The ALAMO1 drone team was recently tasked to provide aerial documentation of a completed Superfund remediation project in east Texas. However, the day before we arrived, the area received torrential rainfall — several inches in just a few hours — putting the newly designed and constructed erosion controls and drainage systems to the test. As […]
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If you have been watching the news for the last several years, it’s obvious that disaster response is not going away. Events are getting larger, more complex and more expensive, as is the demand for qualified people to manage them. In May and June of 2015, I supported the USDA as Deputy Incident Commander for […]
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On April 16th in 1947, Texas City, TX suffered the worst industrial accident in American history. It’s well documented (even video, parts one and two) how the Grandcamp, loaded with ammonium nitrate, began burning and eventually exploded, killing more than 600 including the entire Texas City Fire Department and most of the bystanders and schoolchildren there watching. After the […]
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That’s all the title had in it: “Carrier Fire”. I got this email from my father a few years ago and read it with great appreciation. Dad was a Marine before he was a firefighter, and as I’ve told many people many times, he never really saw the difference. I grew up running around the […]
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It doesn’t seem like 13 years since I had a run-in with a railcar of “skull and crossbone” material. At that time I was a Federal On-Scene Coordinator (FOSC) with the U.S. EPA in Dallas, TX. FOSCs are the lead for agency responses to oil and hazardous substance releases and have full authority to direct […]
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Coming up on the fourth of July, it’s all about watching fireworks. In many counties, drought has forced a burn-ban that precludes any legal displays, so many shows will be in high-definition from the air-conditioned comfort of the living room. No crowds and plenty of hamburgers. Every year, some of the displays telecast live from […]
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