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Fire chief outlines emergency operations improvements after storms; staffing and training gaps addressed
Summary
Fire Chief Jim Kilpatrick briefed commissioners on a post-storm review of the city’s Emergency Operations Plan, citing staffing gaps, new employee-support roles, extra training and clearer EOC procedures.
Fire Chief Jim Kilpatrick told the St. Pete Beach City Commission on Tuesday that the city has revised its emergency operations planning after Hurricanes Helene and Milton to address staffing shortages, communications and logistics identified during the response.
Kilpatrick described a broad after-action process that included feedback from the community recovery task force, departmental meetings, county emergency management partners and neighboring municipalities. The review found staffing gaps and communication breakdowns as top weaknesses and recommended specific steps to increase preparedness.
Actions underway: Kilpatrick said the city has conducted multiple trainings (including ICS 300/400 and position-appropriate courses), convened a tabletop exercise for department directors, and established pre-storm contracting and secondary/tertiary emergency operations center (EOC) locations. The city has also created an employee-support position in the EOC roster, clarified emergency-pay policy, and instituted AB shifts to manage deployments more sustainably.
The chief said the improvements include clearer incident-action-plan objectives issued daily during activations, new SOPs and checklists for transitions from “blue-sky” to “gray-sky” operations, and greater bench depth in the fire department for span-of-control issues. Kilpatrick noted that during Helene the city received about 150 National Guard personnel that required EOC access planning and staging.
Why it matters: Commissioners said they want more direct briefings and suggested ways to allow elected officials to receive operational updates without entering the tactical chain of command. Kilpatrick and the city manager said elected officials are welcome in a designated EOC space during activations but should coordinate through the city manager or PIO to avoid interrupting tactical operations.
Next steps: Kilpatrick and staff will continue delivering training, refine the ICS 203 position roster and finalize SOP templates for commission review. The city manager said staff will consider training for commissioners to make their situational awareness more effective in future storm responses.
Ending: Commissioners expressed frustration with earlier information gaps; staff said a more robust briefing cadence and prebuilt messaging templates with county partners will reduce lag time during future events.
