PCSD .... What's the Word Episode 22: Ready, Set, Go and Fire Preparedness

Due to the growing wildfire in our region, we’ve made the decision to release Episode 22 of PCSD...What’s the Word? ahead of schedule.

In this special episode, we sit down with the key players who helped coordinate response efforts during the Bighorn Fire, one of the most significant wildfires in Pima County history. Their insights are more relevant than ever.

We cover:
✅ Lessons learned from pastwildfires
✅ What it takes to coordinatean effective emergency response
✅ How YOU can be ready withthe County’s “Ready, Set, Go!” evacuation program

Preparedness saves lives. Listen now and make sure your family knows what to do if evacuation becomes necessary.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Welcome to another episode of PCSD.
What's the word? We are talking ready, set, go.
We are talking fire safety. Lot about wildfires happening in
Arizona here right now. Yeah.
And you know this, Kevin, from our time in the news is it's not
fire season. It's year round fire season
unfortunately, especially with all these wins that we've been
having. So we want to make sure that you

(00:25):
guys are ready to go in the event of a fire, and we want to
kind of take it back to 2020. That's when we had the Bighorn
fire. And we have the people that were
right on the front lines of thatwith coordinating and
everything. So we have Lieutenant Jason
Dowdy, he is from the Pima County Sheriff's Department, and
we also have Matt Mcglone, he isfrom the Pima County Office of
Emergency Management. He's a community outreach

(00:47):
coordinator. So thank you guys so much for
being here. Thank you for having me.
Thank you. Lieutenant Daddy, tell us about
first of all, we'll talk about the fire.
Flashback to 2020. Did you get a call?
What happened? Yeah.
So in the beginning of June, we were first made aware that a
fire had sparked up in the corner of National Forest,
either by Mount Lemmon Fire or the National Forest Service.

(01:09):
So the Sheriff's Department relies on a good working
relationship there to be able tomaintain awareness and and
support any efforts that they have.
And so it was, I think June 5th was when that fire sparked and
that was the first word that we had initially.
It didn't have any immediate impact on sheriff operations
because it was burning in in undeveloped lands on the in the
National Forest. And so when that happens, are

(01:32):
you like keeping an eye on things, getting daily updates or
what's happening? Yeah.
So when this started, I was the the district commander in
Foothills. And so the Coronado National
Forest and Mount Lemmon are primarily in the Rincon
District. So most of the information was
flowing there to into the RinconDistrict.
But I want to say maybe four or five days later is when they

(01:56):
were taking a look at the winds.And then where is that pushing
the fire? And that's when they started
saying, OK, this, this has the potential to encroach into
residential areas in the Foothills District along like
the Skyline Corridor, so the North End of of metropolitan
Tucson there. And so when we got that
information, that's when we started taking a look at, OK, we

(02:16):
need a little bit more close to closely coordinate with the fire
service. And really we rely on them and
their forecast to determine, OK,what if any action is going to
be required. And so we started messaging
public information to make sure that that was flowing both from
the Sheriff's Department as wellas from the National Forest
Service, just making sure that the public is aware, hey,
there's the potential. There was no immediate danger at

(02:38):
that time. And as this story played out, we
ended up not having any fire encroach into residences in that
area. But that was the trigger to say,
hey, we need to start planning for if we have to go into an
evacuation or take other actions.
That was the time for planning. Had you been through anything
like this before? Had you had any experience, you
know, preparing for a wildfire like this?

(03:00):
So as a commander, this was the first large scale incident.
I've been part of other fires inArizona where the Sheriff's
Department offered support both as a deputy and then I had roles
as sergeants. But this was the first one where
I had that role as a commander to integrate with the incident
management team so that when they developed their objectives
and strategies, and those involve the law enforcement

(03:20):
capacity, that's where they would then reach out to us and
say, hey, here's what we'd like to accomplish.
Please make that happen. And then it's up to the
Sheriff's Department to gather those resources up.
And that's, that's one of the biggest challenges, right?
Because most of the emergencies that the Sheriff's Department
responds to a relatively short in duration, right?
Like whether it be a domestic disturbance or a vehicle

(03:42):
collision, there are things thatwe can go and try and stabilize
relatively quickly. But this fire incident that
lasted for more than a month really is a taxing draw on the
resources because we have to continue to maintain our ability
to respond to 911 and all the other emergencies that are
happening while still putting resources towards making sure
that the the fire area is clear.And then when we eventually did

(04:04):
get to evacuations that we then are responsible for maintaining
security in those areas and thatthat requires a pretty
substantial commitment of resources to maintain those Rd.
closures and then to patrol in those areas.
And we'll talk about the coordination efforts a little
bit later in the show. But when you're talking from a
law enforcement perspective, what are some of the most the

(04:24):
highest priorities for you? What are you saying?
OK, we need to do XYZ immediately.
Yeah. So priority number one is, is,
is priority of life, right, To make sure that we're not going
to have any people in danger of losing their life.
Second to that is going to be the concerns about property.
If we can, if we can contribute in any way that we want to make
sure that people aren't going tobe suffering financial loss in

(04:46):
the case of a wildfire, there's not much that we can do in
regards to that. Most all of your suppression
efforts and the things are goingto mitigate the fire is going to
be coordinated through the the Forest Service and then the fire
response. But for the Sheriff's
Department, it's that priority of life and saying, hey, we need
to know right now is there any danger to people?
Because that would be what we would act on 1st.

