A great scene in Christmas Vacation, has Uncle Lewis through a combination of his age and inattention, burns the Griswald Family tree to the ground. While on film this scene is entertaining, in real life, things are not quite as amusing. Between 2011 and 2015, U.S. fire departments responded to an average 200 home fires that started with Christmas trees per year. These fires caused an average of 6 deaths, 16 injuries, and $14.8 million in direct property damage annually.[1]

One of the most famous portions of Christmas Vacation is when Clark Griswald “Over decorates” his home with the proud announcement that he has strung “250 strings of lights totaling 25,000 bulbs.” Prior to getting the lights up, we see him trying to get the lights untangled and up on the house. While not a laughing matter in real life, Clark’s fall from the ladder was a hilarious bit within the movie. Ladder falls rise considerably during Christmas due to lights going up.

Christmas is just days away and while I am not normally a Christmas movie guy, I do watch a couple throughout December. My favorite Christmas movie is the seasonal favorite, National Lampoons, Christmas Vacation. While I enjoy this movie as pure entertainment, it is also a valuable tool for the Emergency Manager. Christmas Vacation is more than just a good time; it is a lesson on what not to do when getting ready to celebrate the holidays. If you have not seen the movie, s

For some organizations, conducting regular emergency exercises comes with the territory. If you work in with Hazmat or in an industry where your main function is to protect people and property, like fire and law enforcement, you are probably well versed in the value of preparing for an emergency. For many organizations, however, the potential dangers are not as obvious and safety exercises are relegated to the mandatory annual fire drill. This approach may be setting your

I recently returned from an emergency deployment to Puerto Rico. The strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in 85 years had ravaged the island a little over 2 months before. I was there to continue the feeding and resource distribution program that The Salvation Army as well as other groups had begun immediately following the storm. After stepping off the plane, I was shocked by what I saw. Many organizations were pulling up stakes and were ramping down their work as they

When I was working through graduate school, I was told that research matters regardless of the area being studied. The hard truth was, without quality research, we just had an opinion. Research matters and recent developments in a research program has allowed first responders after an emergency to help those most in need first. The system referred to as the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) allows for the leveraging of social vulnerability research for evenhanded emergency

Hanging on the wall of many Emergency Operations Centers (EOC’s) is a list of the priorities within an emergency. Generally, when an emergency occurs, the first priority is always life safety; the second priority is the stabilization of the incident, and finally they work on protecting property. I was reading articles around the current wildfires in California and I came upon one that showed me that we might need to add another step in there.[1] As the fires burned near Ven

Those involved in emergency and disaster work operate in environments that impose high stress, often referred to as compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is defined as a state where the person who is helping traumatized and hurting people becomes so preoccupied with those people by re-experiencing the victim’s traumatic events that they begin to suffer as if they experienced them personally. Think of it as someone who is helping a neighbor carry firewood. As you come alon