February 12, 2025 • 10 mins
Last year many seasonal residents of Manatee County watched helplessly from their summer homes as Tropical Storm Debby, and Hurricanes Helene and Milton did a number on their properties. Many snowbirds aren't sure how much hurricane prep they're allowed to do before heading north. Manatee County is holding a Q-and-A sessionFriday (2-14) aimed at those folks. We speak with Manatee County Public Safety Director Jodie Fiske.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordenbird Beyond the News. Of course it's February as we
record this, but hurricane season is never far away in Florida,
and people always have questions and issues that they have
to deal with. We certainly know that here in the
area that we are speaking in after having had close
(00:21):
encounters with depending on the area, two or three different
hurricanes in twenty twenty four and in Manatee County where
they had to deal with hurricanes Debbie, Helene and Milton.
They're offering an opportunity for people to ask their questions
before storm season, particularly people who aren't here year round.
(00:42):
We have Jody Fisk on the line with US Public
Safety director for Manatee County to talk about that event
that's coming up on Friday the fourteenth. Jody Fisk, welcome
to Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Now you're putting on this event that's coming up on
the fourteenth, and it is kind of specifically aimed I
guess at seasonal residents as well, although I guess everybody
can participate. What prompted you to add a session during
the winter months when everybody's not thinking about hurricanes, hopefully
not as much as we do. In season.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So one of the things that we always preach, especially
from our Emergency Management Division, is that preparedness is year round.
That you know, you can never be too prepared, you
can never ask too many questions. But historically those preparedness
events really take place when hurricane season starts, and so
(01:35):
we wanted to really just practice what we preach. If
preparedness is year round, we need to be holding seminars
and public outreach events year round for our residents to
get their questions answered. And after this last historic storm
season that we had, we know there's a lot of
questions that are out there. So our Emergency Management Division
(01:57):
was already doing year round events. You know, hoas can
reach out to them, condo associations, civic associations, and they
can go at request. We wanted to do a more
broad outreach to all county residents to allow them to
come and ask their questions, meet our folks, get to
know the people that are leading these teams through all
of our hurricane responses.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Now, I have to think that for those people who
are seasonal residents, it must have been very scary in
a remote sort of way to look at the news
and see what was being reported about Debbie and Helene
and Milton and not being on the ground and not
knowing exactly what was going on in their communities and
their properties. Did do you recall where there are a
(02:40):
lot of inquiries from out of the county from seasonal
residents last year about that kind of concern there were, And.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
That's actually something you know, as technology has advanced over
the years and people have the ability to really remote
monitor their homes from ring doorbell cams or security cameras
that they have an app that they can look into,
there were people that would call and say, you know,
I'm watching my ring cam and my boat is coming
(03:09):
unhooked from the dock and somebody please go out there
and secure it. Or I'm watching the water is coming
into my house. You know what do I do? And so,
as technology is advanced and our seasonal residents had the
ability to literally keep an eye on their homes, we
do get those questions. And when you get into the
(03:29):
recovery phase, not everybody has the ability to leave their
primary residents where they live out of state, or in
some cases it's their secondary residence that they go to
to come home and deal with all of that and
so they're relying on real time information and trying to
get information.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
About their home, and sometimes that involves a neighbor who's
a year round resident who kind of helps them out.
