DisasterClass Podcast

About DisasterClass Podcast

Welcome to the DisasterClass Podcast, your trusted source for expert guidance on disaster preparedness, emergency management, and building resilience in a chaotic world. Hosted by real emergency responders, EMTs, and risk professionals, this show is dedicated to helping you educate, prepare, and equip yourself for life’s disruptions—whether personal, professional, or community-wide. Each episode features powerful insights, real-world case studies, interviews with industry leaders, and practical tips on topics like: Emergency planning for families, businesses, and schools Crisis leadership and decision-making under pressure Bleeding control and life-saving medical interventions Business continuity and disaster recovery strategies Risk mindset development for everyday resilience Emerging threats and real-time lessons from recent disasters Whether you're an emergency manager, first responder, school administrator, business owner, or proactive individual, DisasterClass delivers actionable content that empowers you to face any crisis with clarity and confidence. 🔔 Subscribe now and join the class—because preparedness isn’t paranoia, it’s power. disaster preparedness podcast, emergency management, emergency planning, bleeding control, business continuity, crisis leadership, disaster recovery, risk mindset, community resilience, emergency response podcast, family emergency planning

Publisher

Jason Perez & Wesley Long | Instinct Ready Inc.

Category

education · education · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

17 Jan 2022

Latest episode

21 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

102 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Sept 2026

   99_Are Your Emergency Plans Just “Painted Rocks”?

   What if your emergency plan looks impressive—but has never really been tested? Alicia Johnson calls them “painted rocks”: plans, programs, and preparedness efforts that look complete on the surface but may not have the capability behind them to perform when they're actually needed. In this episode of DisasterClass, Wesley Long sits down with Alicia Johnson, founder of Two Lynchpin Road, for a conversation about what separates a completed emergency plan from genuine organizational readiness. They explore why hidden dependencies can derail response, why emergency managers tend to “fight the last war,” and why lessons learned from previous disasters should become tools—not rigid playbooks for the next incident. They also dig into one of Alicia's most important principles: “Findings aren't failures.” A realistic exercise should expose weaknesses while the consequences are still an after-action item—not during the actual emergency. The conversation then turns to something that doesn't always appear on an emergency plan at all: trust. Why do people ignore evacuation orders? The answer may have less to do with people refusing to listen and more to do with transportation, language access, previous experiences, accessibility, confidence in public officials, or whether the destination can actually meet their needs. And ultimately, emergency planners have to confront a fundamental problem with many planning assumptions: “There is no average person.” IN THIS EPISODE • Why a polished emergency plan can create a false sense of readiness • What Alicia means by “painted rocks” • How hidden infrastructure creates cascading failures • Why we tend to prepare for the last disaster • How lessons learned should become tools rather than scripts • Why “findings aren't failures” • How realistic exercises reveal actual capability • Why trust functions as part of emergency-response infrastructure • Why “they wouldn't listen” may hide the real problem • Transportation, language, accessibility, and evacuation barriers • And why emergency plans must account for real people rather than a hypothetical “average person” GUEST Alicia Johnson Founder, Two Lynchpin Road Alicia Johnson is an emergency management and disaster resilience professional with two decades of experience in the field. Her background includes preparedness, disaster response, resilience, exercises, and work with government agencies and communities. Learn more about Alicia and Two Lynchpin Road: twolynchpinroad.com SPONSORS STOP THE BLEED® Coalition A bleeding emergency can happen anywhere—and the person standing nearby may be the only one able to help. In just one hour, you can learn three simple steps that could save a life. Find a class near you, access bleeding-control resources, and learn how you can get involved at: StopTheBleedCoalition.org Instinct Ready Emergency Management Instinct Ready educates, prepares, and equips individuals, communities, and organizations for emergencies and disasters through quality training, comprehensive planning, and premium preparedness products. Save 10% on your order with promo code DISASTERCLASS. Visit: InstinctReady.com Call: (845) 244-6360 CHAPTERS 00:00 — STOP THE BLEED 00:27 — Cold Open 01:49 — Having a Plan vs. Actually Being Ready 02:54 — Are Your Emergency Plans Just “Painted Rocks”? 05:16 — The Hidden Infrastructure That Gets You 08:11 — Why We Fight the Last War 13:30 — “Findings Aren't Failures” 18:49 — Stress the System Before the Emergency Does 20:03 — Trust Is Part of the Infrastructure 22:25 — “They Wouldn't Listen” — But Why? 27:03 — Planning for Access and Functional Needs 29:15 — There...

2. 

