Recipe for Effective Leadership in Handling Crisis Management

Rocky Vaz, Director of Emergency Management, City of Dallas

Rocky Vaz, Director of Emergency Management, City of Dallas

For Dallas, the period of 2019–2022 was marked by a series of disasters. From an EF-3 tornado to the pandemic, multiple hurricane shelters, and a devastating winter storm, the City of Dallas Office of Emergency Management (OEM) experienced firsthand the way in which these incidents tested some of the most foundational concepts in our field. As we take a step back and look at this period in its totality, it is clear that the profile of hazards that Dallas faces remains largely the same, but the disasters they create are increasingly complex and outsized in scope and impact.

The two incidents that demonstrated this most clearly were the COVID-19 pandemic and Winter, Storm Uri. Both events challenged a basic concept within the National Incident Management System that disaster recovery is federally supported, state-managed, and locally executed. That model is predicated on the assumption that someone at some level of government will be outside of the affected area and can provide assistance. During COVID-19, we faced global competition for resources and a patchwork of policies that changed over jurisdictional lines. In Winter Storm Uri, the impacts were statewide and resulted in an almost complete failure of the electric grid. Many were left without power for days while temperatures reached and remained at record lows, resulting in hundreds of deaths. When the scope of an event grew beyond regional impacts, the tiered response model started to collapse on itself.

“Emergency management is still nascent compared to the other public safety professions, and we will be forced to adapt and change to these new realities.”

There were several key lessons learned from these experiences. We have over-relied on the large national-scale non-governmental organizations to provide services to our residents. These events stretched many of those organizations to their limits as they spread their already limited resources over huge areas. It was the grassroots organizations that may not have a role in our plans that stepped in to help fill those gaps. These groups worked outside of their typical mission, and their existing relationships with the communities they serve were critical in reaching the most vulnerable residents. It has driven us to make a greater effort to identify who those organizations are, understand their mission, and develop a relationship with them.

The idea that disasters exacerbate social issues is not new. But the recurrent and sudden influx of emergent needs for social services is outside of what the current system can absorb. Emergency management is still nascent in comparison to the other public safety professions, and we will be forced to adapt and change to these new realities. In Dallas, the Office of Emergency Management is increasingly called upon to step into areas that are new to us, especially when the needs are immediate and do not have clear solutions. If the last three years have taught us anything, it is that the train is not slowing down. We must plan for operating at the intersection of multiple disasters and be ready to meet the unique needs that are created when response and recovery are occurring simultaneously.