What are some of the strategies, What are some of
the things that you are recommending for seasonal or part
time residents as far as, for example, getting their properties
prepared before they leave to deal with any sort of
(04:08):
impact from hurricanes, given that we had so many different
types of impacts from the three very different storms that
affected Manatee County last year.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So one of the questions that actually residents in my
neighborhood have asked is, you know, if I put up
my storm shutters before I leave, am I going to
get a violation from code enforcement? Or am I going
to get in trouble? Questions like can I put my
sandbags out ahead of time? Or what can I do
(04:37):
to coordinate with my neighbors to secure my home? Or
am I going to be held liable if something comes
off of my porch and causes damage? So these are
all questions that people, you know, they really don't necessarily
think about it before they pack up and leave, but
it certainly is on their minds. When they're watching a
(04:59):
hurricane roll in and thinking, oh my gosh, you know,
my house isn't prepared.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
What are some of the obviously you're going to be
covering many of the topics that we've all been dealing
with in terms of dealing with FEMA, in terms of housing,
in terms of dealing with and reporting damage from flooding,
dealing with insurance companies. What are some of the other
areas you might also be bringing up at this event.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So we're actually going to start with the presentation to
really present to people so that they understand that what
is happening for a storm. You know, we're not all
coming to the EOC just before landfall and hunkering down
and waiting for the response. We want there to be
an understanding that this team is really tracking that storm,
(05:46):
sometimes seven days out. We are already coordinating with our
regional partners, We're coordinating with our state partners, our weather
service partners. We're very excited to showcase some new technology
that we've acquired here with a company called Peregrine to
allow us and we are the first DOC in the
state to be utilizing this platform for this purpose, real
(06:10):
time data gathering to assist us not only in the response,
but in the immediate recovery, and really just to explain
what it is that's happening in this building and what
our county staff are doing to help try to keep
residents informed, safe and help them begin the recovery process
right away, and.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Just emphasize this is taking place Friday morning, February fourteenth,
Valentine's Day in the Emergency Operations Center at the Manatee
County Public Safety Center, which is in Bradenton on forty
seventh Terrace East, twenty one oh one, forty seventh Terrace, East, Bradenton,
three four to two oh three. If you're entering that
into your GPS or your phone and so people will
(06:51):
actually be there and you'll actually be able to show
them and address their questions really on the site with
the systems and show showing off and showcasing the systems
that you're going to be using to deal with the
storms that come, although we hope none come in twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yep, we are. We are very excited. The part of
the preparedness, especially one of the things that you know,
we also want to make sure that we're targeting is
some of our seasonal residents, do you come down here
because they may have an elderly loved one that does
live here year round. We want to make sure that
they know how to prepare those their loved ones for
the storm. If they have a special need and need
(07:30):
to be on a special needs registry, make sure they
know how to do that. Make sure they know how
to sign up for the alerts. You know, there was
questions asked last year about emergency services and when do
emergency services have to stop running as the storm is
making landfall? And what happens if they call nine one
one and our responders can't get out because of the wind.
(07:50):
How does that process work. There's a lot of things
that you know, you you watch social media and you've
always got people on social media that think they know
and they may have a detail correct here or there,
but they don't have the full picture. And what we
want is for our residents to have the opportunity to
hear it directly from us so that they do have
a full picture, they do have a full understanding, but
(08:12):
that they also know who to reach out to before
the storm comes and right after the storm hits for
you know, what do I do? And we can help
them with those preparations. We are a county that you know.
I was a with the state Response Emergency Response team
with FDEM prior to coming here. I responded in over
(08:33):
half the counties in the state, and I can tell
you that Manatee County departments are just an example, a
shining example of how all of the departments work together.
Our Community and Veteran Services teams go out and do
the human needs assessments. Our public Works and Utilities teams
that go out with our fit teams and manage the
storm water. There's so much interweaving that that happens with
(08:57):
the departments. It can get confusing for or residents who
have a question and don't necessarily know where to go to.
We want them to know that we are the ones
to come to. We will help direct you with those questions.
We will answer your questions. Nothing that we're doing in
here is top secret, and historically eocs have always just
been kind of a mystery. Nobody really knows what's going
(09:17):
on in the building. They see the pictures and there's
hundreds of people in a room and nobody knows what
they're doing. And we want to start pulling the veil
back on that for our resident.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And that's coming up Friday the fourteenth, nine to eleven am.
An open house with coffee and donuts at the Emergency
Operations Center at the Manatee County Public Safety Center on
forty seventh Terrace East in Bradenton Friday morning. Once again
nine to eleven. You're going to be their public safety Director,
Jody Fisk, and also Emergency Management Chief Matt Myers and
(09:46):
other representatives from Manatee County, so a lot of people
they're available to answer questions. Yes, sir, and once again
nine to eleven Friday morning at the Manatee County Public
Safety Center. Jody Fisk, the public Safety Director of Manatee County,
thank you very much for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Thank you for helping us get this message out there.