(05:08):
What was the decision? I know you guys are at?
Where you guys at? What's the hotel on, on Oracle?
So yeah, yeah. How did that become the Hub and
how did that come about? Yeah.
So we implement incident commandsystems, right, And then utilize
incident management teams. And those are purposely
scalable, right? So I talked a moment ago about

(05:29):
that the Sheriff's Department might respond to a collision.
Well, the incident management team for that might be 1 deputy
who is able to go there, finds no injuries, gets the roadway
clear, restores the flow of traffic.
But that incident command systemcan scale up to match the needs.
And so in the first several days, this really was a
Sheriff's Department scramble tomeet those needs, seeking the

(05:51):
information on where's that firegoing to go.
And then we went in to go and knock on doors to make people
aware. So because that's in addition to
the messaging that we're doing over social media and over the
local media outlets, we went into the neighborhoods that were
most likely to be impacted and we're knocking on doors, trying
to have face to face contact with those residents.
And if we weren't able to do that, we were putting door
hangers to make them aware that,hey, there's a, there's a, a

(06:14):
situation brewing in the area. And so that command post at the
El Conquistador wasn't stood up until, I don't know exactly the
timeline, you know, trying to recall five years ago, but that
that was established once a larger incident management team
was deployed. And so that was, that's when you
get resources from all over the state and sometimes outside of

(06:37):
the state. Talk about ready Set go that
program and how that impacted things for the Big Horn Fire.
So ready set go is an initiativethat's really pushed by the
Office of Emergency Management and becomes a tool for any
messaging to the public. And it's just trying to make it
in its most simplest form, understood, of what are we
trying to get the public to do. And so ready is just saying,

(06:59):
hey, we want you to always maintain a steady readiness for
any emergency. So you should have some
materials gathered and kind of know, hey, if something were to
happen, where would I go? Set means, hey, this is
predictable. It's going to come into your
area. You need to have like take those
materials that you had gathered,have them ready to go in the
vehicle that you're going to useto get out and then go is the
is. That's the trigger to say, hey,
now is the time that you need toenact an emergency plan that you

(07:21):
came up with and get out of the area for your safety.
I want to go back to the door todoor thing, so where deputies
actually like walking door to door, you know, trying to make
contact with those folks. They were, yeah.
And so, I mean, some of the challenges, right?
I mean, as a concept, you say, hey, let's just go do that.
Let's go make contact with people.
But some of the challenges were just developing a map that we

(07:43):
could make a plan for. OK, Hey, Kevin, if you're if
you're tasked with that, which houses are you going to go
check? And then which houses is the
next deputy going to go check? And then we had to come up with
a way to track, OK, here's the results of those checks.
So you if you were to make contact with somebody and spoke
face to face, great. That's what we were trying to
achieve. But if not, are we going to go
back and try and make contact ata later time?

(08:04):
Or are we just going to rely on that door hanger and then the
social media? But yeah, it's a labour
intensive. When you think about the vast
area that was impacted by the Bighorn fire, there were a lot
of homes that we had to get to do.
You ever calculate how many hours you spent working and and
covering that? So I don't have that.

(08:25):
And you know, one of the things that we look at, you know, kind
of as a take away from any incident, one of the constants
is that financial component. Because again, when we're in the
middle of this, in the middle ofsomething at the beginning, it's
difficult to forecast how long it's gonna last or how large the
incident might manage. And again, we're in that mindset
of, hey, the SharePoint wants tostabilize this as quickly as

(08:46):
possible so that we can get backto normal operations.
And so that was one of the challenges in this case is going
back and trying to track what hours were worked and put
towards the fire versus the ongoing operations of the
Sheriff's Department. But now I haven't gone back and
calculated that information. What do you think the work week
look like? So I, I can speak for myself as,

(09:08):
as the, the Sheriff's Department, essentially as the
liaison task. That incident management team, I
mean, they were, you know, 12 to16 hour days with the overnights
trying to take it opportunities to either recreate the maps that
we were going to need for the next day or taking in the
information of, of what was going to be the action plan for
the next day. Then coming back early enough to

(09:29):
brief the resources that are going to have to do those
things. And then having that day while
they're out there accomplishing those goals.
And then wash, rinse, repeat dayafter day.
And that's, that's that cycle that everybody involved.
I mean, I'm speaking just from my personal experience, but the
incident management team up at El Conquistador was doing that.
The firefighters out in the field were operating on that
same tempo. All of our deputies down in the,

(09:51):
the, the residential areas. We're on that same kind of
repetitive cycle of long hours, day after day.
So it's what about a month you said?
Yeah, it, you know, until they were finally done mopping it up
and saying that it was completely, it was a little more
than a month. I want to say that that because
it took the monsoon rains comingin before they finally had that

(10:13):
fire extinguished. And I want to say that was
towards the end of July and the fire sparked on June 5th.
When you're talking about it, I just remember, you know, at
night and it looked beautiful right at night.
It was something so horrific andso scary and, and destructive.
But at night it like illuminatedthe Catalinas.
And that's when I think back to the Bighorn fire.
That's what I remember. This was one of the biggest

(10:36):
fires that Pima County had seen in years.
How did ready set go? You kind of explained what it
was, but how did that system help in your efforts?
So you're right, this was a large incident.
And so when we talk about how large it started affecting the
foothills area, but then quicklyswung around to the western side

(10:56):
of the Santa Catalina Mountains that involved Oro Valley
jurisdiction. And then from there it continued
N until it got back into the county's jurisdiction affecting
Catalina. And then eventually that fire
blew N until it was affecting areas up in Pinal County.
And so to answer the question, it allowed us to have that
consistent messaging, right? And so that no matter where

(11:17):
people were being affected, theywere receiving the same
messaging. And once they learn to
understand what do those 3 statuses mean, we could deliver
that message to the same and with the same meaning no matter
where it was. What kind of experience and
knowledge did you gain from a working such a big disaster?

