r/EmergencyManagement

Hi, all! I’m looking for something that only rarely exists: online volunteer (or research!) opportunities related to and in the field of emergency management. I’d love a good way to fill some of my free time while I live rurally and work full time (for the summer) in science education.

I have bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science, and I’ve gone back to school with an interest in emergency management. I was an administrative lead working in Covid response in 2021 & 2022. I have done some odds-and-ends temping in insurance, as well. More recently, I got associate’s degrees in environmental science and biochemistry. I have research experience biology and chemistry labs, and I’ve volunteered at an animal sanctuary.

Open to any and all ideas that would help me build skills and give some of my time to this field!

I do volunteer online already, supporting research efforts on Zooniverse.

In case it’s relevant: I’m applying to grad school programs in earth system science, geography, and natural resource management. I’m prioritising programs that also have either an emergency management program or a law school because the social sciences are still my one true love.

Thanks, all!

basically the title. I was interested in being a fema reservist if roles for less experienced folks with just degrees and some experience opened up maybe in the dsa cadre. but i see that fema is firing more than it hires so it doesn't seem worth it to do fema corps or assume a higher level role will be available with them when i'm ready.

where else would you look for similar early career/ on ground work?

Hey everyone,

​I work in mass-assembly venue operations and am designing an abstract, site-specific boardroom wargaming sandbox. The goal is to move staff away from passive slide decks and into active behavioral readiness by mapping live venue operations onto the FEMA NIMS / Incident Command System (ICS) framework.

​The engine uses a D20 probability check resolved against a dynamic Incident Difficulty Rating (IDR) scaling from Level 1 to 5. The core success metric is modeled as:

Success check: 10+IDR

An unmitigated Level 1 routine event requires rolling an 11+, while a Level 5 systemic crisis pushes the baseline target to 15+, introducing severe task saturation for the team's unified command positions (Incident Commander, Operations Lead, Communications Director, Liaison Officer).

​I am currently tuning our scenario decks and want to ensure the difficulty scaling mirrors real-world emergency dynamics rather than arbitrary gaming tropes. I've broken down my operational tracking variables below and would value your feedback on how to classify real-world events into these thresholds:

​IDR Level 1 (Localized / Routine): Governed by pre-staged single resources; local stability, routine event friction.

​IDR Level 2 (Escalating / Multi-Department): Threat vector changes zones or expands, requiring inter-departmental handoffs.

​IDR Level 3 (Life-Safety Emergency): Immediate hazard to attendees, automated life-safety overrides trigger, crowd panic thresholds activate.

​IDR Level 4 (Task Saturation): Communication loops degrade, radio channel saturation occurs, dynamic resource depletion manifests.

​IDR Level 5 (Systemic Crisis / Actuarial Collapse): Cascading unmitigated failures, structural/environmental degradation, heavy media and misinformation waves multiplying chaos.

​My questions for exercise designers and practitioners:

​Inject Classification: What real-world incidents or tactical injects do you feel explicitly separate a Level 3 event from a Level 4 or 5? For instance, does a widespread power grid failure during a massive arena event sit at a baseline 4, or do cascading variables (like weather or crowd size) determine that jump?

​Tipping Points: In your experience managing live operations or high-fidelity drills, what are the specific unmitigated variables that act as the definitive tipping point—causing an incident to rapidly breach span-of-control limits and spin into an absolute collapse state?

​I'd love your insight on how you conceptualize complexity scaling to make these tabletop vectors as authentic as possible

When people think about major events, they usually think about crowd control or security, but events the size of the World Cup require coordination across transportation, healthcare, emergency response, utilities, communications, and venue operations.

For those who've worked large-scale events, emergencies, public safety, or incident management: What risk keeps you up at night?

• Transportation disruptions?
• Extreme weather?
• Power outages?
• Communications failures?
• Public health incidents?
• Something else entirely?

What do practitioners see as the biggest vulnerability that the public rarely notices?

so i'm sitting here going through specs for this new deployable comms package we're supposed to get, and the manufacturer's rep keeps calling me back asking about incident command flow and i'm like dude, that's literally my job to figure out on-site, not yours

but then i actually looked at the trailer layout they sent over and ngl it's kind of... specific? like they have dedicated spots for mapping tables, separate power runs for radios vs computers, even a little fold-out bunk area that i definitely didn't ask for but now i want

anyway the whole thing started because i found a company idk i don't remember the exact name but they had these renderings that actually made sense for once. i was just trying to get a ballpark figure on lead times and ended up in a whole conversation about satellite uplink redundancy which honestly i know nothing about

point is, does anyone else feel like half these vendors just slap together a box on wheels and call it a command center? because i've seen some real garbage out there. meanwhile i'm over here trying to explain that we need to be able to see a whiteboard from more than 2 feet away but somehow that's a custom modification

maybe i'm just tired. been doing this too long

I don’t think most people realize how messy incident coordination can get. The older I get, the more I notice that everyone talks about the people on the front line, but almost nobody talks about the logistics behind them. Whether it’s a wildfire, a hurricane, or even a huge community event, somebody has to keep track of who’s where, what resources are available, which roads are closed, who’s communicating with whom… that part fascinates me for some reason. All of this chaotic flow of information usually gets synchronized inside a mobile command center, which acts as the literal brain of the operation on wheels. I ended up reading about how incident command is organized, and it made me wonder how much of it comes down to planning versus just experienced people adapting on the fly. For those of you who’ve worked in emergency management or large-scale event operations, what was the biggest surprise once you were actually doing it? Was there something that looked simple from the outside but turned out to be way more complicated in real life? I feel like the coordination side of emergency response doesn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserves.

