Program Spotlight: The Florida State Watch Office

Have you ever wondered who in Florida keeps track of all of the hazards that impact its citizens?  The Florida State Watch Office (SWO) is tasked with doing just that.  Collocated in the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), their mission is to keep the Governor and his State Emergency Response Team (SERT) in the know on what emergencies and disasters are occurring within Florida.  Staffed 24/7/365 they monitor the weather, local and national news, social media, FEMA reports, and answer phone calls from counties and the public to accomplish this mission.

The SWO takes between 8,000 and 9,000 incidents a year.  They include simple fuel spills, radiological emergencies, damages from severe weather, even rocket launches from Cape Canaveral.  A detailed list of hazards that are called in over the course of the year are in the table below.  The information for these incidents is generally given to the SWO from a county Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).  Sometimes they even get information from the general public. The collected information is logged into an incident tracking system and then disseminated to local, state, tribal, federal, and private partners to aid in their response actions.

Hazards Monitored by the State Watch Office
Natural Hazards	Technological Hazards
Hurricanes	Terrorism
Tornadoes	Mass Migration
Flooding	Radiological
Wildfire	Hazardous Materials
Severe Thunderstorms	Special Events (2012 Republican National Convention, Super Bowl)
Severe Hot and Cold	Transportation Accidents (Rail, Aircraft, Motor Vehicle, Marine)
Earthquakes	Law Enforcement Incidents

The State Watch Office operates with three different levels of staffing:

Operations (Ops) Officers: Operations Officers answer the phones, log all of the given information, manage the SEOC calendar, monitor news and weather, and conduct communications checks with all of our partners.  At least one Ops Officer is in the SWO at all times.

Duty Officers: Duty Officers are responsible for making sure that the SWO has adequate staffing, training staff, backing-up the Operations Officers, and completing special projects for the SWO and Operations Section.  One of the Duty Officers is on-call at all times to help assist operators after-hours.  They are ready to come to the SWO to assist with SWO operations and brief Division leadership within 30 minutes of being called by the Ops Officer on-shift.

Watch Officers: Watch Officers are the managers of the SWO.  They approve timesheets, schedules, off-site training requests, back-up the Duty Officers, and manage large projects for the Operations Section as well as the rest of the Division.  Their role in interfacing with the rest of the FDEM is crucial to our overall mission.  During a disaster they are Deputy Operation Section Chiefs.  They assist the Operations Section Chief when the SEOC is activated and ensure that resources requests from the counties are fulfilled.

When a hazard gets so large that the SWO is overwhelmed with resource requests and information the Director and the State Emergency Response Team (SERT) Chief activate the SERT.  The SWO is the entity that notifies all of Florida’s response partners that they are required to report to the SEOC to support its activation.  Once the SERT is operational, the SWO returns to monitoring the rest of Florida and ensures other counties have the support they need in their normal day-to-day operations.  We had the opportunity to ask Axel Runtschke, one of the SWO’s Duty Officers, a few questions about the office.  Axel is a Duty Officer with the State Watch Office and has worked for the Division for two and a half years.

Q: What is a typical day in the SWO like?

A: There is no typical day.  Some days we only get a few phone calls.  We are just monitoring news, social media, completing projects and conducting staff training.  Other days we have our phones ringing off the hook with storm damage reports, wildfires causing evacuations, or even a Nuclear Power Plant conducting an unannounced communications drill with us.  When I come into work I never know what I am going to do that day.

Q: What is the most frequent hazard phoned into the SWO?

A: Our frequent flyers in the SWO would definitely be severe weather or petroleum.  We are the call center for the Department of Environmental Protection so if anything hazardous is released we get the phone call.  With weather, the state is so large and experiences almost every type of weather there is.  Just about every day some sort of severe weather threatens the state.

Q: What is the most important tool that you have within the SWO?

A: The most important tool that we have is our staff.  We have some of the most sophisticated equipment there is but without our dedicated, highly motivated, and trained staff it would just collect dust.  They are invaluable in making sense of all of the information we get on a daily basis and passing it on to our partners.