(11:37):
So this incident really highlighted the benefits of
having working relationships with other agencies throughout
the area. It really highlighted the
competence and the abilities of the deputies and the sergeants
that we were relying on to carryout these tasks.
But that that relationship with the other agencies really was a
benefit in this case, right? Because when this moved into Oro

(11:58):
Valley, it's nice to know peopleup there by first name and for
them to know you when they're receiving a call where you don't
want to have to take that time during an emergency to explain,
hey, here's who I am, here's what I'm doing, here's what I'm
calling you. Whereas if you have that
relationship and then they know,hey, if you're calling, we need
to get down to business and figure out what's going on.
And that carried through even with the incident management
team. I was lucky enough to previously

(12:20):
be a search and rescue supervisor for this department.
And in that capacity, I got to make acquaintances and form
relationships with people through the Department of
Emergency Management and Military Affairs here in
Arizona, through various fire departments in the region.
And so those were all the peoplethat were coming as management
team to, to resolve this fire incident.

(12:41):
And so when you walk into the ElConquistador once that's scaled
up and there are literally hundreds of people in there
performing any number of functions, and I lost count.
But I mean, I know there was like a dozen different Pios at
any one time in any of those given rooms.
And so to be able to, again, have those relationships and
know where do I need to go in this rather chaotic scene?
Where can I go to get information?

(13:02):
And, you know, are they going totrust any information that I'm
giving back to them? And so that was really
highlighted for me in this case was just needing to have those
relationships ahead of time so that you can leverage them
during the emergency. I remember covering it and
having those daily briefings. You know, there was like the
morning briefing and then there was the midday or the afternoon

(13:23):
briefing until from the outside looking in it, it seemed like
you guys were all on the same page.
I remember being right outside of Catalina State Park with the
maps there and there was, you know, the designated PIO and
then you there was Facebook Lives and that was very helpful.
So is there anything that you would have done differently
looking back five years later? There's no specific, you know,

(13:46):
there's nothing to highlight. I mean, after every incident, we
go back and try and see, you know, what could have been more
efficient? Or could we have accelerated
some timelines or maybe we weren't a little bit too quick
on others. But no, there's, there's no,
again, I mean, time kind of steals the details here, right?
And so as I'm thinking back overfive years, there's nothing that
really highlighted is, hey, thiswas a, there was a failure here

(14:09):
that we need to make sure it never happened again.
Kind of looking back on it though, one of the challenges
that we have is just implementing that, that incident
command structure, right? And, and we train on it and
we're familiar with it and law enforcement in general is, is
aware of that. But the fire service is where
they're applying it day after day on essentially on every
incident that they go to. And so I guess that would be one

(14:31):
of the takeaways. And I'm not sure how we would
accomplish that, right? Because I mean, they're getting
the benefit of, of implementing it on real scenarios.
I don't know that we could replicate that in training, but
that would be one of the things if there was some way for us to
be a little bit more fluid with that, that management system.
Again, the Sheriff's Department utilizes it.
It's just getting the repetitions to make it, you

(14:54):
know, second nature. And kind of for the people
listening who might not be familiar with what that incident
command system is, talk a littlebit about like kind of what it
is and then how you incorporate different agencies because it is
a massive undertaking. Yeah.
So really it's an initiative that came out of FEMA.
So on a national basis, they started taking a look and
saying, hey, some of these largescale incidents where you just

(15:16):
have people coming in from all different areas, how do you
coordinate that? And so the National Incident
Management System or NIMS, what was established to create kind
of a skeleton template to say, hey, where are these people
going to fit in? And so you have positions
designated like incident commander.
So you know overall who's responsible for that, right?
And that can that can be the overall incident commander.

(15:37):
But then the, the agencies, likeI said, for a while on this
incident, I was operating as theSheriff's Department incident
commander, but I still fit into the organizational structure of
ICS underneath that overall incident commander.
And then you have the PIO officer that you mentioned
before. There's heuristics positions
because somehow we have to get all of the materials.
Somebody had to make the arrangements to get El

(15:58):
Conquistador available. The firefighters out in the
field need water sources so thatthey can do their water drops.
There's a lot that goes into it behind the scenes in order to
provide that messaging that makes it look like, hey, this
was a rather simple task. That's the goal.
But man, these are so complex. There's so many moving parts.
In southern Arizona in particular, we are lucky that

(16:19):
there are a lot of very capable first responders and the Bighorn
Fire really highlighted that when we saw them doing the work
that we trust them to do in PimaCounty, in the residential
areas, there were no structures lost and there were there was no
loss of life. Incredible.
When you hear this could be a pretty bad fire season, when

(16:41):
does law enforcement start getting ready for this?
Yeah. So you guys touched on it
earlier that this is a year round potential, right?
I mean that with depending on the rains that we get, the
weather conditions and then that's why we're always urging
people to be conscious of the sparks that they're putting out
there. The Bighorn fire was sparked by
lightning. So hey, that one of the natural

(17:02):
causes, but unfortunately lots of them are, are man made and
that's where the Sheriff's Department is trying to be
prepared for this type of scenario at any time.
And that's our ask of the publicis to have those emergency
supplies, have that plan of if something were to happen to your
house, where would you go? And that's not just in something
large scale like a fire, but what if there's an extended

(17:25):
power outage in your neighborhood?
What would you do? If that's in August when we have
110° temperatures, where are yougoing to go?
You know the local governments are gonna provide cooling
centers, but that's intended as a stopgap or a last ditch
effort, right? The hope would be that you're
able to reach out to either friends or family or have the

(17:46):
means within your own family to have relocate somewhere and get
through that immediate emergency.
Or if there was a car crash, right?
I mean, it doesn't happen very frequently, fortunately, but
sometimes. What if a car crashed into your
home? What would you do for the period
of time that it would take to rebuild and make your house
where you could move back into it?