   11 Sept 2026

   98_Rick Rescorla and the Preparedness That Helped Thousands Survive 9/11

   On September 11, 2001, thousands of Morgan Stanley employees escaped from the World Trade Center. Their response was supported by years of planning, recurring evacuation drills, and determined leadership from security director Rick Rescorla. In this special 25th-anniversary episode, Jason Perez examines what Rescorla and Morgan Stanley did before the emergency, why training mattered during the roughly 16 minutes between the attacks on the North and South Towers, and what today’s organizations can learn from their experience. The episode also carefully separates the popular heroic narrative from the complete preparedness lesson. Rick Rescorla’s leadership mattered enormously, but survival inside the South Tower was influenced by many factors—including individual decisions, building conditions, evacuation routes, emergency response actions, timing, and chance. Preparedness cannot control every variable or guarantee survival. It can help people recognize danger, overcome hesitation, and act when an opportunity appears. Learn more about Instinct Ready Emergency Management and the Organizational Readiness Snapshot at https://instinctready.com (https://instinctready.com/). Content note: This episode discusses the September 11 attacks and loss of life. 🔗 SPONSORS & PARTNERS STOP THE BLEED® Coalition A bleeding emergency can happen anywhere—and the person standing nearby may be the only one able to help. In just one hour, you can learn three simple steps that could save a life. Find a class near you, access bleeding-control resources, and learn how you can get involved at:https://www.stopthebleedcoalition.org (https://www.stopthebleedcoalition.org/) Instinct Ready Emergency Management Instinct Ready educates, prepares, and equips individuals, communities, and organizations for emergencies and disasters through quality training, comprehensive planning, and premium preparedness products. Visit: https://www.instinctready.com (https://www.instinctready.com/) Call: (845) 244-6360 00:00 How preparation helped thousands survive 01:05 Remembering September 11, 25 years later 02:38 Who was Rick Rescorla? 04:00 The warning provided by the 1993 bombing 05:00 Preparedness is not predicting the future 05:55 Building Morgan Stanley’s evacuation system 06:42 Why employees complain about drills 08:21 Why people hesitate during emergencies 09:32 The morning of September 11 10:12 Sixteen critical minutes 11:23 Leadership amid conflicting instructions 12:21 Morgan Stanley begins evacuating 13:21 Rescorla leads people through the stairwells 14:40 The South Tower is struck 15:49 The complete story behind the survival numbers 17:26 Rescorla’s final actions 18:22 His legacy began years before 9/11 20:09 Five lessons for today’s organizations 22:34 Could your employees execute the plan? 23:56 The Organizational Readiness Snapshot 24:51 Preserving what September 11 taught us 26:50 Closing

3. 

   20 Aug 2026

   97_How Folgers Reopened 22 Days After Hurricane Katrina

   When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, more than half of Procter & Gamble's coffee production was concentrated in the region. P&G had hurricane plans. It had shutdown procedures. It had generators, crisis teams, backup systems, and decades of experience preparing for storms. And then Katrina exceeded the plan. Communications collapsed. Employees were scattered across multiple states. Roads became inaccessible. Utilities disappeared. Some shutdown procedures weren't completed. It ultimately took P&G 21 days just to account for every employee. Yet on September 20, 2005—22 days after Katrina made Louisiana landfall—a Folgers production line in New Orleans was running again. In this episode of DisasterClass, Jason Perez breaks down what P&G did before, during, and after Katrina—and why this case is about much more than coffee. We explore business continuity, organizational resilience, employee recovery, critical dependencies, alternate production, emergency decision triggers, and one of the most important lessons in preparedness: Preparedness doesn't give you certainty. It gives you options. Learn more about DisasterClass and Instinct Ready Emergency Management at InstinctReady.com. Topics: Hurricane Katrina, Folgers, Procter & Gamble, business continuity, disaster recovery, emergency management, organizational resilience, preparedness, supply-chain resilience and community recovery. 🔗 SPONSORS & PARTNERS 🩸 STOP THE BLEED® Coalition Uncontrolled bleeding is a leading cause of preventable death after injury. But in just one hour, you can learn three simple steps to save a life. The STOP THE BLEED® Coalition is a nonprofit organization formed to support and scale the national STOP THE BLEED® campaign, helping bring bleeding control training and tools to communities across the country. Find a class near you and learn how you can get involved. 🌐 Visit: https://StopTheBleedCoalition.org 🚨 INSTINCT READY DisasterClass is proudly brought to you by Instinct Ready, dedicated to educating, preparing, and equipping communities for emergencies and disasters through quality training, comprehensive planning, and premium products. 🎟 Get 10% off your order with code: DISASTERCLASS 📞 Call: (845) 244-6360 🌐 Visit: https://www.instinctready.com 00:00 The Strategic Coffee Reserve 01:24 Why Folgers Was Vulnerable 02:50 A Plan Is Not a Preparedness Program 03:29 Katrina Enters the Gulf 04:23 Preparedness Triggers 05:36 When Katrina Exceeded the Plan 06:54 P&G Loses Track of Its Employees 07:50 21 Days to Account for Everyone 08:52 The Coffee Sludge Problem 10:47 Getting Back Into the Plant 12:14 Replacing the Infrastructure 13:43 The Fire Protection Problem 15:09 The Facility Is Not the Mission 16:50 Employees Were Disaster Survivors Too 18:10 Helping Employees Recover 19:15 “Of Course P&G Could Do This” 20:44 Preparedness Scales 21:19 Businesses Don't Recover Alone 22:16 215,000 Jobs Lost 23:34 22 Days After Katrina 24:14 Why Folgers Could Reopen 25:32 Perfect Preparedness Doesn't Exist 26:12 Preparedness Buys Options 26:59 The Strategic Coffee Reserve Returns 28:15 The Final Lesson 28:35 Outro

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

182,491

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

15 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 77 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

88

Social presence

0

YouTube

86

Engagement

77

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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