Contribute to a Groundbreaking Book on Emergency Management Expertise

About the Book

The world of emergency management is a never-ending parade of emergencies, disasters, and crises. This book aims to bring together the combined wisdom of leading emergency management experts like yourself. It will provide a platform for the exchange of innovative ideas, strategies, and best practices.

Your contribution is key.

Let’s Make a Difference Together!

Hi, I’m Pete Gaynor, former FEMA Administrator and Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. I've spent fifteen years in the demanding yet rewarding business of emergency management and I’ve served in many different roles. But regardless of my role, one steadfast belief has remained true…

A key part of my job is to leave it better than I found it. 

My vision is to create a record of the best of the best practices in emergency management. This book is a collective effort to leave our field in a better state than we found it.

Planning for the future is a constant challenge because there is always another emergency to deal with. I’m ready to change that—but I need your help.

It’s time to provide a solution-focused resource for those on the front lines. The field needs a go-to reference for emergency managers. It’s time to gather our collective wisdom in a book that can provide inspiration when it seems like there are no solutions left.

This book will be:

✅ A concise, straightforward, usable desktop reference guide 

✅ Sourced from emergency management experts across the country.

✅ Full of real-life examples of how the nation’s best emergency managers have navigated the most difficult disasters.

This book is not: 

❌ An academic research project 

❌ Going to result in a 500-page technical textbook 

❌ Another book that will sit gathering dust

❌ Like any other emergency management book out there today.

How You Can Contribute

► No matter your role, position, jurisdiction, or level of experience your contribution will play a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery, not only in the jurisdictions you have served but also across the nation. 

► Each contributor will have the opportunity to delve into one specific problem emergency managers face. Your contribution will offer readers a glimpse into the way(s) you have solved that problem during your career. Submissions will be in a concise format that will make sure the book is easy to use.

► For ease of reference, the book will be categorized by functional areas. Each chapter will have an opening section written by a leading industry expert. What follows will be the most important part of the book: Your unique contribution.

► Your contribution should share how you have overcome challenges faced in your career or detail successful strategies you have implemented to solve difficult problems.

► See drop-down menu below for specific instructions and details.

I encourage you to be creative and share insights that will resonate with a diverse audience.

Benefits of Participation

► You will receive due recognition in the book as a contributor. The book will be widely distributed and available across the emergency management enterprise. The marketing of this project will be directed toward federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial agencies, academic institutions, and other relevant stakeholders across the globe.

► Additionally, I plan to organize a series of virtual launch events where contributors will have the opportunity to discuss their submissions, connect with fellow experts, and engage with a broader audience interested in emergency management.

    1. Fill in your contact information and accept the content agreement.

    2. Select the appropriate Functional Area in the drop-down menu. You can also download the full list of Functional Areas here.

    3. Solution Format (submissions are limited to 500 words)

      1. Problem

      2. Solution

      3. Result

    • For longer submissions: If you believe your submission requires a longer explanation, you can submit your contribution to info@eight-north.com for consideration. We reserve the right to edit your contribution for length to meet the goals of the project.

  • Functional Area: Winter Storm/Blizzard

    Solution:

    “During severe winter storms and blizzards our community constantly struggled to restore power to communities that lost electricity due to high winds, heavy snowfall, and fallen trees and branches that reduced road access. Our state has a “pole sharing” agreement where electric utilities own a percentage of power poles and telecom/cable providers own the remaining percentage of poles which makes it difficult to properly determine the ownership of infrastructure. Because restoration required different entities to resolve the same problem, coordination was always arduous. For example, if electricity was out in a certain neighborhood and a damaged pole belonged to a telecom provider, restoration couldn’t be performed until the telecom provider showed up—even if the electric utility was already on the scene to fix the problem.  This issue was further compounded by access problems (blocked roads from fallen trees and unplowed snow) and the lack of law enforcement available to coordinate traffic issues. Our solution was to form on-call Restoration Task Forces. These consist of a dedicated plow truck, an electric restoration crew, a telecom provider crew, a state or local police officer to control traffic, and national guard personnel in high-wheeled vehicles with tree-clearing equipment to remove access issues and provide general support. The result dramatically improved the speed of electric restoration and demonstrated to the community that the “government” was prepared and ready to deal with problems in a proactive and common-sense manner.

    • You can submit as many times as you like in accordance with the Submission Procedure, Format, and Sample listed above.

    • Do not worry about grammar or punctuation. Our editor will help fine-tune your submission.

    • If there are questions about your submission, you may be contacted via email to ask for clarifications.

    • All submissions will be run through a “Plagiarism Checker” prior to acceptance.

    • My goal is to reach a first draft within one year of starting this project. The timeline could be impacted by many factors, one of them being the enthusiasm of professionals to submit content.

    • I will keep contributors up to date on the publication schedule via email.

    • In full disclosure, I am doing everything from casting the vision for this book to scheduling, financing, editing, and publishing the final product.

    • As with any ambitious project, there will be bumps along the way. Your cooperation and care, coupled with my dedication to this endeavor, will make this project successful.

    • The sales price of the book will cover any costs associated with publication. The only investment I am asking you to make is that of your time, ideas, and enthusiasm.

Submit Your Work

How it Works:

  1. Read the Content Agreement.

    • Before you can submit any content, you must acknowledge and agree to the terms and conditions of submission by checking the box in the submission form.

  2. Submit your work using the form.

Contact Us

info@eight-north.com

Eight North Disaster Consulting LLC