Florida – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is hiring Florida residents as part of their efforts to help the State recover from Hurricane Irma.
Since the disaster in September, FEMA has employed over 200 Florida residents, said Willie Nunn Federal Coordinating Officer and FEMA’s Florida recovery mission head. In addition to these temporary workers, 1,500 people are employed with FEMA in Florida and about 700 of them work at the Orlando FEMA office.
“The positions are short-term temporary jobs working in numerous areas of the recovery operation but these hires are critical to our efforts and to helping the state get back on its feet,” said Nunn. “Hiring Floridians not only brings valuable local knowledge to our team, it helps restore economic vitality to impacted areas.”
“The local workforce we have hired here is unusually highly skilled,” said Nunn. “We have a number of engineers and managers who are working with our team and even architects assisting with environmental and historic preservation reviews.”
Depending on the needs of the area, these temporary jobs can last anywhere from four months to a year. Some of the jobs include administrative positions, couriers, and media relations assistants. FEMA says that hiring local brings sensitivity and understanding of the problems that other survivors face in the wake of a disaster. These local employees have since made $2 million.
70-year-old John Hulme, who is a retired vice president of sales and operations for a metal manufacturer, joined FEMA in December 2017 due to his desire to help out. Hulme had previously worked jobs in peak seasons but he decided to follow his passion to serve his fellow citizens.
“This year, I said ‘No, I’m going to do something meaningful. I’m either going to help people or just not bother,’” said Hulme. “And FEMA certainly fills that bill.”
Hulme has experience in carpentry, construction, and oversight. He now works in FEMA’s Public Assistance program helping municipalities and some nonprofits get reimbursed for debris removal.
“It’s a steep learning curve, but every day I learn and it’s becoming easier and easier,” said Hulme.
37-year-old Billy Sanchez, a Los Angeles native, served in the Marine Corps for 17 years working on repairing small arms, machine guns, and mortars. Sanchez moved to Naples 18 months ago and while his home was not damaged during the storm, his neighbor’s homes sustained damage.
Sanchez served as a staff sergeant and wished to get back into government service. He started off signing up survivors for assistance at FEMA.
If you are interested in a temporary position with FEMA, you can search for positions here. For more information on hurricane recovery in Florida, check out FEMA’s social media pages and website.
Photo courtesy Mike Focus and Shutterstock.com.
Copyright Southern Stone Communications 2018.
