In Irene’s Wake, A Shake Up At Vermont’s Emergency Management

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(Host) Emergency Management Director Mike O’Neil has been reassigned to head the Division of Fire Safety, another office in the Department of Public Safety.

O’Neil is the former Burlington fire chief.

Governor Peter Shumlin refuses to discuss what he describes as a personnel decision.

(Shumlin) "As you look at the recovery from Irene and the other storms that we had this spring, I think the fact that we are where we are, that we’ve made the progress that we have, is a tribute to everybody that worked so hard. And it was a group effort. And Mike was a part of that effort and I’m proud of all the work that he’s done."

(Host) That’s a sentiment that the new interim director of Emergency Management also expressed.

Peter Coffey is deputy director for logistics and will head the division until a permanent director is found. He says a review of Emergency Management has shown the division responded well to Irene, despite challenges.

(Coffey) "My feeling is that an event that nobody here in Vermont involved in it has ever seen before, it went incredibly well. And in talking to communities as I go around the state to these after-action reviews, I think overall it went very well."

(Host) Coffey declined to comment on the change in leadership.

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