Editor’s note: Pete Gaynor, former Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, currently serves as Vice President of Resilience and Disaster Recovery for Hill International, a program and construction management firm. The opinions expressed in this commentary are Gaynor’s own. Further comments On CNN.
CNN
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Emergency managers have become the de facto problem solvers for the country. We’re good at it, but we don’t have enough people. That’s the problem.
Is America prepared for disaster?
As the former Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), I’ve experienced a wide range of disasters up close, from hurricanes to wildfires to pandemics. Having worked with some of the best experts in the field of emergency management, I know firsthand what a difference having dedicated disaster response professionals can make. I’ve also seen the strain that the relentless stress of disasters can take on these responders.
When a major disaster looms, you need dedicated people to help. That’s the job of emergency management professionals: helping people before, during, and after a disaster. When a hurricane, wildfire, flood, or tornado strikes, emergency managers are there to clean up the mess, restore order, and help communities return to normalcy in the aftermath.
But in recent years, emergency managers have been called upon to address many more disasters, crises and priorities than their traditional roles.
Whether we’ve been tasked with responding to disease outbreaks like COVID-19, falciparum malaria or Ebola, assisting at our southern border, resettling refugees or addressing the homelessness crisis, our profession has risen to the occasion and solved problems. We’ve been called upon by presidents, county chiefs, governors and mayors, tribal leaders and business leaders to solve some of the most complex and difficult problems.
It’s not in our DNA to say “no” or half-ass a response, even when disaster strikes close to home: For example, during the devastating Camp Fire in Paradise, California in 2018, dozens of emergency responders continued to report to duty and help others, despite losing their homes to the blaze.
No matter how tired we are, no matter how little strength we have left, when disaster strikes, we are wired to rise up and give even more.
But the problem is getting worse: America’s unsung heroes are getting tired, some are quitting the disaster response workforce, and, as FEMA’s staffing shortages show, a growing number of emergency managers are losing their jobs to chronic disaster fatigue.
According to a 2023 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), FEMA’s disaster response workforce was at about 65% capacity as of the beginning of 2022. At the same time, the prescient report noted, FEMA was facing “the most disasters in its history and unprecedented demands on its workforce.”
In fiscal year 2020, FEMA was hit hard, losing 20% of its disaster response staff. GAO noted that FEMA’s responsibilities in responding to pandemics and natural disasters “caused burnout among many employees and high turnover.” And those who remained, while steadfast in their commitment to serving others, acknowledged that they were exhausted. I’ve led many disaster responses over the years, and I’ve had to send some of my best employees home midway through a response.
Rescue workers suffer the physical fatigue of enduring long hours and harsh working conditions, and too often the mental strain of witnessing or experiencing trauma is added. The National Center for PTSD estimates that depression rates among disaster workers and rescuers are as high as 53%. After Hurricane Katrina, a study on the mental health impacts of rescue workers found that more than a quarter of rescuers reported having experienced a traumatic event, such as witnessing a death or seeing a friend injured, and at least a tenth of rescuers reported significant persistent post-traumatic stress symptoms.
Burnout, which experts define as “a psychological syndrome that manifests as a long-term response to chronic interpersonal stressors in the workplace,” is dangerous. Burned-out emergency managers may have difficulty making clear decisions and are more likely to have mental health problems, which can negatively impact their job performance. Individuals who experience burnout may also lower team morale and undermine organizational performance. At the individual level, burnout can reduce both lifespan and quality of life, negatively impacting personal health and family relationships.
A 2021 study published in the Journal of Emergency Management examining the current state of disaster response personnel found that half of respondents felt burned out or overworked (which puts them at high risk for burnout) and reported significant symptoms of mental fatigue and cynicism, as well as decreased work efficiency.
Emergency management staff suffering from burnout will be ill-prepared to deal with the inevitable disasters that lie ahead.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Members of FEMA’s Missouri Search and Rescue Team unload equipment at a staging area as Hurricane Florence begins to make landfall in Leland, North Carolina, on September 13, 2018.
There is barely time to catch your breath between disasters. Just when it seems as if one disaster or crisis is over, another one looms. The demands on the profession seem to increase from all directions.
First, the number of natural disasters continues to grow. The number, intensity, cost, and frequency of disasters are mind-boggling. Look back at the history of disasters over the past 30 years. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), since 1980, the United States has experienced 387 weather disasters with damages exceeding $1 billion. In the decade from 1980 to 1989, the average was just under four billion-dollar disasters per year. Fast forward 30 years to 2019, and we are starting to see an average of 22 billion-dollar disasters per year.
There are 11 billion-dollar disasters on the way in 2024, just over a month into the hurricane season, already on track to surpass last year’s record of 28. And the vast majority of disasters, including floods and storms, will never reach the threshold for a federal disaster declaration that would trigger federal aid.
But whatever the scale or designation of a disaster, responding to it requires time, energy and resources. Even setting aside the unsustainable economic costs of disasters and the climate change that causes them, the disaster workload and human cost to emergency managers has become unbearable.
Second, the continued addition of non-traditional mission assignments, such as responding to the opioid crisis and housing insecurity, further strained our resources.
The recent increase in disaster-related workload comes against a backdrop of a profession that has long been underfunded and understaffed.
Add to that a demanding, unforgiving public and a hyperconnected, sensationalized media environment, and the often misunderstood job of emergency management becomes exponentially more complex and challenging. We have been, and will continue to be, shouldering a disproportionate share of responsibility for an increasingly complex and demanding world.
We are losing top talent in our profession, and the safety and security of our communities is at risk. Over the past few years, I have talked with colleagues across the country about this turnover as disasters increase, and they have seen the same thing I have: talented emergency managers are leaving for the higher pay and slower pace of the private sector, while others are moving to less demanding nine-to-five jobs. Some have taken jobs in other government agencies. Some have decided to retire early.
In the midst of a crisis, we need experienced and highly specialized experts, without whom our ability to take decisive action at critical moments may be lost, making the consequences of a disaster or crisis even worse.
We must get things right or the emergency management systems we rely on will fail when our people, communities and nation need them most.
People who rely on rescue teams for rescue and evacuation when disasters occur must be part of the solution. Call your local, state and federal legislators and ask them to prioritize disaster relief. Ask emergency management organizations like FEMA and local agencies to provide adequate funding and staffing.
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You can help reduce the burden on the emergency management community by taking simple actions to prepare yourself, your family, your business and your community for the next disaster. Start by visiting ready.gov. As citizens, we have an obligation to protect critical and limited public safety resources like emergency management personnel. By minimizing non-essential requests, you can help ensure that disaster response personnel can respond quickly and effectively to ongoing crises.
Recognize the role emergency management professionals play in keeping us safe and helping our communities return to normal after devastating disasters. Ask your representatives to acknowledge the importance of their work. And take a moment to thank them.
On our worst days, we need the best from our disaster response personnel.