(18:07):
So not trying to get everything at the last second is probably
not best practice. Right.
No, I mean, we, we established, I talked earlier about the
relationships. That's a big part of it, right?
Or to, to be able to know Matt down at the Office of Emergency
Management or for him to know meor he talked about Oral Valley
and their concerns. So if something were to happen
now, well, I, I have that relationship with Chief Riley up

(18:29):
there. And so she could have that
opportunity to get information that she might need.
What are some of the biggest challenges of law enforcement
and fire, and how can the publichelp you first responders do
your jobs? So really just responding to
that messaging, right and, and, and heeding any of the warnings
that are given. So in the Bighorn fire, there

(18:50):
were a couple of days lost earlyon where they couldn't do air
attack operations to suppress the fire because people were
deploying drones illegally in the area.
And when that happens, they can't put the aircraft in for
fear of of colliding, of a collision.
And so I understand that the public is curious and that they
want to know what's going on. And the Sheriff's Department

(19:11):
works very hard to get that information out via public
information or social media sites or working with local
media. We want to provide the
information, but we also just need people to understand that
there are areas that quite frankly, are not safe to be in.
And so you need to heed those the follow the boundaries and
just make sure that you're not encroaching on the emergency
operations that need to take place to resolve that incident.

(19:34):
What was it like coordinating with the Pima County Office of
of Emergency Management? Any of the organizations here
locally, including the Office ofEmergency Management, what a
resource, right? Because I talk about trying to
maintain those connections in that network from my position,
But that ultimately is their primary function is making sure
that they, they can operate as that hub and provide information

(19:57):
resources that that any organization might need,
including the Sheriff's Department.
And so I, I thought it was a great resource to have and and
again was glad to, to know the people that are working over
there. And with that, we are going to
take a quick break because when we come back, we are going to
check in with Matt Mcglone over at the Pima County Office of
Emergency Management. He's the community outreach

(20:18):
coordinator and talk about that coordination effort with the Big
Horn fire and the coordination moving forward in the event of
an emergency here in the future.Yeah, and he's got a great voice
and we can't wait to hear it. So you're listening to PCSD?
What's the word? Hello, my name is Elliot Lyle.

(20:39):
I'm a school resource officer for the Pima County Sheriff's
Department. As a school resource officer,
one of our primary goals is safety on campuses just like
this one. That's why this summer we are
joining law enforcement from around the region to hold four
different week long active shooter preparedness workshops.
Active shooter situations are unpredictable and evolve

(21:00):
quickly, so the goal is to trainas many people as possible to be
prepared mentally and physicallyto respond.
If you are a teacher or school staff member with a school
e-mail address, you can sign up for this free training.
Just scan this QR code for the dates, locations, and how to
sign up. Together, we can keep our school
safe. Welcome back to PCSD.

(21:20):
What's the word? We are talking ready, set, go.
We are talking fire safety, wildfires and great conversation
as we head towards that time of year.
Unfortunately, yeah, with those ones picking up.
So we kind of just wanted to pick the brains of the people
who were part of the team that was in charge of the Bitcoin
fire and sort of the coordination efforts that go
through it. So we want to bring in Matt

(21:41):
Mcglone. He is the community outreach
coordinator with the Pima CountyOffice of Emergency Management.
Matt, thank you so much for being here.
Thank you so much for having me.It's great to be here with you
guys. Yeah.
Thanks so much. So Matt, just tell us about how
long have you been over there and what are your
responsibilities? I've been with the Pima County,
the Office of Emergency Management, for about 6 1/2
years. A big part of my job is lays on,

(22:04):
so I do a lot of community outreach talk with a lot of
first responder agencies and other supporting Park Community
partners and then the public as a whole because that's what
we're here to do is protect the people.
So it's a great partnership between Pima County Office of
Emergency Management as well as the Sheriff's Department and all
the other great partners we havehere in Pima County.

(22:25):
How does your team coordinate with the Sheriff's Department in
the event of of a natural emergency and in the case of a
wildfire in Pima County? Well, on the emergency side, our
job is very simple. We work for who the incident
commander is. So Pima County Sheriff's
Department is often the incidentcommander for emergencies that
happen in Pima County, sometimesregardless of jurisdiction.
And we're able to support them in primarily it's a messaging

(22:50):
when it comes to large scale emergencies.
So here talking today about the Ready Set go program, that
that's a great program that's endorsed by all the sheriffs in
the state of Arizona as well as the state of Arizona.
And that's the, that's the language we speak when we're
talking emergencies. So we're, if there's some, if
there's an evacuation that's going to be happening regardless
of what the emergency is, that'show we get that information out.

