CAL Fire PIO SUV

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CAL FIRE San Diego Unit's Public Information Officers now have a new mobile information center. The main task of Mike Mohler, one of CAL FIRE's PIO's, is getting word out to the public and media when there is a fire or hazard. Mohler tells FDNNTV.com's Deanne Goodman what types of apparatus and equipment they are currently using.

CAL FIRE's PIO's use SUV's, and one addition to their vehicles is command consoles. In the past, command consoles were only used by Incident Commanders but are now something the information function of the fire department uses as well. Public Information Officers can pull up to the scene of an emergency, whether it be hazmat, a traffic accident, structure fire or wildfire and set up directly with the Incident Commander. Not only can they use the consoles to gather their information, but they can also use the rear of the vehicles to do things such as conduct press conferences and gather information about evacuation orders, according to Mohler. With this equipment, the Public Information Officer can get the correct and proper information out to the public in a quick manner.

Public Information Officers now mark the outside of their vehicles notifying the media that an officer is inside. According to Mohler, in the past, when the media pulled up to a scene, they were always able to see the PIO helmet, but they now know that there is an Information Officer in the vehicle. CAL FIRE did a large study with the marked SUV vehicles, and Mohler says the markings have made a significant difference.

CAL FIRE's PIO vehicles are outfitted with Tough Books. Not only can they get information on the call that they are going to, but they can update their Twitter site, blogs and other websites.

Social media plays a large part in the distribution of public information. Many of CAL FIRE's followers are gathering information from social media before they turn on the news channel or look in their newspapers. Mike Mohler claims that CAL FIRE sometimes receives 23,000 hits a month on Twitter, and that is just taking into account CAL FIRE San Diego unit's page alone.

Up until a few years ago, Twitter was not even a word people used. Now it has become a household name, and many fire departments, including CAL FIRE are using it to distribute information to the public.

Join FDNNTV.com's Deanne Goodman for an upcoming feature on CAL FIRE's Social Media capabilities.




Author:Deanne Goodman - FDNNTV.com, Renée Marquart - Text