Joe Wilson, president of the Safety and Security Group at Federal Signal, recently testified as an expert witness at the U.S. House of Representatives oversight hearing on FEMA's funding reauthorization. The hearing was held to offer the public and the private sector a venue where they could discuss ways to efficiently and cost-effectively streamline programs within FEMA. Specifically, Wilson presented the company's results from its 2011 public-safety survey, testifying that depending exclusively on a single communications method for mass notifications was shortsighted and that interoperable emergency communication grant funding decision-making should be made at the local level.

Wilson joined FIRE CHIEF's Associate Editor Mary Rose Roberts to weigh in on the issues covered during the hearing, including the importance of funding emergency communication notification systems and the current challenges emergency managers and fire chiefs face when warning the public of a pending hazard. As part of the discussion, he addressed the current mass notification systems used and the varied human and cultural factors that limit the effectiveness of such communications.