(23:12):
And it's a very simple system and it's a very clear system.
In the past it may have not beenthat, but now we're, we're
everyone's very confident and, and feels pretty good about
making sure that we've, we're able to understand that message
delivery system as well as the public who's been very positive
on it because it, it, it takes out the indecision and there's

(23:32):
the guesswork, isn't there? So that's what really changes
things in IT that saves lives when we're talking about
emergencies on especially large scale.
How important is getting that message out there to the public,
whether it's during the emergency or even like being
proactive about it? Well, we're very fortunate.
We utilize the Pima County's emergency messaging system, My

(23:52):
Alerts, that's what, that's the delivery system that we utilize.
The Sheriff's department's ReadySet Go program.
And it's, it's been a partnership we've had for
several years and it and it's been very effective, not just
through wildfires, but other types of evacuations.
And it just makes it safe not just for the people involved,

(24:14):
but also for the deputies when they're out there.
And that's a big part because wewant everybody to get home.
Is this something if people are listen, they should they have
that on their phone if they livein Pima County?
Yeah, Pima County My Alerts is avery simple system to sign up
for. It's it you're, you're starting
with a, we have a hashtag where you can utilize that.

(24:37):
I'm not very good at technology.So I used to call a hashtag a
pound sign, which I guess is notthe right terminology, but I'm
getting much better. And if I can do it, it's going
to be I'm, I'm kind of a good test bed for that.
So you can also sign up on websites.
Many of the county websites havelinks to that page to be able to
do it. And there's also Flyers, old

(24:58):
fashioned Flyers that sometimes you'll will have out outreach
events because we do a lot of public outreach as well with the
Sheriff's Department and other first responder agencies.
And it, it just, we want to makesure that it, that we guessed
that net as far as possible because we're only going to
bother you if there's an emergency.
We're not going to tell you stuff that you don't win.
I get a lot of stuff on my phoneI don't want, but this is one of

(25:20):
those things I do. And it's very helpful to where I
can also put in my other family members so I can put their
locations in. So if something that maybe it's
not affecting where I live, but it's affecting where another
family member is, I, I can know that they may need assistance.
So if they have to evacuate for some reason, if the Sheriff's
Department is issuing an evacuation far away from where I
live, but I have family there, Icould open my house up to family

(25:42):
or friends that may need a placeto stay.
So that's real important to me as a as a member of the
community. And in an event of an emergency,
will only the people who signed up for them get them or you guys
have a ability to kind of put a radius on?
So that's a wonderful question. The the details are are are very
simple as well. It's it's only going to be the
area that's affected because we don't want to bother.

(26:03):
People have very busy lives. They don't need another bother
if if they don't necessarily have to hear it.
So a lot of people may never hear about an incident.
And that's the great job that our first responder agencies
here in Pima County like the Sheriff's Department do.
Is it a lot of the times things are handled and you never hear
about it And they're, they're fixed before you drive through
that area or before you are working on it on, you know, at

(26:26):
your job in, in that part of Pima County.
And it makes a big difference. We usually draw a the boundaries
as tight as possible. So it's not only messaging a
certain area, but we do have theability to hit all of Pima
County as well as help out otherjurisdictions as well.
Great resource. At least you know that they'll
they'll be getting that message.Absolutely.
I love the alerts where you can like find out if your family

(26:50):
members are in. That's awesome because if you
have an older person in your family, not technology savvy,
hey, Grandma, Nana, Tata, whoever, hey, there's something
going on. I can, you know, I can help you
out. Absolutely.
That's really cool. What can people, the public, do
to prepare for any major emergency, whether it's

(27:10):
flooding, wildfire, what what, what should they do?
Well, and, and that's where the ready Set go program that the
Sheriff's Department is sponsored for quite a while is
very valuable because it starts off with ready.
What is ready? Well, ready is what we should be
at every time of the day. So ready is making sure that
you've got a go kit, basically a, some stuff that you need and

(27:32):
you only, you know what you need.
Everybody needs water, food, butsome people need medication,
some people need maybe an extra go kit to take care of an
animal. They have, you know, those of us
who have animals, especially large animals, you know, it's
our responsibility to care for them as well.
So my go kit may look different than somebody else's because I
need to take care of not just myself, but also some animals.

(27:56):
And that's the that's the ready part.
The ready part also is, is beingalert to there's an issue.
If I see smoke, obviously I'm going to be I'm going to be
ready to move if need be. But more importantly, when you
get to the the set part, that means that there's something
coming up my way. So I may want to take action and
leave before the Sheriff's Department issues and

(28:16):
evacuation. So I may want to take off at at
the set part. But when they go has been issued
out, that's when it's time to go.
Not time to ask questions. It's time to put your plan
together. And part of that plan is
grabbing your bag and knowing where you want to go.
It shouldn't be a surprise because that's that's that's
where it increases the danger for yourself and also increases

(28:38):
the dangers for others because you may be placing the first
responders, IE our Sheriff's Department deputies in danger of
having to come and rescue you and when they might be able to
help somebody else that also needs assistance.
Who was in charge of making the call of putting people in ready,
set and go? It's $1,000,000 question.

