VEM highlighted two special webinars in its December 2025 newsletter that may be of special interest to municipalities. Click through to the newsletter for other trainings and emergency management news.
Lunch & Learn
December 17, 2025, 12 PM – 1 PM, a virtual program.
Vermont Emergency Management is launching Lunch & Learn in December. The virtual program will be offered from 12 PM to 1 PM and feature speakers sharing their expertise in a variety of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery topics. Their first presentation will be on December 17. The programs are free.
Session Topic: When All Else Fails: Communicating During Helene, Real lessons from Hurricane Helene on how to stay connected when every system goes down. Register for this session.
About the Session: When Hurricane Helene tore through North Carolina, it didn’t just destroy infrastructure — it severed communication lifelines. More than 1,700 miles of fiber were wiped out, leaving 19 counties technologically isolated. In this Lunch & Learn, Greg Hauser, North Carolina’s Statewide Interoperability Coordinator, shares how state and local responders found ways to communicate, coordinate, and deliver aid when normal systems were gone.
Hear how public safety radio, amateur radio, satellite tools, broadcast media, and plain ingenuity filled the gaps — and what Vermont can learn from North Carolina’s experience. This session will explore practical, low-cost strategies for maintaining communication resilience in small towns, rural regions, and statewide operations when “business as usual” fails.
Who Should Attend: Emergency Management Directors (EMDs), Emergency Management Coordinators (EMCs), communication technicians, 911 telecommunicators, dispatchers, fire chiefs, EMS and police leadership, town managers, selectboard members, regional planners, and anyone involved in emergency communications or disaster coordination.
About the Speaker: Greg Hauser serves as the Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC) for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety. With his decades of public safety experience, Greg has been instrumental in shaping North Carolina’s emergency communications strategy and leading statewide interoperability initiatives. Following Hurricane Helene, he coordinated efforts to rebuild communication systems across isolated counties — turning hard lessons into actionable strategies for resilient communication.
Spring Flood Seminars Coming in January
January 27, 2026, recorded video available on VEM YouTube Channel.
February 12, 2026, 12 PM – 1 PM, a virtual Q&A session.
To help communities prepare for potential spring flooding, Vermont Emergency Management is once again offering a series of Spring Flood Seminar videos. Those will be published on the VEM YouTube Channel on January 27.
These videos inform local officials about how to prepare for, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the impacts of the upcoming spring flood season. It also outlines what resources are available from the state and how to access them.
A live virtual question-and-answer session via Microsoft Teams will then be offered on Thursday, February 12, from 12 PM to 1 PM for follow-up information. The National Weather Service will provide an update on the spring flood outlook, and there will be an opportunity to pose questions to partner agencies. Once you register for this event, you will receive a confirmation email and calendar appointment.
Additional details, including names and descriptions of videos in the series, are available on the Vermont Emergency Management website.
If you require accommodations to participate in the February 12 event, please contact Emily.Harris@vermont.gov before February 5.