Q: From your time in the SWO what is the one incident that sticks with you?

A: The North Florida Freezing event we had last year.  I was the operator that got the call that I-10 was being closed from Alabama to Lake City.  The rest of the day we had reports of all of the roadways that were being closed by counties because they were unsafe.  It was a very out of the ordinary shift!

In our next spotlight we will cover the State Emergency Response Team.  If you have any questions on the Division, want a particular topic covered, or would like more information please contact us at dem_external_affairs@em.myflorida.com.

Employee Spotlight | Kristen Kerr, Recovery

Twice a month, we shine the spotlight on a FDEM employee to introduce our followers to the exceptional men and women serving Floridians before, during and after a disaster. Today, it is our pleasure to present Kristen Kerr.

Q: Share a little bit about yourself, where are you from? Where did you graduate from?

“I grew up on a barrier island. I was born and raised in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla. I graduated from Florida State University in 2013 and am currently in my second year of the Masters of Public Administration program. I am an FSU Seminole through and through. When I am not working or in class, I love watching FSU football, playing disc golf, painting, grilling, reading, kayaking and really anything that involves the water”.

Q: What made you interested in emergency management?

“I took a few undergraduate and graduate courses that were offered by Florida State’s Emergency Management and Homeland Security department. I have always been interested in international relief and international development which originally led me to the public administration program. I really enjoyed the classes and applied for a position at DEM in the Bureau of Recovery. Since beginning here four months ago, I have learned a lot about FEMA’s Public Assistance Program and appreciate what it does and has the potential to do to help restore local communities.”

Q: What is the most valuable thing that you have learned so far in your new role at DEM?

“Working as a team is the best way to get tasks accomplished. I began working in Recovery at a busy time, and learned that everyone’s efforts have an impact on one another. What cannot be accomplished alone can certainly be accomplished with the help of the person sitting in the office next door. Most of everything I have learned in this short time has been at the assistance of the great coworkers surrounding me.”

Q: Fun Fact: What is your hidden talent?

“I tend to sing every song off pitch which makes the Mariah Carey songs I choose for karaoke very interesting”.

FDEM receives EMAP accreditation for the third time in a row!

For the third time in a row, the Florida Division of Emergency Management earned accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP). Florida is the first state to receive three accreditations!

What is EMAP?

The Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) is “an independent, non-profit organization, that fosters excellence and accountability in emergency management and homeland security programs, by establishing credible standards applied in a peer review accreditation process”. (EMAP Mission Statement)

Through its Emergency Management Standard, EMAP assesses the applicant’s emergency management programs to measure compliance for the 64 standards required for accreditation.

In addition to the state-level accreditation that Florida received, five Florida counties received accreditation independently. The emergency management programs in Duval, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Orange and Volusia counties are compliant with the standards established by EMAP in order to receive accreditation.

EMAP accreditation is valid for five years. Emergency management programs begin the reaccreditation process at least a year in advance. In order to maintain accreditation, the programs must maintain compliance with the EMAP standards.

Florida’s accreditation is one-step in a larger program. The Division is committed to working with local emergency management programs to achieve accreditation.

“Meeting the EMAP standards will certainly challenge any emergency management agency seeking accreditation, and satisfying those objectives requires us to closely examine our practices and processes,” noted FDEM Director Bryan W. Koon. “Reaccreditation is an important exercise for the Division.  The process provides an opportunity for the entire Division to set the highest standard for ourselves, that the standards are consistent, and we are accountable in the future”.

So what’s next for EMAP in Florida?

The goal is that in the next five years for the 67 counties in Florida to receive accreditation through EMAP. Currently, Florida has 17 counties working on the accreditation process including Escambia, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Madison, Taylor, Putnam, Marion, Citrus, Sumter, Lake, Seminole, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Osceola, Collier and Broward.

Madison County is currently working on the accreditation. When Madison County receives the accreditation, it will be the first small county in the country to earn accreditation.  Currently, the smallest jurisdiction accredited nationally has more than 250,000 residents.  Madison County population is less than 20,000 residents.