Direct Line

Direct Line

Emergency Management Officer, Bill Dunlap

My wife Mary and I, are both happy and excited to step aboard Naval Air Station Sigonella (NASSIG) as the new Emergency Management Officer.

Since arriving at the beginning of July, Mary and I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with many throughout the various departments and commands at NAS I and NAS II. I want to say thank you to everyone whom we have worked with thus far for making the transition both successful and enjoyable.

Today I am going to share a little about my background and highlight my initial focus for our emergency management program.

I started my career in the Navy (more years ago than I care to admit) as an active duty enlisted sailor. The experience, skills, training and education I received on active duty was the foundation of my 30 year career in emergency management and health physics.

After leaving the Navy I took on a job in health physics and emergency response support for the recovery effort at Three Mile Island (TMI). After leaving TMI, I spent most of my career working with federal, state and local governments, as well as commercial companies developing and implementing all-hazard emergency management programs.

Prior to my arrival in Sicily, I worked for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. During my tenure with Pennsylvania I held positions as a senior health physicist and as Chief of Training and Exercise Department of the PA Emergency Management Agency. In my transition here, I quickly had to adapt to both a new country and the Federal government civilian employment system.

The emergency management program touches all NASSIG departments, all tenant commands, and our entire community, both on and off-base. Our primary mission is to ensure maximum community preparedness and resilience to harden our installation and our people against all hazards, large or small, frequent or infrequent. After meeting the emergency management and dispatch staff here at NASSIG I know we have a solid foundation to continue to improve the program.

Though it is supported by our EM staff, the ultimate success of the emergency management program is dependent on the involvement of all members of our community. My focus will be to facilitate whole community involvement in our program. Preparedness is a shared responsibility; it calls for the involvement of everyone not just emergency management, fire or security personnel. In addition to the NASSIG departments and tenant commands this includes:

• Families

• Faith-based and community organizations

• Non-profit groups

• Schools

• Businesses

• Host nation partners

Day-to-day functioning of community is based on all its components working together – this does not change during an emergency. Only by involving all community members in the preparedness program can we insure that the roles and responsibilities of all organizations are reflected in our emergency preparedness.

One last note about my active duty service; many years ago Mary and I had the opportunity to be stationed in La Maddalena, Italy. We loved our time there and have wanted to return to living in Italy. Life presented another opportunity, so now we are back and could not be happier. Please reach out to me for any questions on our program and feel free to share your ideas on how we can more effectively communicate the message of whole of community preparedness and resilience.