Oxygen tanks. Blocked roads. Weeks without power. When disasters hit Michigan, the hard part is rarely the headline and it’s almost always the logistics. Brad Stoddard, Director of Michigan’s Public Safety Communications System, joins Captain Kevin Sweeney, commander of the Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division and Deputy State Director of Emergency Management, to show what statewide coordination actually looks like when communities need help fast.

Kevin explains the core truth that guides the work: disasters start local and end local. We talk through how the state supports local emergency managers, police, fire, and EMS by coordinating resources, activating the State Emergency Operations Center, and working with federal partners like FEMA Region 5 when incidents grow. He shares a memorable look at the northern Michigan ice storm response, including how requests were routed through 211 and how life-safety deliveries like oxygen refills were organized with troopers and National Guard soldiers. We also break down what EMHSD does day to day, from recovery and finance to training, radiological preparedness, public information, and tools like MySIMS that help keep everyone aligned.

A derailment in a farm field. A 53-vehicle pileup in brutal winter weather. A hazmat tanker carrying oleum, a vaporizing form of sulfuric acid. These are the moments when a community learns whether its plans and partnerships are real. We sit down with Therese Crementi, Livingston County Emergency Manager, to talk through what emergency management actually looks like when the stakes are high and information has to move fast.

Therese shares her path from the Michigan State Police into emergency management, including what it feels like to walk into a new discipline full of acronyms, new partners, and a very different kind of leadership. We get practical about the training tools that make it work: NIMS and ICS training, FEMA independent study courses, exercise design, crisis communication, and the Michigan Professional Emergency Manager (PEM) designation. Along the way, we dig into why emergency management should stand on its own, how a county maintains an Emergency Operations Plan, and how federal funding and hazard mitigation planning can determine what help is available after a disaster.

We also break down the “wheel” of emergency management planning, prevention, response, recovery, mitigation and why recovery is usually the longest, hardest phase. Therese explains how and when we activate an Emergency Operations Center (EOC), including the difference between a plug-and-play physical EOC and a virtual EOC model learned during COVID. The conversation closes with grounded career advice for anyone entering public safety: live in the moment, take self-care seriously, and remember the badge exists to empower the people you serve.

In September 1995, Michigan broke ground on Phase I of the MPSCS system. To help us reflect on this journey from those early days to where we are now - and where we are heading - we are thrilled to welcome two MPSCS Pioneers for Part II:First, Jeff Steffel, retired trooper and Captain and commanding officer of the communication system when the MPSCS system was originally contracted and constructed.And second, Chuck Cousino, named Motorola's Project Director with the award of the original contract. https://cms.michigan.gov/mpscs/-/media/Project/Websites/MPSCS/Social_Media/Transcripts/Brad-Jeff-Chuck-Transcript-Pt-2-FINAL-EDIT.pdf