Disaster Management
Public Information Officer
Public Education

Disaster Management
The Disaster Management Section is responsible for coordinating citywide disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation concerns for all City departments. This section creates, updates, and participates the City’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan (CEMP), which culminates in an annual citywide disaster exercise.

As part of its response duties, this Section is responsible for the deployment and management of the City of Miami Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The City EOC is activated in order to maintain the continuity of municipal services any time a disaster threatens or occurs. The EOC becomes the operational link to both the public and private sector resources that would be required to successfully deal with a catastrophic event.

The Disaster Management Section is also responsible for the recovery phase of disaster operations. This Section guides the recovery process from its inception in the EOC through the restoration of damaged infrastructure and the recovery of reimbursement dollars from the State of Florida and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The mission of this Section is essential to maximize State and Federal aid before, during, and after disaster declarations occur and to improve City infrastructure. DMPA is responsible for coordinating all FEMA restoration and recovery work for all City departments.

This Divisions’ Hazard Mitigation and Recovery Specialist is responsible for identifying damages, conceptualizing restoration work, and reducing it to writing in the FEMA application format. Once the reimbursement grants are approved, the Hazard Mitigation and Recovery Specialist liaisons with the respective City departments involved in the project assure adherence to FEMA standards. The Division's Staff Auditor Principal assures the proper administration of all the financial aspects of the grant contracts associated with these projects.

Public Affairs
The other side of the DEM division is responsible for public affairs issues. The Public Affairs Section is divided into two (2) primary areas: Public Information and Public Education.

Public Information Officer
The Public Information Officer (PIO) is the official spokesperson for the Department of Fire-Rescue. The PIO is responsible for responding to mass media and public requests for information, the issuing of news releases, and making statements to the media at emergency incidents. The office of the PIO also coordinates survey information and publishes articles in trade journals.

Public Education
The Public Education Section is responsible for providing citizens with important life saving messages in fire and accident prevention through direct training programs and coordinating truck and station presentations given by the men and women of the Emergency Response Division. Another major function of this Section is the responsibility for creating a better understanding of the operations of the Department throughout the community.

Public Education is involved with a wide variety of ongoing educational programs including Learn Not To Burn (Pre-K - 8th Grade), Juvenile Fire Setters Network, Injury Prevention (Pre-K - 12th grade), Fire Safety for the Workplace, High-rise Evacuation Training, Fire Drills, Hotel/Motel Fire Safety, and First Aid & CPR training.