(28:59):
It is, and it's a very easy one.In Arizona, primarily the the
incident commanders. So whoever's in charge of an
emergency and but for evacuations, those are completed
through the Sheriff's Departmentin each county.
So in our case, Pima County Sheriff's Department makes the
bulk decision on when an evacuation.
They don't do that in a vacuum. And I can let the Lt. talk a

(29:22):
little bit about that because there's they take a lot into
account before they make those and they talk with a lot of
different partners. We stand by to assist that man
as well as others. But they, they've got a, they
got a big job to do to make thatdecision.
So when it comes to the evacuations, the Sheriff's
Department is the one that delivers that message and it's

(29:42):
determined and necessary by the incident management team.
And just realize that if you receive that that evacuate
message, part of that message istelling you, hey, we need you to
get out because the situation isso dire that you are in imminent
danger. And you need to understand that
if you don't leave, emergency responders may not and probably
will not be able to get back to you if you need help after that

(30:05):
emergency order has been given. Did you see that in the case of
the Bitcoin fire with people notwanting to leave?
So there were some people that decided to shelter in place
essentially, and went against the advice of the incident
management team. And again, we had to make note
of where those people were located.
But the risk that those people are taking is that if that fire

(30:28):
had encroached on their home, the resources may not have been
able to get back to help them atthat time.
And that's part of the consideration.
The incident management team isn't going to order evacuations
with any light regard. They take that very seriously.
If we're going to come and ask people to be displaced from
their home, it is based upon solid information that that is
absolutely necessary. And so the majority of people

(30:50):
understand that and we certainlyappreciate that.
But that goes back to the question of what can the public
do to assist first responders isrealize that once once you
receive that message, it's basedon information that makes it
necessary. Walk us through the coordination
of resources to handle these wildfires in the event of, I
know we've already kind of seen some in the Cochise County area

(31:11):
and unfortunately, and I've beensaying this over and over with
these winds that we've been seeing and the dry conditions,
it's certainly a possibility. So what?
Walk us through that coordination of resources.
From the sheriff's farm perspective, right, we would
leverage our relationship with OEM when we need things, right?
They become the hub when we tellthem say, hey, we have this
incident going on and because ofthat we need AB and C and then

(31:34):
they become a resource to try and get those things in place.
But as far as like coordinating those resources, it, it really
starts with whoever that incident commander is
identifying what are the objectives and what are the
strategies? How are we going to achieve
whatever, whatever needs to be resolved?
And then, and then that team is going to work together to figure

(31:55):
out, OK, well, in order to do those things, we need these
particular resources. And then it really comes down to
the operations chief, right? When we talk about the structure
of ICS, there's that incident commander, there's an operations
chief, there's logistics who's going to get the things.
Operations chief is the one who who puts them into action.
And on the during the day when they're out there doing the

(32:15):
tasks that have been assigned tothem, it's the operations
section that is managing those resources and making sure that
they're having the effect that was intended.
And then as that day winds down,operations is going to feed
information back into the command structure with planning
and logistics to say, hey, here's the results of what our
our plan was for today. And if they need to change that,

(32:37):
do we need to add additional resources or maybe do we need,
can we pare down right? Because while we're managing
this emergency, there might be wildfires burning somewhere else
in the state. And so we need to make sure that
it's a measured response that matches what we're actually
facing. What the Lieutenant said and,
and it is a very that was that was perfect from the Emergency

(33:00):
Management standpoint, from pastexperiences, it could be a lot
of different stuff. Could be vehicles, could be
water trucks, could be leveraging water trucks from
Pima County or some of the otherlocal jurisdictions could be
information. We're so tied to the computer
and data information these days that sometimes we're, you know,
we used to be people in gear. Now we're providing information,

(33:23):
you know, that the sheriff's problem come back with, hey, we
need to find out these things. Contact the following people.
We don't have time because they don't have the sheriff's problem
doesn't have unlimited resources.
And so they use their team. Everyone is our customer.
And so when that customer asks, hey, I need to get the following
information reference this. That's part of what we do.
So we research that provide thatinformation so that the sheriff

(33:46):
from can feed that back into thecommands ICS command structure
for that incident and make better decisions to keep people
safe and safe property and and make sure that we can get back
to normal as quick as possible. And Lieutenant Dowdy, you talked
about this, but Matt to you, what from the Emergency
Management perspective, what sort of things did you take away

(34:08):
from the Bighorn fire moving forward to to other emergencies
in the future? Well, that's that's a really
easy question. It's always communications.
And when I say communication sounds a little bit like radios
could be sometimes it is becausetechnology fails.
We're very fortunate here in Pima County.
We have PC Win, the Pima County Wireless Integrated Network, and

(34:30):
it's a it's a great system, but it's not perfect.
So sometimes it is radios. We may need to speak with them
and their leadership to adjust some stuff so we have better
communications. But a lot of it is just on large
scale incidents, especially whenyou bring in help, you bring in
people from outside your area and they don't know to use the
word lay of the land. They don't know how you know

(34:51):
something might work here or they're not familiar with the
terrain. And that's where communication
really comes in. And it makes it so much easier
when you're working with folks to exercise those muscles.
And you're going to be able to get your job done so much better
if you're able to switch up and give a delivery in a way where
someone might experience, might have experienced it differently

(35:11):
where they came from and basically speak their language
and you know, from their experiences and their knowledge
base. And that's why all of us, it's
so it's so important to keep polishing those communication
skills. And I think that's probably the
biggest one we learned. The other one is preparedness.
We, we preach preparedness to everyone in the public, but also
ourselves, because things like this, we were talking about the

(35:33):
Big Horn fire that just popped up and it was a lightning strike
that a lot of folks didn't thinkwas going to be a big problem.
It was a really big problem. So it's, it's making sure that
you're vigilant. And that's that's what we strive
to do for sure. I think another advantage that
the Office of Emergency Management provides is just
having a core group of individuals that's part of that
team that gets a lot more exposure on a more regular basis

