of the Watch Office Podcast.