This month, FEMA headquarters and regional leadership teams across the nation coordinated with emergency management experts from federal, state, tribal and territorial partners in seven video teleconferences to test connectivity capabilities and discuss needs for hurricane and wildland fire response and recovery this year.
FEMA works throughout the year to ensure the nation is ready for hurricane season and the severe impacts from fires and other hazards. The agency has hosted annual hurricane preparedness video teleconferences for the past 10 years. This year, the teleconferences also included a scenario about severe wildland fire impacts for high-risk areas.
Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator David Richardson addressed FEMA’s disaster readiness and emphasized the leading role that state, local, tribal and territorial partners play after a disaster. He discussed FEMA’s role in ensuring disaster response and recovery are locally executed, state managed and federally supported and affirmed that FEMA will continue to support partners in building capacity, and position federal resources in anticipation of incidents that require federal support.
The video teleconferences were held in coordination with FEMA Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 9, focusing on the areas that are most prone to severe hurricane and wildfire impacts. FEMA Regional Administrators and agency leadership took state, tribal and territorial emergency management partners through a detailed scenario-based discussion tailored to their specific risks and anticipated needs of their communities. FEMA Region 9 also addressed special circumstances that may occur outside the continental U.S., such as in Hawaii, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Participants also received a briefing from federal interagency partners—such as the National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service and the National Interagency Fire Center—on the hurricane or wildland fire outlook for 2025.
The teleconferences tested disaster readiness, including:
- Disaster communications capacity.
- Identifying potential needs from state, tribal and territorial partners.
- Opportunities for technical assistance from FEMA and federal interagency partners.
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