(35:56):
because they're, they're not just supporting the Sheriff's
Department, they're supporting other entities in, in the
region. And that's what I was
referencing earlier, where the fire department is a little bit
better versed at applying some of these ideas that we're
talking about because it gets used more often.
And, and so at the Sheriff's Department, which is a very
large organization, I was taskedwith this particular incident,

(36:16):
but there could be another one tomorrow and somebody else in
the department would be tasked with it.
Well, internally I'll be a resource for them and anybody
else in the department will put together.
But they also get the benefit ofof being able to work with Matt
and his crew who know some of the nomenclature.
They know other people throughout the state.
Or where are they going to get those resources from where, you
know, in from the Sheriff's Department perspective, we just

(36:39):
know we need a thing, but you might not know who or where or
how and. That's so important because it's
not all of us can know everything and that's why it's
it's truly A-Team sport and, andit just, that can't be
overstated and and that's how weshould all treat it.
Is there anything that we forgotto ask to either of you that you
want to include about emergency preparedness, wildfire season,

(37:01):
anything like that? I just appreciate you showcasing
it because it's an important thing that people don't get to
hear about a lot of the the really great work that the
Sheriff's Department does and others.
And by putting it out there, I'mvery proud I do.
I talk a lot to a lot of people,a lot of different agencies
through my liaison duties, but also outreach.
And there's still people out there that think that nothing

(37:22):
ever bad ever happens here. I want to move in next to the
next door to those people. But, but I, I, I take that as a
badge of honor that there's a lot of people, a lot of great
people that I work with from a lot of different agencies like
the Sheriff's Department that solves these problems where
they're, they don't get bigger, they don't cause more problems
for more people, save lives, protect property.

(37:44):
And that's that's important to me.
Expanding on the what we want people to be prepared with,
that's where you get like the 72hours is kind of the bare
minimum, right? I mean, the recommendation would
be medications and things, hey, plan for a week if not longer.
But essentially that 72 hours isjust to bridge that gap of like,
well, how long would it take youto get a new prescription filled
or, you know, if you need food and water and have no other

(38:07):
source, that's kind of that starting point.
And then the My Alerts has a website that I'm sure we can
link to, to get people to sign up for that, because that is an
excellent tool to be able to getthose more location specific
alerts versus, you know, an incident that might require that
emergency alert system broadcastwhere you see the banner across
the bottom of the TV. Well, that loses some impact

(38:27):
because people are the the majority of people that receive
that. It has no effect on them.
And so that's where we're talking about wanting to be more
specific with those alerts so that if you get it, it probably
has some effect on you. And message fatigue is such a
real thing. There's actually studies people
have done pH DS on it. And that's some of the training

(38:47):
and experience that we've gone through in the past.
And, and the Lt. is absolutely right.
It just it, it, it's actually does the reverse of helping.
It actually hurts because folks are not, they're not taking it
serious. And in some parts of this
country, you they, if you don't,you know, sort of just like
here, you're, you're rolling thedice with your life.
We see that a lot with hurricanes.

(39:08):
Or driving across moving water. I heard that's a problem.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Turn around. Yeah, don't drown.
I knew it I. Knew it.
There you go. I've heard it.
Yeah. OK.
OK. This is the fun part.
I guess fine. So we usually throw in kind of a
question related to the topic somehow, someway.
So I'm going to improvise on this one.

(39:29):
So we talk about being prepared and going What is the one thing
you have to have in your go bag?If you could take one thing,
what is the most important, one thing you want in your go bag?
Yeah. That's nearly an impossible.
Question answer for me. Because your because your go bag
should have more than one. I know what is the one essential
you have to have in it then. Well, look, I mean, the the one

(39:53):
that pops in my mind is it's going to have to be the phone,
right? Because that's going to allow
you to communication and access the information and kind of
figure out where you're going. And so it's not maybe the most
exciting answer. But I think if I had only one
thing that I could take probablygoing to grab that phone to be
able to access those other otherpieces of information I'm going
to need I. Didn't think about that.
That's a good one. And that's actually the right

(40:15):
one. So I just in my go bag, I just
changed out my solar charger, got a newer fancier 1 to
actually charge my cell phone. So they're they're they're very
cheap now and they the quality is runway up.
So they're they're much better in the past, not so good, but I
have one that that's that's that's almost the same sizes my
cell phone and almost would charge a laptop, which I don't

(40:37):
do that. I just use it for my phone.
But I thought Lt. was going to say since we've we've had a meal
together before. I thought he was going to say
food for me, but that'll come. That'll come evident when the
pictures that you guys. Are taking.
And that's perfect because we always ask like a food related
question. So now I have to ask.
Great. You could take two things and
then go back. You could have a snack.

(40:59):
What snack are you taking? Oh gosh, I'm I'm not an MRE fan
anymore, So it would have to be something.
It would probably have to be something.
It's hard for me to pick. I'm sorry.
It's OK, this is safe space. It's OK.
Actually, it's not sweets, it's probably beef jerky.

(41:22):
That's a good one. My personal favorite.
That's a good one. That's a good one.
I there's none on me right now or in here, but yes, that is one
of my personal favorites. OK.
No, what a good choice, right? Because it, it does last a long
time. It's gonna it'll, it'll get you
through that 72 hour period if you needed to.
Snack issues. Yeah, I think, I think you stole
the best answer there. I am a fan of not necessarily

(41:43):
whether it be an MRE or the freeze dried foods or those
materials, right, Something thatbecause again, you, you want
this go bag to be ready all the time.
And so those freeze dried foods,you can put him in there and you
know, 5-10, fifteen years from now that that stuff is still
going to be good. And so I think so a water source
is another concern is another consideration, right?