Hey everyone! I know some of you are more active in the field than others so I wanna get some input. My county is looking to purchase a mobile command trailer in the relative near future. We would like it to be between 24’-34’ foot and a bumper pull. What manufacturers have you guys worked with and had experiences with? Thanks!

It’s 0089, but it’s the weirdest 0089 ever made.

Who said you can’t be an EM and have a firearm lol 🤣🤣

I'm 18 and considering emergency management as a career. I like disaster planning and coordinating systems more than direct response. I have about 25 college credits already and am considering an associate degree. For people currently working in emergency management, what would you recommend I do in the next 2 years to become employable?

I have a full time day job and have observed the EHP cadre tends to be deployed for months and months. I want to deploy but I wonder if a different cadre typically has shorter stints. I’ve deployed a couple times and feel like the other folks in the group thought it was crazy that I only wanted to be there a month. What cadre has the shortest typical duration?

Good day! I’m looking to learn more about volunteering in this community.

A friend of mine who works in the EM field suggested my background (ICF Master Certified Executive Coach) could help bridge a massive gap in command posts and incident management teams.

He said that prep and response doesn’t fail because of missing supplies or equipment. But because leaders get overwhelmed, decisions pile up, and communication breaks down.

During the critical period right after a disaster or activation, he mentioned that my strategic skills would be especially useful if I were embedded.

He could see me right beside the Incident Commander or Section Chief who’s making decisions. Asking sharp, targeted questions that cut through the clutter and prevent more exhaustion. Helping them focus on what actually matters, making better decisions and bringing everyone together faster.

It’s common for executive coaches to shadow leaders in other industries and provide coaching in the moment or when requested. He said he knows that a leadership performance advisor may not exist as a standard role, much less in a volunteer capacity. But that if I work on completing FEMA courses and other training, a leader who wants me to be present in the command tent and observe during operational periods / an active disaster would be allowed to have me there as a specialist with critical skills needed for the incident.

Thought I’d start with inquiring for your perspectives and experiences here. Does this kind of volunteer need exist in your area or could my qualifications be helpful to your efforts?

With gratitude for your service and appreciative of the guidance!

Is entering the field of disaster and crisis management a good option? I'm very hesitant to enter this field or currently popular fields like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and robotics engineering. What advice would you give me based on your experience in the field? And if you were in my place, what would you specialize in?

I am an EM for a one man county EMA in a rural area (population less than 20,000). We often get a public outcry for cooling shelters/centers in the summer in heat waves, for warming shelters/centers in the winter during deep freezes, etc. They call county commissioners. They post on social media. They call 911. We open a shelter. Nobody comes.

This has happened time and time again.

There has recently been more public outcry that one of the towns in my county has decreased the number of community storm shelters available (closing three buildings no longer owned by the town) but increasing overall capacity (one town-owned building was designated as a storm shelter and holds more than the three that were closed combined). Citizens lost their minds; they claim the town needs even more shelters, one in every neighborhood. Here's the problem with that... NOBODY GOES TO THE SHELTERS ANYWAY.

How do we get this across to the citizens?

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/serious-chemical-accidents-are-rising-in-the-u-s-and-getting-more-dangerous-e94fab53

From an emergency management perspective, one thing that stood out to us is how quickly industrial incidents extend beyond the initial hazard. They become questions of worker accountability, public communication, responder coordination, equipment readiness, operational continuity, and community impact.

Every incident is different, but they all reinforce the importance of being prepared before an emergency happens.

For those involved in emergency management or industrial response, what do you think organisations still underestimate when preparing for chemical or industrial emergencies?

Im so tired of deploying in this ancient retrofitted RV our county insists is "perfectly fine" for extended incidents. the AC cuts out if you plug in more than two laptops, the generator sounds like a dying lawnmower and the whole thing smells faintly of mildew and old coffee stains

Grant writing season is coming up and I am basically begging my director to let us ask for something that actually works in this century. Saw some state guys roll up to an exercise last month with one of those custom mobile command trailers and I almost cried from jealousy tbh. they had actual working comms racks, decent lighting, and space to turn around without elbowing the logistics chief in the face

its just frustrating knowing how much smoother ops would go if we weren't fighting our own equipment half the time. anyway just venting. hoping the brass finally approves the budget this year so we can retire the mold-mobile.