Program Type
Graduate
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Bethany Swindell
Document Type
Presentation
Location
Online
Start Date
25-4-2023 8:00 AM
Abstract
ABSTRACT: The primary problem is the lack of information of the disaster preparedness within Hinesville and Liberty County, Georgia fire services. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to (a) establish and determine the current level of disaster preparedness and (b) analyze and compare the differences between Hinesville City Fire Services and Liberty County Fire Services located within the same region of Southeastern, Georgia. This research sought to benchmark the organizational level of disaster preparedness of two critical departments (City and County Fire Services) by measuring three key attributes (knowledge, skills and personal preparedness) for disasters.
The research collected data by using the Disaster Preparedness portion of the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool (DPET) via a in person brief and survey. The DPET measurement tool produces scores for each organization and from that determines the overall organizational mean level for knowledge and skills regarding disaster preparedness. The differences in organizational preparedness will be observed and discussed across both City and County Fire Services. The hypothesis is that since Liberty County Fire Services established its first full time staff in 2020, the level of disaster preparedness of their department will have lower means scores comparative to City Fire Services. If the differences in organizational disaster preparedness is too small to reach statistical significance, then at the very least we will have enough data to achieve benchmarking. The goal is to benchmark the levels of disaster preparedness for both organizations, City and County Fire Services located in Hinesville and Liberty County, Georgia and determine which of the organizations are more prepared for a disaster. A recommendation for practice would be fire chiefs, city council members and the county emergency management director utilize the findings from this research to identify gaps. Future research for organizational disaster preparedness could include widening the research to other cities or counties in the local area to allow for comparison across additional fire stations in the region. This would allow the entire southeast region of Georgia to have a benchmark and better understanding of their organizations knowledge, skills, and preparedness for a disaster.
Recommended Citation
Coonts, Shelby G., "Natural Disaster Preparedness Levels Among Firefighters" (2023). ATU Research Symposium. 2.
https://orc.library.atu.edu/atu_rs/2023/2023/2
Natural Disaster Preparedness Levels Among Firefighters
Online
ABSTRACT: The primary problem is the lack of information of the disaster preparedness within Hinesville and Liberty County, Georgia fire services. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to (a) establish and determine the current level of disaster preparedness and (b) analyze and compare the differences between Hinesville City Fire Services and Liberty County Fire Services located within the same region of Southeastern, Georgia. This research sought to benchmark the organizational level of disaster preparedness of two critical departments (City and County Fire Services) by measuring three key attributes (knowledge, skills and personal preparedness) for disasters.
The research collected data by using the Disaster Preparedness portion of the Disaster Preparedness Evaluation Tool (DPET) via a in person brief and survey. The DPET measurement tool produces scores for each organization and from that determines the overall organizational mean level for knowledge and skills regarding disaster preparedness. The differences in organizational preparedness will be observed and discussed across both City and County Fire Services. The hypothesis is that since Liberty County Fire Services established its first full time staff in 2020, the level of disaster preparedness of their department will have lower means scores comparative to City Fire Services. If the differences in organizational disaster preparedness is too small to reach statistical significance, then at the very least we will have enough data to achieve benchmarking. The goal is to benchmark the levels of disaster preparedness for both organizations, City and County Fire Services located in Hinesville and Liberty County, Georgia and determine which of the organizations are more prepared for a disaster. A recommendation for practice would be fire chiefs, city council members and the county emergency management director utilize the findings from this research to identify gaps. Future research for organizational disaster preparedness could include widening the research to other cities or counties in the local area to allow for comparison across additional fire stations in the region. This would allow the entire southeast region of Georgia to have a benchmark and better understanding of their organizations knowledge, skills, and preparedness for a disaster.