(42:04):
And so I think, I think I'd go phone water and then a freeze
dried or some type of food source that's going to last.
And if you're looking for the book answers, just look, keep
letting the Lieutenant talk because he's hit all of them.
I mean, and I wasn't sure how much time we had, but they he's
hit on every important part partof that.
So the what do we need the most?We need water.

(42:26):
So every go bag should have water, however you want to pack
it in. Then foods, light foods.
You don't want it where it's notsomething that you want to be.
You're not looking to eat a steak dinner if you want to be
nimble and move and then right after that food is he hit
medication. So many people and it is so
difficult for our partners in the community, the Red Cross,

(42:49):
some of the other non governmental agencies we work
with to get you those meds and situations.
And it just those are those are the big ones that you go you
want to hit every every time. You know, here in the Southwest,
it there's some books that say shelter is an important one, but
we're fortunate to where we don't deal with a whole lot of
cold on a regular basis. So shade maybe might be the poor

(43:10):
1 certain times of the year. But yeah, the Lt. hit all of
them that that are must that youmust have in your bag.
If if you take medication obviously, but definitely the
water first. Food communications is such a
big one. I've harped on that so much and
being able to get help for yourself or maybe get help with
others or let people know where you're at.
I think you want to have things that serve more than one

(43:32):
purpose, right? So to Matt's point, right about
about we don't often have cold, but you might need shelter from
the sun. So hey, why not put a blanket in
there, right? And you can, you can string the
blanket up, use it for shade. Or if it is a colder time, you
can, you can have that, you know, some form of a multi tool
if you're, if you're getting down in the list of things, what
do you want to have in there? But again, I, I still go back to

(43:52):
that phone, right? Because in, in a, in a
metropolitan area that's developed, that really becomes
kind of the first thing that would allow you, Hey, where can
I go for water? You'll be able to source that.
Where can I go for food or what is this emergency shaping up to
be? And then the other part would be
to let your family know, Hey, I'm, I'm OK, I'm alive, right?
Or hey, I need help, but I'm, I'm OK right now.

(44:14):
And instead of leaving them, I'mwondering or having them call
into 911 and say, hey, I'm concerned about my loved one
who's in the area that then becomes a distraction that
really we don't have the abilityto answer that.
And so how great would it be if you're able to just, you know,
use some of those platforms? And a majority of emergency
messaging is completed through aphone.
It's just everywhere. Everyone has them, from little

(44:36):
too old to it. Just it's such an important part
and we do put out a lot of valuable information and not
just in your basic emergencies, cooling centers, during certain
times, power outages. You're going to get so much
information, especially if you're signed up for Pima County
my alerts. The you're going to get that
information and you're going to be informed and you're going to
be able to take care of yourselfand your family and also help

(44:58):
others. If you're moving to, you know,
moving to something from one location to another, at least
you can do that with purpose andwith communications.
What would you bring? In my go bag.
I'm sorry, what's already in your go bag?
Oh yes, yes, no snacks, snacks, we snacks, but no what they
said. But I definitely having that
solar charger super, super important.

(45:19):
I once did a story with some Emergency Management folks over
in Oregon and they told me like if you're going to go hiking or
camping or something like that, corn chips was a really good
idea because 1 fat and then two,you can use the oil on the bag
to start a fire. But then if you turn it inside
out, it's shiny and you can use that as a reflector.
And that's just always kind of stuck with me to you talk about

(45:40):
like multipurpose tools. So bag of Fritos go a long way.
I would have never thought of that.
That's a good one. Hopefully got a can of chili
also in. With the yeah, yeah.
Frito pie. Yeah, OK.
That's pretty nice. All joking aside though, when we
talk about the foods and things like that, you do want to make
sure it's something that doesn'trequire any specific tool or

(46:01):
effort to prepare, right? So not something that you have
to cook or if it's going to be canned food, do you have a way
to open the can? Those types of things you want
to go pull tabs or have a can opener in in your go bag with
that so. Old school manual can opener I
remember. Yeah, that's always a great one
to have. But the even better some of the
stuff we talked that was talked about already, the freeze, some

(46:21):
of the freeze dried stuff that'sready to eat, not your most
flavorful, but a little on the MRE side meal ready to eat, but
it's still really great. And it and many of those types
that don't require a prep are just what you need when you're
hungry and not having a great day and.
They're widely available. You can get those at, you know,
Walmart, Target, any of your warehouse shopping stores or

(46:42):
surplus stores will have plenty of choices for those.
That means Sam's Club for you, Kevin.
I know that. You bring.
My Sam's Club, I'm hitting trailmix for sure.
Oh, there we go. Relatively cheap too.
Yeah, that's one of the things I've, I, I'm an avid outdoors
person and I'm, you know, that'slike the last thing that's
relative that you can actually buy that won't break the bank.

(47:03):
Yeah, quite frankly, I know this.
Economy. I know, cheaper than eggs.
Probably it is. It is.
All right, well, we want to thank you both for being here
and all of the work that you do and your coordination efforts.
And, and I hope that this has been informational for, for our
viewers out there, our listeners, I should say, because
you know, you just never know when, when something's going to

(47:23):
happen. And it's, it's best to be
prepared. So we appreciate you.
Yeah. Thank you so much guys.
Thank. You and thank you for listening
to PCSD. What's?
The word.