Emergency Manager Perspective: To Washington with Love

By Hollie Stark
Outreach Program Manager

Dear Washington,

I have a confession to make. I am NOT an emergency manager. At least not intentionally. I do work at the Washington Emergency Management Division, but it is 100 percent true that I arrived in this career by total accident. Or maybe, if you are still feeling the magic of the holidays, it was kismet.

I am a journalist by trade, but I describe myself as more of a storyteller. Those closest to me and many whom I work with already know this, but on the off chance you are hearing my words for the first time, this unsolicited confession is (in my humble opinion) necessary background for the rest of the story.

I started in emergency management in Hawaii in early 2021 while the COVID-19 emergency was still going strong and even though the learning curve was STEEP, especially during an activation, I quickly fell in love with the field.

My story isn’t unusual. There are a lot of people who enter emergency management from varied backgrounds and experience levels. On my team alone, we have former public education teachers, former tech industry employees, geoscience nerds, one with an actual emergency management degree and more.

But there is one thing that we all have in common: a desire to be a helper.

Typically, at this time of year I would be writing something along the lines of resolving to be more prepared in the new year. But in light of the recent flooding event that message seems more than a bit trite.

Of course, we should always be taking steps to be more prepared — packing a go-bag, making a communication plan and signing up for local alerts (you can do that at mil.wa.gov/alerts) are three easy steps you can take to start your year off right — but if the recent floods have us asking anything, it is how do we prepare for the unimaginable?

How do we prepare for the atmospheric rivers that drop unheard of deluges that destroy our homes and roads and test the limits of our levees? How do we prepare ourselves to wade through the aftermath of destruction and face a new future?

I don’t think the answers are simple and I don’t think they will come immediately.

As I ponder these questions, I would like to share something I learned while studying to become the best emergency manager I could possibly be. It is an ethos of sorts that has guided me ever since I heard it.

“Everybody goes home.”

That’s the goal. Everybody goes home.

During the floods I had the opportunity to spend some time in the State Emergency Operations Center supporting public communications. My role (among many other amazing colleagues) was to create and/or amplify preparedness, lifesaving and recovery information as clearly and concisely as possible so that everybody could be empowered with the right information, at the right time, to make the right decisions for themselves and their loved ones.

It is a small, albeit important, cog in the wheel of emergency management.

I don’t want to wax too philosophical or political, but I don’t think it is a stretch to say that we live in a divided world. It is no different in our state. We all disagree on a lot of things, but one thing I can say for certain, in the hour of Washington’s need, none of our differences mattered to the people who responded.

Whether it was the emergency managers I work with here at the Washington Emergency Management Division, our partner agencies across the state, our county, tribal and federal partners or our emergency first responders (the ones whom we owe the most), what I saw from my vantage point was hundreds of helpers ready to extend a hand to anyone and pull them from the waters – metaphorically and physically.

And do you know what? I saw it in the residents of Washington too! Volunteer organizations stood at the ready to help and neighbors banded together to comfort each other and clean up. One neighborhood network in Whatcom County was organized and up on Facebook with clean up days and volunteer needs posted in the space of a few hours.

I have another confession to make. In the three-plus years I have been here, I have struggled to feel like I belong in Washington. I have often said it is too dark, too wet and the people are, well, not too friendly.

But, as I often am, I was wrong. At least about the last part.

The people of Washington are some of the bravest, most caring, courageous, resilient and seemingly tireless people I have ever had the privilege to work beside and for.

I am proud to call it my home.

With love, Hollie, storyteller AND emergency manager