Gordenbird Beyond the News. Of course it's February as we
record this, but hurricane season is never far away in Florida,
and people always have questions and issues that they have
to deal with. We certainly know that here in the
area that we are speaking in after having had close
(00:21):
encounters with depending on the area, two or three different
hurricanes in twenty twenty four and in Manatee County where
they had to deal with hurricanes Debbie, Helene and Milton.
They're offering an opportunity for people to ask their questions
before storm season, particularly people who aren't here year round.
(00:42):
We have Jody Fisk on the line with US Public
Safety director for Manatee County to talk about that event
that's coming up on Friday the fourteenth. Jody Fisk, welcome
to Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Now you're putting on this event that's coming up on
the fourteenth, and it is kind of specifically aimed I
guess at seasonal residents as well, although I guess everybody
can participate. What prompted you to add a session during
the winter months when everybody's not thinking about hurricanes, hopefully
not as much as we do. In season.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
So one of the things that we always preach, especially
from our Emergency Management Division, is that preparedness is year round.
That you know, you can never be too prepared, you
can never ask too many questions. But historically those preparedness
events really take place when hurricane season starts, and so
(01:35):
we wanted to really just practice what we preach. If
preparedness is year round, we need to be holding seminars
and public outreach events year round for our residents to
get their questions answered. And after this last historic storm
season that we had, we know there's a lot of
questions that are out there. So our Emergency Management Division
(01:57):
was already doing year round events. You know, hoas can
reach out to them, condo associations, civic associations, and they
can go at request. We wanted to do a more
broad outreach to all county residents to allow them to
come and ask their questions, meet our folks, get to
know the people that are leading these teams through all
of our hurricane responses.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
Now, I have to think that for those people who
are seasonal residents, it must have been very scary in
a remote sort of way to look at the news
and see what was being reported about Debbie and Helene
and Milton and not being on the ground and not
knowing exactly what was going on in their communities and
their properties. Did do you recall where there are a
(02:40):
lot of inquiries from out of the county from seasonal
residents last year about that kind of concern there were, And.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
That's actually something you know, as technology has advanced over
the years and people have the ability to really remote
monitor their homes from ring doorbell cams or security cameras
that they have an app that they can look into,
there were people that would call and say, you know,
I'm watching my ring cam and my boat is coming
(03:09):
unhooked from the dock and somebody please go out there
and secure it. Or I'm watching the water is coming
into my house. You know what do I do? And so,
as technology is advanced and our seasonal residents had the
ability to literally keep an eye on their homes, we
do get those questions. And when you get into the
(03:29):
recovery phase, not everybody has the ability to leave their
primary residents where they live out of state, or in
some cases it's their secondary residence that they go to
to come home and deal with all of that and
so they're relying on real time information and trying to
get information.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
About their home, and sometimes that involves a neighbor who's
a year round resident who kind of helps them out.
What are some of the strategies, What are some of
the things that you are recommending for seasonal or part
time residents as far as, for example, getting their properties
prepared before they leave to deal with any sort of
(04:08):
impact from hurricanes, given that we had so many different
types of impacts from the three very different storms that
affected Manatee County last year.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
So one of the questions that actually residents in my
neighborhood have asked is, you know, if I put up
my storm shutters before I leave, am I going to
get a violation from code enforcement? Or am I going
to get in trouble? Questions like can I put my
sandbags out ahead of time? Or what can I do
(04:37):
to coordinate with my neighbors to secure my home? Or
am I going to be held liable if something comes
off of my porch and causes damage? So these are
all questions that people, you know, they really don't necessarily
think about it before they pack up and leave, but
it certainly is on their minds. When they're watching a
(04:59):
hurricane roll in and thinking, oh my gosh, you know,
my house isn't prepared.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
What are some of the obviously you're going to be
covering many of the topics that we've all been dealing
with in terms of dealing with FEMA, in terms of housing,
in terms of dealing with and reporting damage from flooding,
dealing with insurance companies. What are some of the other
areas you might also be bringing up at this event.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
So we're actually going to start with the presentation to
really present to people so that they understand that what
is happening for a storm. You know, we're not all
coming to the EOC just before landfall and hunkering down
and waiting for the response. We want there to be
an understanding that this team is really tracking that storm,
(05:46):
sometimes seven days out. We are already coordinating with our
regional partners, We're coordinating with our state partners, our weather
service partners. We're very excited to showcase some new technology
that we've acquired here with a company called Peregrine to
allow us and we are the first DOC in the
state to be utilizing this platform for this purpose, real
(06:10):
time data gathering to assist us not only in the response,
but in the immediate recovery, and really just to explain
what it is that's happening in this building and what
our county staff are doing to help try to keep
residents informed, safe and help them begin the recovery process
right away, and.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Just emphasize this is taking place Friday morning, February fourteenth,
Valentine's Day in the Emergency Operations Center at the Manatee
County Public Safety Center, which is in Bradenton on forty
seventh Terrace East, twenty one oh one, forty seventh Terrace, East, Bradenton,
three four to two oh three. If you're entering that
into your GPS or your phone and so people will
(06:51):
actually be there and you'll actually be able to show
them and address their questions really on the site with
the systems and show showing off and showcasing the systems
that you're going to be using to deal with the
storms that come, although we hope none come in twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Yep, we are. We are very excited. The part of
the preparedness, especially one of the things that you know,
we also want to make sure that we're targeting is
some of our seasonal residents, do you come down here
because they may have an elderly loved one that does
live here year round. We want to make sure that
they know how to prepare those their loved ones for
the storm. If they have a special need and need
(07:30):
to be on a special needs registry, make sure they
know how to do that. Make sure they know how
to sign up for the alerts. You know, there was
questions asked last year about emergency services and when do
emergency services have to stop running as the storm is
making landfall? And what happens if they call nine one
one and our responders can't get out because of the wind.
(07:50):
How does that process work. There's a lot of things
that you know, you you watch social media and you've
always got people on social media that think they know
and they may have a detail correct here or there,
but they don't have the full picture. And what we
want is for our residents to have the opportunity to
hear it directly from us so that they do have
a full picture, they do have a full understanding, but
(08:12):
that they also know who to reach out to before
the storm comes and right after the storm hits for
you know, what do I do? And we can help
them with those preparations. We are a county that you know.
I was a with the state Response Emergency Response team
with FDEM prior to coming here. I responded in over
(08:33):
half the counties in the state, and I can tell
you that Manatee County departments are just an example, a
shining example of how all of the departments work together.
Our Community and Veteran Services teams go out and do
the human needs assessments. Our public Works and Utilities teams
that go out with our fit teams and manage the
storm water. There's so much interweaving that that happens with
(08:57):
the departments. It can get confusing for or residents who
have a question and don't necessarily know where to go to.
We want them to know that we are the ones
to come to. We will help direct you with those questions.
We will answer your questions. Nothing that we're doing in
here is top secret, and historically eocs have always just
been kind of a mystery. Nobody really knows what's going
(09:17):
on in the building. They see the pictures and there's
hundreds of people in a room and nobody knows what
they're doing. And we want to start pulling the veil
back on that for our resident.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
And that's coming up Friday the fourteenth, nine to eleven am.
An open house with coffee and donuts at the Emergency
Operations Center at the Manatee County Public Safety Center on
forty seventh Terrace East in Bradenton Friday morning. Once again
nine to eleven. You're going to be their public safety Director,
Jody Fisk, and also Emergency Management Chief Matt Myers and
(09:46):
other representatives from Manatee County, so a lot of people
they're available to answer questions. Yes, sir, and once again
nine to eleven Friday morning at the Manatee County Public
Safety Center. Jody Fisk, the public Safety Director of Manatee County,
thank you very much for joining us on Beyond the News.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Thank you for helping us get this message out there.
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